WICHITA, Kan. – Senior Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) earned Second-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors and freshman Rachel Jones (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) was named to the Valley's All-Freshman squad announced by the league office Thursday afternoon.
Angelos is the first Bradley individual to earn a spot on the MVC's all-conference teams since Amber DeBroux was a second-team all-league choice in 2006. Jones is the first all-freshman team selection for the Braves since Lindsay Stalzer was on the 2002 MVC All-Newcomer team.
One of four players in school history to have 250 or more kills in each of her four seasons on The Hilltop, Angelos earned honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete distinction earlier this week. She is eighth in Bradley history with 1,121 kills and enters the Valley Tournament needing seven blocks to reach 300 for her career. Angelos would be just the fourth player in school history 1,100 career kills, 40 aces and 300 blocks.
Angelos is one of two players to rank in the top 10 in the MVC in both hitting percentage and kills per set this fall. She currently leads the team with 312 kills and 70 blocks despite missing two matches this season due to injury. Her career attack percentage of .265 is third among Bradley career marks and she needs 44 kills to move into the top seven in career kills at BU.
Jones missed the first 10 matches of the season due to injury, but came up big for the Braves during Missouri Valley Conference play. She leads the team with a .328 attack percentage and broke the Bradley season mark for hitting percentage in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Her 0.69 blocks per set average is second on the team in 2013 and she is tied for fourth on the squad with a 1.93 kills-per-set average. In the first home match of her career, Jones had 23 kills and hit .559 for the highest attack percentage for a Brave with at least 20 kills since Joy Ostendorf on Sept. 6, 1994. Her season-best 23 kills were the most by a Bradley freshman in a match since Marika Giguere had 28 kills against Missouri State on Oct. 20, 2000.
Angelos and Jones helped Bradley to its best overall record (13-14) and Valley mark (7-11) since 2005. The Braves will be in action later today, when #6 seed Bradley faces #3 seed Southern Illinois in the opening round of the MVC Tournament in Wichita, Kan., at 5 p.m.
