Volleyball Set For Road Tests

Volleyball 9/27/2017 2:14:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball wraps up its first Missouri Valley Conference road swing of the 2017 season this weekend with contests at 22nd-ranked Northern Iowa Friday and a Saturday night tilt at Drake in the team's first contests of the year outside the states of either Illinois or Indiana.

Bradley (7-10 overall, 0-3 MVC) is looking for its Missouri Valley Conference victory of the season after falling in four sets in each of the first three league contests. The Braves will play their first ranked team since 2011 in Friday's 7 p.m. outing against 22nd-ranked Northern Iowa (12-4 overall, 2-0 MVC) in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Bradley concludes a three-match road swing Saturday with a 7 p.m. matchup against Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.

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

Sophomore Kathryn Graf has played a much bigger role in Bradley's offense as of late, averaging 3.12 kills per set with a .386 hitting percentage over the last four matches. She tied a career-best with 16 kills Monday at Indiana State in the MVC road opener for the Braves, after collecting 16 kills Friday against Southern Illinois in the conference opener. Graf is third on the team in kills per set at 2.35 and her .316 hitting percentage is seventh in the Valley. She enters the weekend needing seven blocks for the highest season block total at Bradley since 2012.

Senior Jamie Livaudais has also had a recent offensive surge and is hitting .300 with a 3.20 kills-per-set average in MVC play. Livaudais had a total of nine kills in a six-match stretch before a season-best 19 kills Saturday against pre-season MVC favorite Missouri State. She hit .486 in the outing against the Bears and followed it up with 12 kills Monday at Indiana State. Her 19 kills against Missouri State was her highest kill total in a match since her freshman season.

Last Saturday's match against Missouri State marked the halfway point of the 2017 regular-season schedule for the Braves. Junior Yavianliz Rosado had 336 digs after Saturday's outing, which puts her well on pace to tally just the sixth 500-dig season in school history.

Fellow junior Erica Haslag has a conference-leading 291 kills on the year and coupled with her 210 digs this season needs just nine kills to become the first Brave since Stephanie Behrns in 2001 and 2002 to tally 300 kills and 200 digs in consecutive seasons. Haslag is 30 kills from eclipsing her team-best kill total of 320 from last year and would have the highest season kill total by a Bradley individual since Amber DeBroux finished the 2006 season with 361 kills.

Bradley's four true road games to date are tied for the fewest in the MVC this season and the Braves have played a league-high 10 home matches. Saturday's match at Drake will mark the 19th match of the season for Bradley, marking the first time the Braves will play at least 19 matches before the end of September since 1990 (20 matches). Bradley will play the first 22 matches of the year over a 46-day span ending with the Oct. 9 match at Evansville and conclude the season with 10 matches over a 37-day stretch.

Following the weekend road swing, Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum to open a brief two-match home stand Friday, Oct. 6 with a 7 p.m. matchup against MVC newcomer Valparaiso.

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