PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team will open Missouri Valley Conference play on the road for the first time since 2009 Friday when the Braves play at Drake and close out a two-match road swing Saturday with a match at Northern Iowa. Both contests will begin at 7 p.m.
Despite playing just three home matches this season, Bradley (0-10 overall) played seven of the first 10 matches in the state of Illinois and will be opening Missouri Valley Conference play at Drake for the first time in program history. The Braves will be facing Drake (8-3 overall) in the league opener for the second straight year and third time overall. Bradley has won three consecutive matches in the series and four of the last five against the Bulldogs.
The Braves ended the 2013 regular season with a road swing through Iowa, capped by a five-set victory against Drake in Des Moines, Iowa, and return to the Hawkeye state for the first weekend of Valley play in 2014. The road swing concludes Saturday with a 7 p.m. match at Northern Iowa (5-5 overall).
BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for both matches and Bradley All-Access subscribers will be able to watch both contests.
Newcomers have had a big impact for the Braves, with the three freshmen combining for 48 percent of the team's kills and aces, in addition to accounting for 70 of the team's assists through the first 10 matches of the year.
Freshman Jamie Livaudais (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) was named to the CEFCU Classic All-Tournament team and has reached a new season high in kills in three of the last four outings. Livaudais, who tallied a season and team-best 16 kills Saturday night against North Dakota State, has averaged 2.88 kills per set in the last four matches.
The freshman combination of Afton Sobasky (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) and Taylor Thiele (Aurora, Neb./Aurora) have each recorded four double-doubles in the last five contests. Thiele leads the team with 102 kills on the year (2.55 per set) and is the first Brave with 100 kills in the first 10 matches of their career since Marika Giguere in 2000. She joined Giguere and Cindy Novak (1992 - eight matches) as the only Bradley freshman since 1992 with 100 or more kills in their first 10 matches on The Hilltop.
Sobasky has averaged 0.90 kills, 8.40 assists and 2.70 digs per set over the last five matches, turning in four double-doubles during that stretch. Only five Bradley freshmen have notched as many as five double-doubles in their first season over the last 15 years and the only seasons over the last 23 years in which the Braves had two freshmen with four or more double-doubles were 1999 and 1992.
The weekend trip through Iowa opens a stretch in which Bradley plays seven of the next 11 matches on the road. The Braves host pre-season league favorite Wichita State Friday, Sept. 26 in the first home conference match of the year and also host Missouri State Sunday, Sept. 28.
