Bradley University Athletics

Braves Wrap Up Road Swing Saturday At Illinois State

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

Volleyball 9/22/2016 2:06:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball wraps up the longest stretch of matches away from home in over 30 years, when the Braves take on I-74 rival Illinois State Saturday at Redbird Arena to conclude a season-opening stretch of 13 consecutive road or neutral site contests.

Despite opening the season with a heavy road slate, Bradley (5-7 overall, 0-1 MVC) enters Saturday's matchup with the Redbirds (8-5 overall, 1-0) one win short of matching the team's win total from the entire 2015 season. The Braves last played 13 or more consecutive matches away from home during the 1985 campaign (14 consecutive).

BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for Saturday's outing, which will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.

The Braves have gotten off to strong starts, by winning the opening set in nine of 12 matches in 2016. In fact, two of the three first-set losses for Bradley have come by two points. Last year, the Braves took the opening set in just seven matches. Through 12 contests, Bradley is hitting .250 in the first set and in the team's five wins the Braves have combined for a .295 hitting percentage in the opening frame.

Sophomore Erica Haslag (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) continues to help power the Bradley offensive efforts after tallying 20 or more kills in each of the last two matches. The first Bradley player with back-to-back 20-kill performances since 2007, Haslag has averaged 5.29 kills per set over the last four matches and is the first Brave with four consecutive 15-kill efforts since Lindsay Stalzer in 2005.

Haslag is quickly closing in on a pair of milestones, ranking 44th in career kills (461). She is nine kills behind junior Jamie Livaudais (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) for Bradley's active career lead and needs 39 kills in her next four matches to become the quickest player in program history to reach 500 career kills. Haslag's 21 kills in the MVC opener at Indiana State last Friday are the most in a four-set match by a Bradley player under the current 25-point format and her 25 points against the Sycamores tied for the fourth most points in any match by a Brave since 2008.

Senior middle blocker Kelsey Cave (Solon, Iowa/Solon) has been equally impressive and is now third in the MVC with a .398 attack percentage after collecting 19 kills with a .679 hitting percentage last week at Indiana State. Cave owns the top two single match attack percentages in the MVC this season and her 19 kills without a hitting error against the Sycamores shattered the previous school record for kills in a match without a hitting error (13) she had tied earlier this year. Cave, who is one of four active Braves with at least 400 career kills, has hit .300 or better in nine of 12 outings this year and 17 of her last 23 contests dating back to last year.

After closing out the road swing, Bradley will play its 2016 home opener Friday, Sept. 30 when the Braves host Southern Illinois in a 7 p.m. match at Renaissance Coliseum.

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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

Braves Wrap Up Road Swing Saturday At Illinois State

Players Mentioned

#6 Kelsey Cave

#3 Erica Haslag

#5 Jamie Livaudais

Players Mentioned

#6 Kelsey Cave

#3 Erica Haslag

#5 Jamie Livaudais