PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team hits the road for the final time this fall, opening a two-match road swing Friday at Indiana State before facing current league leader and I-74 rival Illinois State Saturday night in the last road match of 2014.
Friday's match at Indiana State will start at 6 p.m. (CST) with the Braves looking for their fourth win in the last five outings against the Sycamores. First serve for Saturday's contest at Redbird Arena vs. Illinois State is slated for 7 p.m. as BU shoots for its first victory in Normal, Ill., since 2002. The Braves will play the final road match of the season at Illinois State for the first time since 2003.
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both road matches and a free video stream of Friday's match vs. Indiana State will be available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/indiana-state-volleyball
Senior Madison Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) matched a career-best with 13 kills in Saturday's victory against Evansville to help Bradley sweep the Purple Aces. Kamp, who averaged 4.33 kills per set in the two outings against Evansville this fall is the fourth player in program history to collect 300 career kills, 1,700 assists, 450 digs and at least 100 blocks.
Junior Lea Sack averaged an impressive 5.17 digs per set in Bradley's two home matches last week, while helping the Braves limit opponents to a .192 attack percentage. Sack has climbed into the top 30 in career digs at Bradley and enters the weekend 43 digs from becoming the 25th player in school history with 800 career digs. She would be the 11th Brave to reach 800 career digs before the end of their junior year.
A pair of freshmen lead the Braves in kills with Taylor Thiele (Aurora, Neb./Aurora) owning a team-best 192 kills this fall and Jamie Livaudais (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) second on the squad with 153 kills. Bradley has two freshmen with 150 kills or more in the same season for the first time since 2010. If Thiele can add eight more kills and Livaudais collect 17 kills, Bradley would have a freshman with 200 kills and another frosh with at least 170 kills for the first time since 1993 when Jenny Pavlas (301 kills) and Joy Ostendorf (251 kills) ranked first and second on the team in kills.
Fellow freshman Afton Sobasky (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) has the most assists by a Bradley freshman since Kamp had 1,003 assists as a frosh in 2011 and Sobasky's 569 assists ranks as the eighth best total by a BU freshman. With five matches remaining, Sobasky is seven kills and 19 digs from becoming the fourth Bradley freshman with 70 kills, 500 assists, 150 digs and 25 or more blocks.
After the final road swing of the season, Bradley closes out the schedule with a three-match home stand which starts Saturday, Nov. 15 (7 p.m.) against Loyola.
