PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley's four seniors combined for 14 kills while hitting .481 to go along with three aces and 31 digs to help the Braves to a convincing 25-16, 25-17, 25-14 victory against Drake Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.  The win was Bradley's 10th of the year, marking the most wins for BU since 2005.

Sophomore Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) collected 10 kills and hit .474 to lead BU, but a well balanced team effort led by seniors Annie Cave (Easton, Ill./Illini Central), Genevieve Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) helped the Braves to their first sweep of a conference opponent in a year and snap a nine-match losing skid in the series with the Bulldogs. 

After recognizing the senior class in a pre-match ceremony Bradley (10-15 overall, 3-12 MVC) got off to a hot start, hitting .440 in the opening set with five individuals collecting two kills or more in the frame.  The Braves took control of the set midway through, using a 13-5 spurt to take a 24-15 lead en route to a 25-16 first-set victory. 

Tupuritis collected five of her match-high 10 kills in the second set on just eight swings to help highlight a 25-17 BU win.  Sophomore Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) had a kill and block, before back-to-back Tupuritis kills put Bradley ahead 21-13.  Drake got no closer than seven points down the stretch as Bradley took a commanding two-sets-to-none lead.

Genevieve and Rachelle Dejean combined for 12 digs in the third set and helped lead a BU defensive effort which limited Drake (9-21 overall, 5-11 MVC) to -.089 hitting in the final set.  Bradley posted a 27-19 edge in digs in the frame with the Bulldogs collecting just five kills and nine attack errors. 

Tupuritis highlighted a 5-0 Bradley run with three kills to help the Braves to an early 13-4 lead.  Drake pulled within five points (13-8), before freshman Courtney Keefe (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) had two kills and a block during a 9-2 BU run which pushed the advantage to 22-10.  Keefe later closed out the match with her ninth kill of the night to finish off a 25-14 Bradley victory.

Bradley hit .296 and had five players with six or more kills, led by Tupuritis 10 kills.  Keefe added nine kills and 13 digs, while Cave and Schmidt each had seven kills with no hitting errors on 13 attacks for matching .538 attack percentages.  The Dejeans both had 11 digs with Genevieve adding two aces. 

Bentley Mancini led Drake with five kills, while libero Sarah Madden had a team-best eight digs for the Bulldogs.  Drake hit .016 against the Braves defense, which finished with a 66-40 edge in digs.

The Braves close out the final home stand of the year Saturday, hosting Creighton (7 p.m.) at Renaissance Coliseum.  The matchup with the Bluejays is part of a special 2-for-1 ticket promotion, with a ticket purchased for either Saturday's women's basketball season opener against Northern Colorado (2 p.m.) or the evening volleyball match against Creighton good for admission to both events.