Volleyball Opens Valley Play

Volleyball 9/20/2017 12:24:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Fresh off a 4-0 weekend to claim the 2017 CEFCU Invitational title, Bradley Volleyball has another busy stretch on tap with the Braves hosting Southern Illinois (Friday) and Missouri State (Saturday) to open Missouri Valley Conference play in addition to traveling to Indiana State Monday for the first conference road match of the year.

Bradley (7-7 overall) will open the MVC schedule against Southern Illinois (1-10 overall) Friday at 7 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum, marking just the second time the Braves will open league play against the Salukis despite the two sharing conference membership for 35 years. The only previous conference opener against SIU was a Bradley sweep in 2001. The Braves are 9-7 at home in league openers and have started conference play at home in six of the eight-year history of Renaissance Coliseum.

Saturday's 7 p.m. home match against pre-season MVC favorite Missouri State (8-5 overall) closes out a 10-match home stand for Bradley and will mark the 100th Bradley Volleyball match at Renaissance Coliseum. Bradley head coach Carol Price-Torok will deliver a pre-match "Chalk Talk" open to all fans at 6:25 p.m. in the Zobrist Room prior to Saturday night's matchup with the Bears.

The Braves will play eight matches in an 18-day span to open Valley play and will kick off a stretch of seven of nine on the road Monday night with a 6 p.m. contest at Indiana State. Monday's match at Indiana State ends the longest home stand in program history (10 matches).

All three matches will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.

Bradley brings a 5-3 home record into this weekend's contests at Renaissance Coliseum, matching the team's home win total from the last two seasons combined. The Braves need just two home victories to match the most home wins in Renaissance Coliseum history.

Juniors Yavianliz Rosado and Erica Haslag were named co-MVP's of the 2017 CEFCU Invitational after helping lead Bradley to the tournament title. Rosado, who was named MVC Defensive Player of the Week, averaged 6.31 digs per set last weekend. With Saturday's match against Missouri State marking the halfway point of the regular-season schedule, Rosado has 304 digs, which is already more than halfway to the Bradley season digs record of 606 set by Stacey Besjak in 1985. Rosado ranked 12th in the nation in digs per set (5.74) through matches of Sept. 17 and was fourth in the country in total digs at that point.

Haslag has continued her quick climb up the Bradley career kills list and is currently 18th all-time with 870 kills. The first Brave with five outings of 20 or more kills in a season since Lindsay Stalzer in 2005, Haslag averaged 4.54 kills per set last weekend and is averaging a league-best 4.81 kills per set on the year to rank 11th in the nation. She needs 30 kills to become just the fifth player in program history to reach 900 career kills as a junior.

Sophomore Hannah Angeli owns a team-best 10 double-doubles, which rank as the most by a Bradley player since Alise Tupuritis in 2013 and are the most by a Bradley setter since Sam Black had 11 in 2008. She is currently third in the MVC in assists per set (10.44) and ranks second on the team in digs per set at 3.40. Angeli has helped Bradley improve its digs-per-set average to 18.47 to rank fifth in the nation. Bradley's average would be the team's best digs per set since rally scoring was adopted for the 2001 season.

Following Monday's outing at Indiana State, Bradley continues a three-match Valley road swing Friday, Sept. 29 at 22nd-ranked Northern Iowa.

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Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli: S; 6' 0"; Sophomore

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

#1 Yavianliz Rosado: DS/L; 5' 6"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: S

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

#1 Yavianliz Rosado
: 5' 6"; Junior
: DS/L

Volleyball Opens Valley Play

Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli

#3 Erica Haslag

#1 Yavianliz Rosado

Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli

#3 Erica Haslag

#1 Yavianliz Rosado