PEORIA, Ill. -- Head coach Sean Burdette and the Bradley volleyball team head to Evansville (Friday) and Southern Illinois (Saturday) for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference road matches as the Braves close out the regular season with four of the final seven matches away from home.
Bradley heads into the weekend road swing off a sweep of Chicago State in the final non-conference match of the season Tuesday. The Braves hit a season-high .337 and served up a season-best nine aces in the victory, while limiting the Cougars to 16 kills and an .011 attack percentage. Freshman Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) paced BU offensively with 13 kills and junior Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) had a match-high 13 digs en route to becoming the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs.
Junior Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) had eight kills and three blocks, while attacking at a .727 clip and fellow junior Annie Cave (Easton, Ill./Illini Central) had eight kills and hit .636 in addition to her match-high three aces in the victory Tuesday against Chicago State.
Angelos has led the Braves in kills a team-best seven times this season and has reached double figures in kills in eight outings. She has averaged 2.92 kills per set over the last four matches and owns a .301 attack percentage over that time. Sophomore Madelyn Ervin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) has collected 10 aces in the last five matches (0.62 aces per set over that span) and leads the Missouri Valley Conference with a season average of 0.40 aces per set.
Evansville (16-6 overall, 5-5 MVC) enters Friday's match alone in fifth place in the Valley standings. The Purple Aces opened league play with a 5-2 record, but have dropped three consecutive matches with all three losses coming on the road. Evansville is 8-1 at home this season.
Southern Illinois (13-7 overall, 4-6 MVC) is one game behind Evansville in the standings in seventh place prior to Friday's home match against 13th-ranked Northern Iowa. The Salukis rallied to take the final two sets in a five-set victory against the Purple Aces last week.
SIU is 7-2 in home matches, with both losses coming in conference action.
Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum next week when the Braves open the final homestand of the season, Friday, Nov. 5 with a 7 p.m. match against nationally ranked Northern Iowa.
