TOLEDO, Ohio -- Senior Lea Sack (Lincoln, NE/Pius X) tallied a career-best 31 digs, including 25 in the final three sets, and sophomore Taylor Thiele (Aurora, NE/Aurora) collected 13 kills to help Bradley rally for a 25-15, 17-25, 18-25, 27-25, 17-15 victory at Toledo Friday morning in the season opener for both squads.   

The Braves, who won a true road game to open a season for the first time since 1985, took the opener 25-15 behind five kills from Thiele as Bradley hit .304 in the frame.

Toledo answered with a .464 attack percentage in the second set and the Rockets had a combined .414 hitting percentage in the second and third frames to take a two-sets-to-one lead behind 25-17 and 25-18 victories.

After tallying just six digs in the first two sets, Sack had nine in the third frame and went on to help Bradley limit Toledo to an .064 attack percentage in the fourth set.  Sack notched 11 of her career-best 31 digs in the fourth frame, while junior Kelsey Cave (Solon, IA/Solon) led the Braves offensively with five kills in the pivotal set. 

In the fourth, Toledo jumped out to a 6-1 advantage before Bradley rallied.  Five consecutive points put the Braves ahead 9-8 and Bradley later used a 6-0 spurt to build a 15-12 advantage.  The Rockets held match point at 24-23 when freshman Allison Turner (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette) tied things at 24-24 with a kill.  The Braves were ahead 25-24 following a Thiele kill and led 26-25 on Cave's fifth kill of the set.  A Toledo attack error sealed a 27-25 Bradley victory and forced a deciding fifth set.

The Braves rallied again in the fifth after Toledo took an early 6-3 lead.  Back-to-back kills by freshman Raegen Jackson (Arvada, CO/Lakewood) trimmed the Rockets' lead to one at 11-10 and Bradley later pulled even at 13-13 on a Sack ace. 

Toledo held match point again at 14-13, but Cave found the floor with another kill to tie the score for the fourth time in the set.  The teams traded points before Cave gave Bradley a 16-15 advantage with another kill.  Jackson and Thiele put the finishing touches on the five-set road victory with a block as the Braves took the deciding frame 17-15.

Thiele had 11 of her team-best 13 kills in the first three sets and hit .310 in the match.  Sack added five assists and one ace to her career-best 31 digs, which tied for the eighth-best total in school history and was the most by a Brave since 2013.  With the 31-dig effort, Sack moved up two spots into 20th on Bradley's career digs list. 

Sophomore Afton Sobasky (Inver Grove Heights, MN/St. Croix Lutheran) added a team-best 21 assists and 10 digs for her 10th career double-double. 

Underclassmen combined for 37 of Bradley's 50 kills in the victory, including 18 by freshmen.  Turner and fellow freshman Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, MO/Helias Catholic) each started the match and tallied seven kills.  Jackson collected four kills, one ace and a team-high three blocks off the bench, which included a block on the match-winning point. 

Saige Thomas led Toledo with a match-high 18 kills, while Mary O'Connor added 14 kills of her own to pace the Rockets. 

Bradley continues play at the Rocket Classic later today with a 4 p.m. (CDT) match against Youngstown State.