PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team opens the final home stand of the 2011 season Friday, welcoming 12th-ranked Northern Iowa to Renaissance Coliseum for a 7 p.m. match. The three-match home stand also includes contests against Drake (Nov. 11) and Creighton (Nov. 12).
The Braves (9-14 overall, 2-11 MVC) look to get back in the win column after dropping a pair of league road games at Missouri State and Wichita State last week and are also hoping to win their third consecutive home match after sweeping Loyola-Chicago last Tuesday. BU is currently three games behind Drake for sixth place in the Valley standings heading into the final three weeks of the regular season.
Live stats with an interactive chat will be available for Friday's match at BradleyBraves.com in addition to video (subscription) and audio streams (free). Friday's contest against the Panthers will be televised (tape-delayed) in select markets on Mediacom's MC22. The match is scheduled to air Nov. 8 (8 p.m.), Nov. 9 (11 a.m.), Nov. 10 (9 p.m.), Nov. 12 (9:30 p.m.) and Nov. 13 (1 p.m.).
Northern Iowa (24-1 overall, 13-0 MVC) has won 15 consecutive matches since dropping a home contest to Minnesota on Sept. 10 and the Panthers have won 49 consecutive regular-season Missouri Valley Conference matches. UNI has been ranked as high as 11th in the AVCA Coaches poll this fall and enter Friday's matchup 12th in the national rankings. The Panthers were 13th in the poll when they visited Renaissance Coliseum last year.
Last Tuesday's three-set victory against Loyola-Chicago gave BU its most wins since 2009 and the Braves need just one more victory to reach the 10-win mark for the first time since 2005. Freshman Courtney Keefe (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) has been a big contributor lately, averaging 3.31 kills and 2.62 kills per set over the last four matches.
Senior Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) enters the final home stand of her career needing 11 digs to break Jenny Pavlas' career digs record of 1,361 career digs. Dejean passed Cindy Novak (1,346 digs) for third on BU's career digs chart Saturday at Missouri State and enters Friday's contest with 1,351 in her career.
Following Friday's matchup with league-leading UNI, the Braves return to the court Friday, Nov. 11 against Drake. BU's four seniors - Annie Cave, Genevieve Dejean, Rachelle Dejean and Megan Schmidt will be recognized in a pre-match ceremony prior to the Nov. 11 contest against Drake.
