PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing five of the last seven matches at Renaissance Coliseum, the Bradley volleyball team will have five of the next seven on the road starting with a Friday matchup at Evansville (7 p.m.) and a Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) contest at Southern Illinois.
The Braves (0-14 overall, 0-4 MVC) hold a 25-20 lead in the all-time series with Evansville (4-11 overall, 0-3 MVC) and Bradley is 11-10 in road matches against the Purple Aces. Bradley swept the regular-season series from Southern Illinois (7-8 overall, 1-2 MVC) last year and is 4-3 in the last seven vs. SIU. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both weekend contests.
Junior Lea Sack (Lincoln, Neb./Pius X) tallied a season-best 21 digs Sunday against Missouri State and has averaged 4.69 digs per set over the last seven outings. She has helped the Braves average 18.00 digs per set in Missouri Valley Conference action compared to a 13.30 digs-per-set average in non-conference action. Sack has climbed into 36th in school history with 651 career digs and is 49 short of becoming the 32nd individual in program history to reach 700 career digs.
Senior Madison Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) has led the team in kills in each of the last two outings, including a career-best 11 kills against league favorite Wichita State last Friday. After a slow start to the year, Kamp has averaged 2.31 kills per set over the last seven matches and has averaged 2.44 kills per set with a .200 attack percentage in Bradley's five home matches.
Freshman setter Afton Sobasky (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) has increased both her kills and digs per set averages in Missouri Valley Conference play to 1.21 kills and 2.43 digs. The ninth freshman in school history with 50 kills, 350 assists and 100 digs, she has a chance to become the first freshman in school history with 100 kills, 700 assists and 200 digs.
Fellow freshman Taylor Thiele (Aurora, Neb./Aurora) continues to lead Bradley in kills with a 2.57 per set average. She is 11 kills from being the first BU freshman with 150 kills and 150 digs since Courtney Keefe in 2011 and is on pace to become just the eighth Bradley freshman to reach 200 kills and 200 digs.
Bradley's freshmen continue to take advantage of opportunities and have helped fill the void for several injured starters. The trio of freshmen have combined for 51 percent of the team's kills, 43 percent of aces, 72 percent of Bradley's assists and nearly half (46 percent) of the squads blocks.
After the two-match road swing, Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum for a 7 p.m. contest against I-74 rival Illinois State Friday, Oct. 10.
