PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley Volleyball team returns to Renaissance Coliseum, opening a three-match home stand with matches Friday and Saturday as the Braves take on Indiana State and I-74 rival Illinois State to wrap up a stretch in which the Braves will have played eight of 10 matches at home.
The home stand opens Friday with a 7 p.m. matchup with Indiana State (12-7 overall, 1-3 MVC) and continues Saturday afternoon with a 5 p.m. contest against I-74 rival Illinois State (12-5 overall, 2-2 MVC).
Friday's match will be “Pink Night” at Renaissance Coliseum to help raise awareness for breast cancer. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the 7 p.m. match against the Sycamores.
Saturday's outing against Illinois State will be Alumni Day; with Bradley Volleyball alumni in attendance recognized between sets two and three of the annual home match against the Redbirds.
In addition to Alumni Day, Bradley (5-11 overall, 0-4 MVC) will host a free post-match clinic Saturday open to all children eighth grade and under following the 5 p.m. match against Illinois State. Participants can register the day of the event and are encouraged to wear appropriate shoes and active wear. Head coach Jenny Maurer will also have a pre-match “Chalk Talk” open to all fans at 4:15 p.m. prior to the contest in the Zobrist Room.
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both matches and both tilts can be viewed on ESPN3. The Valley on ESPN3 is available through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
Notes | The Valley on ESPN3 | Live Stats | Twitter Updates (@BradleySIDLive) | Tickets
Freshman Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) has reached double figures in kills in three of four Missouri Valley Conference matches and tallied nine or more kills six of the last seven outings. She has led the squad in kills a team-best seven times and has averaged 3.21 kills per set over the last 13 matches. Haslag has reached double figures in kills eight time this fall nd could become just the sixth Bradley freshman since 2000 to have nine outings with 10 or more kills.
Senior Lea Sack (Lincoln, Neb./Pius X) notched her 1,100th career digs last Friday at Southern Illinois to become just the fourth player in program history to own 1,100 digs, 175 assists and 60 or more aces. Sack is poised to climb on Bradley's career digs list after moving into 12th Saturday at Evansville. She is eight digs from passing Stephanie Behrns for 11th on the all-time list and 44 digs from climbing into 10th.
Bradley had 11 aces in two road matches last week and is now fourth in the league in aces per set at 1.31 per set. The team's 1.31 aces per set is the best by the Braves since 2009 (1.32) and the last Bradley team to average better than 1.32 aces per set was the 2003 team at 1.53 per set. Bradley's 77 aces this year is just seven away from last year's team total.
Freshmen have now accounted for 53 percent of Bradley's kills and 50 percent of the squad's scoring. In fact, underclassmen have combined for 575 of Bradley's 693 kills (83 percent) and nearly 700 of the squad's 883 points (79 percent).
The Braves will wrap up the three-match home stand Tuesday with a 5 p.m. match against Drake at Renaissance Coliseum. Following Tuesday's contest against Drake, Bradley will play five of the next seven matches on the road.
