PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball heads to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Indiana State Tournament Friday and Saturday, with the Braves opening Missouri Valley Conference play Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) against tournament-host Indiana State and closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule Saturday at 10 a.m. (CDT) vs. Western Michigan.
Friday's matchup with Indiana State will be Bradley's earliest MVC opener since 2012. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats to both weekend contests, while Friday's tilt with Indiana State will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
Bradley (5-5 overall) will face Indiana State (5-5 overall) in its Valley opener for the first time since 1999 and Friday's outing marks just the fifth time in 34 years the two have squared off to open league play. Overall, Bradley is 16-17 in conference openers, but a perfect 4-0 when facing the Sycamores to open conference action. The Braves will open league play on the road for just the second time in seven years and are 7-8 when starting conference play away from home, which includes a 3-0 mark in the state of Indiana.
In addition to opening the Valley slate, Bradley will finish off the non-conference portion of the schedule Saturday morning against Western Michigan in Terre Haute, Ind. The Broncos swept the only previous meeting in the all-time series, winning a neutral site contest in Milwaukee, Wis., during the 2012 campaign.
The Braves won a pair of neutral site matches last weekend in Kansas City, Mo. to finish second at the Kangaroo Klassic with a 2-1 mark. Bradley is 4-2 at neutral sites this fall and have five road or neutral site victories, surpassing the team's win total away from home for the entire 2014 and 2015 seasons combined (3). The four neutral site victories are the most since 2011 (4) and a victory Saturday against Western Michigan would give the Braves their most neutral site wins (5) since 1988 (8).
Sophomore
Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helais Catholic) averaged 4.20 kills per set last week to earn all-tournament honors at the Kangaroo Klassic and reached 400 career kills. With Friday's match at Indiana State marking the 40th contest of her career as a Brave she is just the fifth player in program history to reach 400 kills in 40 matches or fewer and tied Bradley Hall of Fame member Jenny Pavlas for the second fastest (38 matches) in school history to reach the mark.
Haslag is currently 47th in school history with 420 kills and is 80 short of becoming the 10th Brave to reach 500 career kills as an underclassmen in addition closing in on junior
Jamie Livaudais (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood) for Bradley's active career kills lead. Livaudais heads into the weekend 43rd in Bradley history with 450 career kills.
Senior
Kelsey Cave (Solon, Iowa/Solon) has continued to be efficient this year and is third in the MVC with a .378 attack percentage, which ranks just outside the top 50 (59th) in the nation through Sept. 11. Cave has had two outings this season in which she tallied 10 or more kills without committing a hitting error.
Following the weekend trip to Terre Haute, Ind., Bradley finishes off a stretch of 13 consecutive road or neutral site matches to open the season, Saturday, Sept. 24 at I-74 rival Illinois State.
