PEORIA, Ill. -- In a battle for sole possession of third-place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, Bradley Volleyball made quick work of Valparaiso by sweeping the Crusaders 2523, 25-15, 25-16 Saturday at Renaissance Coliseum as the Braves extended their home win streak to 10 with the victory.
Bradley (16-4 overall, 6-2 MVC) moved one game ahead of Valparaiso (18-5 overall, 5-3 MVC) in the Valley standings into third, and the Braves trail I-74 rival Illinois State for second place by one game heading into Monday night's matchup with the Redbirds in Normal, Ill.
Senior Erica Haslag helped BU hit .344 as a team in the sweep, pounding home a match-high 17 kills. She was helped out offensively by sophomore Sara Maddox (14 kills) and Kathryn Graf (13 kills), who both notched season highs for kills. Graf had just one error on 18 attacks for a .667 hitting percentage, while Maddox hit a .480 clip.
The first set was a see-saw battle with neither team leading by more than two points during the entire frame, which featured 20 ties and two lead changes. Haslag broke a 22-22 tie with a kill, only to have a Bradley attack error knot things up again at 23-23. After Bradley's final timeout of the set, Haslag gave the Braves set point at 24-23 with a kill and followed it up with her fifth kill of the set to cap a 25-23 BU win. Haslag, Graf and Maddox each had five kills in the opening set, while freshman Hannah Thompson added four kills and eight digs in the opener.
After five kills on just eight swings in the first set, Maddox was even more efficient in the second; finishing with six kills on nine attacks with no errors to highlight a 25-15 win for the Braves. With BU holding on to a 14-12 lead, Maddox sandwiched a pair of kills around an Emma Raleigh ace and combined for a block during a 4-0 spurt which pushed the Bradley lead to 18-12.
Junior setter Hannah Angeli later keyed a 4-0 Bradley spurt to close out the second set. Angeli opened the run with back-to-back kills before setting up Graf with back-to-back kills of her own as the Braves hit .325 as a team to take the second 25-15.
Bradley scored the first five points of the third set and never looked back to complete the sweep. Haslag and Graf each had a pair of kills and combined for a block to personally account for the 5-0 opening salvo. BU's lead ballooned to 10-3 on a Thompson kill and the Braves extended the advantage to as many nine points (23-14). Haslag collected eight kills with no errors in the third, accounting for BU's final four points on the night with kills. She helped Bradley to a .471 attack percentage in the final set.
In addition to helping lead Bradley to its highest team hitting percentage against a Valley opponent (.344) since a 2006 (11/4/06) home match against Drake (.366), Angeli added three kills, five digs and a block. Thompson finished two kills short of another double-double, but paced Bradley with a match-high 22 digs and helped the Braves to a 63-49 advantage in digs. Senior Yavianliz Rosado added 16 digs and freshman Kat Poore chipped in with 12 digs of her own.
Bradley has 16 wins for the first time since 2005 and also matched the team's most home victories (10) since that same 2005 campaign (10-5).
The Braves close out the first half of the MVC regular-season schedule Monday with a 6 p.m. match at Illinois State.
