PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team opens the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season schedule with a pair of home contests, taking on Evansville Friday and in-state foe Southern Illinois Saturday at Renaissance Coliseum.
Bradley (10-8 overall, 4-5 MVC) is 4-5 or better at the halfway point of the league schedule for the first time since the 2005 season and sit in the sixth in the league standings after nine conference matches. The Braves have posted a better record in the second half of Valley play in each of the last three years and matched or improved their conference record in the second half of the MVC slate in each of the last seven seasons.
Friday's 7 p.m. matchup with the Purple Aces (7-13 overall, 2-7 MVC) will be the team's annual Pink match to help promote breast cancer awareness. Fans wearing pink to the contest will receive the group ticket price of $3 and breast cancer survivors will receive free admission. In addition, breast cancer survivors will be recognized prior to the start of the 7 p.m. match. Pink Bradley t-shirts will be available for purchase and “Team Bradley” will be distributing free Bradley pink bracelets along with information about the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and how to join “Team Bradley” at next spring's race.
Bradley volleyball alumni in attendance at Saturday's 7 p.m. match against Southern Illinois (11-10 overall, 6-3 MVC) will be recognized between the second and third sets as part of the team's celebration of 40 years of intercollegiate competition.
A subscription video stream for both matches will be available at BradleyBraves.com in addition to links for live stats for both contests.
Senior Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) has averaged 3.13 kills per set and boasts a .400 attack percentage in her last five matches against Southern Illinois. In addition, she has tallied 3.47 kills per set in the last five outings vs. Evansville and owns a 3.04 career kills-per-set average against the Purple Aces.
Angelos moved into ninth on Bradley's career kills list last week and enters the weekend with 1,037 career kills. She needs seven kills to pass Blythe Zajakoswki (1,043 kills) for eighth in program history.
Fellow senior Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York) is third in the MVC in digs per set this fall and is 71 digs from becoming just the second player in program history to have 400 or more digs in two seasons. Zerante is currently 10th in school history with 1,129 career digs and is 36 digs short of passing Amelie Rodrigue (1,164 digs) for ninth at Bradley.
Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) needs 21 kills to become the 16th player in program history with 900 career kills. She is 17 kills from moving head of Amy Reichel for 16th and 27 kills from breaking into the top 15 in school history.
After the brief home stand, Bradley plays five of the final seven regular-season matches on the road. The Braves open the stretch Friday, Nov. 1 at I-74 rival Illinois State (7 p.m.).
