Volleyball Set For Busy Stretch

Julie Kestas

Volleyball 10/10/2018 2:18:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball faces the busiest stretch of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule, playing three matches in a four-day span, with the Braves hosting Loyola (Friday) and Valparaiso (Saturday) at Renaissance Coliseum before closing out the first-half of the league slate Monday at Illinois State.

A pair of four-set losses on the road at Drake and league-leading Northern Iowa last weekend, dropped Bradley (14-4 overall, 4-2 MVC) into fourth in the Valley standings and sets up some key contests for the Braves. Loyola (11-7 overall, 3-3 MVC) enters Friday's 7 p.m. match one game behind Bradley in the league standings in a tie for sixth, while Valparaiso (18-3 overall, 5-1 MVC) and Illinois State (13-5 overall, 5-1 MVC) are one game ahead of the Braves in a tie for second prior to their match up Friday in Normal, Ill.

Both Friday's outing against Loyola and Monday's tilt at I-74 rival Illinois State will be available on ESPN+, while Saturday's matchup against Valparaiso will air on ESPN3. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live state for all three matches. Fans attending Monday's 6 p.m. match at Illinois State are reminded of a new clear bag policy at Redbird Arena (https://goredbirds.com/sports/2018/7/16/clear-bag-policy.aspx).

While the Braves had an eight-match win streak snapped last week, Bradley still owns an eight-match home win streak and has already set the Renaissance Coliseum record for wins in a season (8-0). Friday's matchup with Loyola kicks off a stretch in which the Braves play four of five at home and six of nine at Renaissance Coliseum.

Seniors Erica Haslag and Yavianliz Rosado both hit historic milestones last weekend. Haslag moved into fourth in career kills at Bradley in last Saturday's outing at Northern Iowa, notching her 1,400th kill as a Brave to pass Stacey Besjak (1982-85) on BU's all-time list. Haslag is averaging 3.86 kills per set in MVC play and is eight kills from passing Betsy Buckhold (1.407 kills) for third all-time in Bradley history in career kills.

Rosado notched her 1,000th career dig last Friday at Drake in just her 49th match as a Brave. The 17th Bradley player to reach the 1,000-dig mark, Rosado is the fastest individual in school history to reach 1,000 career digs; breaking the previous fastest of 84 matches by Lauren Zerante (2010-13). Rosado is averaging a league-best 6.36 digs per set in Valley play and is closing in on the top 10 in career digs at Bradley, needing 159 digs to break into the group.

Freshman outside hitter Hannah Thompson continues to put herself in rare company as well. The only freshman in the country to collect at least 210 kills, 250 digs and 20 or more blocks through matches of Oct. 7, she has pushed her season dig total among the top 10 in school history for a freshman.

Thompson owns a team-best nine double-doubles on the year, which are tied for the most by a Bradley frosh since Marika Giguere had 14 in 2000. In fact, before this season Giguere was the last Bradley freshman with at least 210 kills and 259 or more digs in a season and Thompson is one of just five freshmen in program history to reach those marks. Thompson's 212 kills on the year are tied for 18th among Bradley freshman marks and she is 38 kills from pushing her total among the top 10 freshman kill totals in Bradley history.

Junior setter Hannah Angeli recently broke into Bradley's career top 10 in career assists with the two-year letterwinner owning 1,841 assists as a Brave to rank 10th all-time on The Hilltop. The Omaha transfer ranks fifth in the MVC in both assists per set (10.05) and aces per set (0.27) this season. Angeli is one just two players in Bradley history to own a career assists-per-set average (10.01) of better than 9.30, joining all-time assist leader Michelle Pack (11.07 per set).

Following Monday's match at Illinois State, Bradley plays host to defending MVC regular-season champion Missouri State Friday, Oct. 19 (7 p.m.) at Renaissance Coliseum to open the second-half of the Valley schedule.

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