Bradley University Athletics

Bradley Volleyball Returns Home For Weekend Home Stand

Barathwaj Rudraboina

Volleyball 11/3/2016 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball will close the 2016 regular season with three of the final five matches at Renaissance Coliseum, opening a two-match weekend home stand Friday with a 7 p.m. contest against pre-season Missouri Valley Conference favorite Wichita State and closing out the weekend with a Saturday night (7 p.m.) tilt against league-leading Missouri State.

Links to live stats for both outings will be available on BradleyBraves.com, while both tilts will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.

Wichita State was the pre-season pick to win the regular-season title and the Shockers are second in the MVC standings at 9-3 after closing out a three-match home stand this past Saturday with a sweep of Drake.

Missouri State has won 10 consecutive matches after starting out Valley play 0-2 and the Bears have a one-game lead on Wichita State entering the weekend atop the conference standings.

Senior Kelsey Cave (Solon, Iowa/Solon) recorded her 500th career kill last Friday at Evansville to become the 42nd player in program history to reach the mark. Cave, who needs six blocks for the most by a Bradley individual in a season since 2012, gives the Braves three active players with at least 500 career kills for the first time since that same 2012 campaign.

Both junior Jamie Livaudais (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) and sophomore Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) are poised to move up Bradley's career kills chart with the pair both closing in on 600 career kills. Livaudais has reached double figures in kills in four of the last six matches and averaged 2.70 kills per set during that span. She is 35th in program history with 573 career kills and needs just 16 kills to move up three spots on Bradley's all-time kills chart.

Haslag is right behind Livaudais with 569 career kills entering the weekend and is closing in on 300 kills for the year. She would be just the fifth Brave in the last decade with 300 kills in a season and would be the first Bradley underclassman with 300 or more kills since Lindsay Stalzer led the team with 442 kills as a sophomore in 2003. In addition, Haslag is two digs from reaching 200 as she attempts to become the first Brave with 300 kills and 200 digs in a season since Alise Tupuritis in 2013.

With three weeks remaining on the regular-season schedule, Bradley owns its best season hitting percentage since 2013 and the Braves are currently sixth in the Valley in digs per set at 15.39. In Valley contests the Braves are hitting nearly 10 points higher than they did in 2016 and MVC foes are hitting over 30 points lower than they did against Bradley last fall.

The Braves will hit the road for the final time in 2016 next weekend, closing out the regular-season road slate with contests at Drake (Nov. 11) and at Northern Iowa (Nov. 12).

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Players Mentioned

#6 Kelsey Cave: MB; 6' 2"; Senior

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

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

Players Mentioned

#6 Kelsey Cave
: 6' 2"; Senior
: MB

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

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

Bradley Volleyball Returns Home For Weekend Home Stand

Players Mentioned

#6 Kelsey Cave

#3 Erica Haslag

#5 Jamie Livaudais

Players Mentioned

#6 Kelsey Cave

#3 Erica Haslag

#5 Jamie Livaudais