Busy Weekend On Tap For Bradley Volleyball

Volleyball 9/1/2016 11:45:00 AM

North Dakota State Classic Notes	North Dakota State Classic Live Stats	North Dakota State Classic Video Stream (subscription)
South Dakota State Live Stats	South Dakota State Video Stream (subscription)

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball will have its longest trip and busiest weekend of 2016 over Labor Day Weekend, with the Braves taking part in the North Dakota State Classic Friday and Saturday in Fargo, N.D., in addition to playing a match Sunday afternoon at South Dakota State.

The trip to North Dakota will be the first in program history with Bradley (2-1 overall) looking to continue its strong play after opening the season with a second-place finish at last week's Pepsi Panther Invitational in Milwaukee, Wis. The Braves have opened a season 2-1 or better for the seventh time in the last eight years.

The Braves open tournament play Friday at 12:30 p.m. against in-state foe Northern Illinois. Saturday's action at the North Dakota State Classic features matchups with UTEP (10 a.m.) and North Dakota State (6:30 p.m.). Bradley will play four matches in a three-day span, completing the swing through the Dakotas Sunday afternoon with a 3 p.m. contest at South Dakota State.

Links to live stats for all four matches will be available at BradleyBraves.com, while subscription video streams will be available at GoBison.com/showcase and GoJacks.com/watch/?Live=74

Bradley had a pair of all-tournament team selections at last week's Pepsi Panther Invitational, with senior middle blocker Kelsey Cave (Solon, Iowa/Solon) and sophomore libero Abby Ihrke (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) earning the honor. Cave ranked 13th in the nation in attack percentage through matches of Aug. 28 at .545 and ranks among the Missouri Valley Conference leaders in both kills (3.64 per set) and blocks (1.45 per set).

Ihrke had a career-best 19 digs in the season opener at Milwaukee in her first outing at libero and has helped the Braves limit opponents to a .138 attack percentage on the young season.

In addition to the pair of all-tournament selections from the opening weekend, sophomore Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) turned in her fourth career double-double in the season opener, finishing with 13 kills and career-best 18 digs in the five-set contest at Milwaukee. Haslag has reached double figures in kills in eight of 14 career non-conference matches.

Freshman setter Erin Olson (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) started all three matches last weekend to become the seventh freshman setter to start a season opener for the Braves over the last 25 years. She collected four kills, 49 assists, seven digs and four blocks in her Bradley debut, with her kills, assists and blocks all ranking as the top numbers produced by a freshman setter in a season opener over that 25-year span.

After the weekend trip to North and South Dakota, Bradley heads to Kansas City, Mo., for the Kangaroo Klassic Sept. 9 & 10. The Braves open tournament play Friday, Sept. 9 with a 10 a.m. matchup against Nebraska-Omaha.

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