PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team has its fewest home matches in the month of October since 2005, with the Braves playing the first two of three October home contests at Renaissance Coliseum this weekend.
Bradley takes on I-74 rival Illinois State (11-5 overall, 5-0 MVC) Friday at 7 p.m. in the team's annual “Pink” match, before hosting Indiana State (10-6 overall, 2-3 MVC) Saturday (5 p.m.) on Alumni Day.
Fans are encouraged to wear pink to Friday's matchup with Illinois State as the Braves host their annual Pink match to help promote breast cancer awareness. Breast cancer survivors and their families are invited to participate in an on-court recognition between the second and third sets. Survivors may RSVP to busportsmarketing@bradley.edu if they plan to participate or check in at the marketing table upon arriving at the match.
Saturday's matchup with Indiana State features a special 5 p.m. start with fourth-year Bradley head coach Jenny Maurer giving a pre-match chalk talk open to all fans at 4:15 p.m. in the Zobrist Room.
Live stats will be available at BradleyBraves.com, in addition to subscription video streams for both contests.
Illinois State is tied with Northern Iowa for the top spot in the MVC standings at 5-0 and the Redbirds have won seven consecutive matches since a five-set loss to Baylor on Sept. 12.
Indiana State has won two of its last three matches heading into a Friday night tilt at Loyola, but the Braves have won eight of their last nine home matches against the Sycamores and four consecutive home matches in the series.
Bradley received a boost last weekend with three Braves returning from injuries. Junior Jessie Tulacka (Wesmont, Ill./Downers Grove North) averaged 3.50 kills and hit .354 in last week's two road matches. She notched 13 kills with a .393 attack percentage at Evansville last Friday in her first outing back after an injury which sidelined her for 10 matches.
Sophomore Kelsey Cave (Solon, Iowa/Solon) has missed seven of 16 matches this fall, but was back in the lineup at Evansville last week to notch six kills and three blocks. In addition, junior Kristi Chynoweth (Parkland, Fla./North Broward) had missed six consecutive matches before tallying four kills at Southern Illinois in her first match since Sept. 13.
Last Friday's 40-38 setback in the third set at Evansville was the highest scoring set in Missouri Valley Conference history since the 25-point format came into use in 2008. Fifteen of Bradley's 60 sets (25 percent) have been decided by two points with nine sets (15 percent) going beyond the 25-point mark. The last conference match which featured both teams scoring more than 35 points in a set was a 40-38 Northern Iowa win at Drake on Oct. 19, 2007 under the old 30-point set format.
Freshman Taylor Thiele (Aurora, Neb./Aurora) ranks among the top three on the squad in kills (1st), digs (2nd), aces (2nd) and blocks (3rd) as Bradley nears the halfway point of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule. The first Bradley freshman with 150 kills and 150 digs in a season since Courtney Keefe in 2011, Thiele needs 43 kills and 34 digs to become just the eighth Bradley freshman with 200 kills and 200 digs.
Junior Lea Sack (Lincoln, Neb./Pius X) has averaged 4.50 digs per set in Valley play and has climbed into 33rd in school history with 672 career digs. She is 28 digs from being the 32nd Brave with 700 career digs.
The weekend home matches for the Braves fall before a three-match road swing which opens Oct. 17 at Loyola (7 p.m.).
