Volleyball Returns Home To Host UNI & Drake

Ricky Bassman

Volleyball 10/13/2016 9:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball has played the fewest home matches in the Missouri Valley Conference to date, but the Braves hope to benefit from some home cooking with four of the next five matches at Renaissance Coliseum. Bradley starts the heavy home stretch Friday with a 7 p.m. contest against Northern Iowa and a Saturday night matchup with Drake.

Saturday's 7 p.m. match with Drake will be Breast Cancer Awareness Night with Bradley (6-11 overall, 1-5 MVC) recognizing breast cancer survivors and area high school team which hosted "Volley for the Cure" events this year.

Survivors can receive free admission to the Drake contest by calling the Bradley Ticket Office at (309) 677-2625 or emailing bradleyticketoffice@bradley.edu to reserve their seat. Additional tickets for family and friends may be purchased at the group rate of $3. All tickets must be reserved by Friday at noon.

Breast cancer survivors can participate in a special recognition between sets two and three, in conjunction with a presentation from area "Volley for the Cure" high school teams. Teams wishing to attend must submit an official roster via email to bradleyticketoffice@bradley.edu by noon on Friday. Teams taking part in the event will receive a tour of Renaissance Coliseum prior to the match.

All fans in attendance Saturday are invited to pre-match "Chalk Talk" delivered by first-year Bradley head coach Carol Price-Torok at 6:15 p.m. in the Zobrist Room.

Links to live stats for both matches will be available at BradleyBraves.com and Friday's contest will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.

Northern Iowa (13-7 overall, 4-3 MVC) has a three-match win streak heading into Friday's tilt and the Panthers enter the weekend fifth in the MVC standings with a 4-3 league mark. Drake (11-9 overall, 2-4 MVC) is one game ahead of Bradley in the Valley standings prior to a Friday night outing at Loyola.

Friday's matchup with UNI opens a stretch in which Bradley plays six of the next nine at Renaissance Coliseum and the Braves play eight of the next nine contests in the state of Illinois after playing just three of the first 17 matches of 2016 in the Land of Lincoln.

Junior Jamie Livaudais (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) became the 40th player in program history to reach 500 career kills in last Friday's match at Missouri State and is the first active Brave with at least 500 kills since 2013. Livaudais has averaged 2.68 kills per set over the last six contests and is 17 kills from moving up three spots on Bradley's career kills list into 37th.

Sophomore Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) is just two kills from 500 in her career on The Hilltop and collected her 200th kill of 2016 Saturday at Wichita State. The third Brave in the last decade to record 200 or more kills in the first 17 matches of a season, Haslag is the first player in program history to tally 200 kills, 150 digs, 12 aces and at least 25 blocks as both a freshman and sophomore.

Following the weekend home stand, Bradley will play its only mid-week match of 2016 Tuesday when the Braves head to Chicago, Ill., for a 7 p.m. matchup at Loyola.

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Players Mentioned

#3 Erica Haslag: OH; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#5 Jamie Livaudais: OH; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#3 Erica Haslag
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: OH

#5 Jamie Livaudais
: 6' 1"; Junior
: OH

Volleyball Returns Home To Host UNI & Drake

Players Mentioned

#3 Erica Haslag

#5 Jamie Livaudais

Players Mentioned

#3 Erica Haslag

#5 Jamie Livaudais