PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team opens the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season schedule on the road, closing out a three-match road swing with contests at Missouri State Friday and at pre-season league favorite Wichita State Saturday.
Both Missouri State (14-7 overall, 7-2 MVC) and Wichita State (12-7 overall, 6-3 MVC) are near the top of the Valley standings at the halfway point of the league schedule. The Bears are tied with Northern Iowa for second in the MVC standings at 7-2, two games behind league-leading Illinois State (9-0) after a three-set victory at Southern Illinois Saturday. Wichita State is tied with Indiana State for fourth in the Valley at 6-3, one game behind Missouri State.
Bradley has posted a better record in the second half of the Valley schedule in two of head coach Jenny Maurer's three years with the Braves. In fact, Bradley has had a better second half than first half of the league schedule in four of the last six campaigns overall.
BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for both weekend contests, with both matches starting at 7 p.m.
Sophomore Kelsey Cave (Solon, Iowa/Solon) has missed seven matches due to injury, but has returned to the lineup recently to notch 10 or more kills in two of the last three outings. Cave has averaged 2.67 kills per set and is hitting .322 over the last three contests compared to 1.92 kills per set prior to the recent surge. In conference action, she leads Bradley in attack percentage and is second in kills at 2.27 per set.
Freshman Taylor Thiele (Aurora, Neb./Aurora) matched a season-best with three aces Friday at Loyola and leads the Braves in both kills and aces this fall. She would be the first individual to lead the team in both categories since Lindsay Stalzer did so as a senior in 2005. Only four individuals have led the team in kills and aces in the same season a total of six times.
Thiele, who is the first Bradley freshman with 160 kills and 175 or more digs since Lauren Zerante in 2010, could become the first freshman in program history to pace the team in both kills and aces.
The weekend road trip concludes a three-match road swing for the Braves, who play five of the final seven matches of the regular-season at Renaissance Coliseum. Bradley will open a two-match home stand Friday, Oct. 31 with a 7 p.m. match against Southern Illinois.
