PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball continues a season-long, five-match home stand Thursday at 6 p.m. when the Braves host Loyola in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams at Renaissance Coliseum. It will Dollar Dog Night with $1 hot dogs available for purchase at all concession stands.
The fourth match of a five-match home stand will mark the latest conference opener for Bradley (5-7 overall) since the double round-robin schedule was adopted for the 1992 season. The Braves are 16-16 in Valley openers all-time with Thursday's matchup against Loyola (11-2 overall) marking the first time the two teams have met in a league opener. Bradley is 9-8 when opening Valley play at home and will be starting conference play at home for the fifth time in six years.
Notes | The Valley on ESPN3 | Live Stats | Twitter Updates (@BradleySIDLive) | Tickets
A link to live stats will be available at BradleyBraves.com and can be viewed on ESPN3. The Valley on ESPN3 is available through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
Loyola brings a 10-match win streak into Thursday's matchup and the Ramblers boast the best record in the Missouri Valley Conference this season at 11-2.
Freshman Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) averaged 4.18 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.64 blocks per set while hitting during last week's Bradley Invitational. In six home matches this season, Haslag has averaged 3.74 kills per set and tallied 86 of her team-best 118 kills (73 percent) in her six home outings.
A freshman has led the team in kills in nine of the last 11 matches, with Haslag pacing the team in kills in each of the last three contests. She became just the fourth Bradley freshman since 1992 to notch 100 kills in the first 10 matches of their career to join a group which includes Taylor Thiele (2014), Marika Giguere (2000) and Cindy Novak (1992). In addition, Haslag had 24 kills last Friday against Southeast Missouri State to join Giguere and Novak as the only freshmen in school history with 24 or more kills in a match.
Senior Lea Sack (Lincoln, Neb./Pius X) has six outings with 20 or more digs this season and had 30 digs last Friday to finish one dig short of matching her career-best of 31 set earlier this season. Sack is the third individual in school history to have two outings in the same season with 30 or more digs, joining Lauren Zerante and Gillian Falknor. She is now 13th in school history with 1,067 digs and is 39 from passing Stacy Besjak (1,105 digs) on the all-time chart. Nearing the midway point of the season, Sack is less than 100 digs from breaking into Bradley's career top 10.
Last weekend's Bradley Invitational kicked off a stretch in which the Braves play five consecutive home matches and eight of the next 10 at Renaissance Coliseum. Bradley will play five of the first seven MVC matches and seven of the first 12 league contests at home starting with Thursday's matchup with Loyola.
Following Thursday's Valley opener against Loyola, the Braves finish the five-match, home stand Tuesday with a 5 p.m. home contest against Northern Iowa.
