PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball closes out a three-match road swing and opens the second half of Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday with a 4 p.m. match at Loyola.
Saturday afternoon's contest at Gentile Arena in Chicago, Ill., is third match in a stretch in which the Braves play five of seven on the road. Bradley and Loyola opened MVC play against each other back on Oct. 24 at Renaissance Coliseum with the Ramblers winning in three sets. The Braves are 5-4 in road matches in the series since 1984, but Loyola has won the last three matchups in Chicago.
BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats and the match will be available on ESPN3. The Valley on ESPN3 is available through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
Loyola (17-5 overall, 6-3 MVC) opened the season with a 17-3 record, including a 6-1 start to MVC play, before dropping back-to-back contests. The Ramblers fell to Northern Iowa at home on Tuesday to open a season-long, four-match home stand.
Bradley has posted a better record in the second half of conference play in three of head coach Jenny Maurer's four years on The Hilltop. The Braves have exceeded their win total in the second half of league play in four of the last five seasons and five of the last seven years overall.
Freshman Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) tallied her 200th kill of the season Saturday at Missouri State to become the 16th freshman in school history with 200 kills. Haslag reached the 200-kill mark in just 20 matches to become the first Bradley freshman with 200 kills in 20 or fewer matches since Marika Giguere (17 matches) in 2000.
In fact, Haslag is one of just three players in school history with 200 or more kills in their first 20 outings, joining Giguere and Cindy Novak (1992) on the exclusive list. She needs 39 kills to move into the top 10 for freshman.
Senior Lea Sack (Lincoln, Neb./Pius X) collected her 1,200th career dig with a 16-dig effort at Missouri State Saturday. Sack is the seventh player in school history to reach 1,200 career digs and joins Bradley Hall of Fame member Samantha Hardwick as the only players in program history with 1,200 digs, 200 assists and 65 or more aces. Sack's 4.77 digs-per-set average this year would rank as the third-best average in school history. She is now sixth at Bradley with 1,204 digs and needs 126 digs to pass Hardwick for fifth on the all-time list after moving up three spots Saturday.
Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum next weekend, hosting Evansville Friday, Oct. 30 in a 7 p.m. contest in addition to a home tilt against Southern Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 31 (7 p.m.).
