Bradley Volleyball Hits The Road

Julie Kestas

Volleyball 10/24/2018 2:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball hits the road for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference contests this weekend, heading to Evansville, Ind., for a Friday night matchup with the Purple Aces (7 p.m.) followed by a Saturday night title with Indiana State (6 p.m. CDT) in Terre Haute, Ind.

All five of Bradley's losses have come in road games this season and the Braves (18-5 overall, 8-3 MVC) are 2-3 in road matches in conference play with four road tests left on the schedule. Bradley is alone in third in the MVC standings at 8-3, a half-game ahead of fourth-place Valparaiso (7-3 MVC), after sweeping Southern Illinois Saturday at home to earn a school record 12th consecutive home victory.

Both matches will be available on ESPN3 and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both weekend contests.

Bradley swept Evansville earlier this year in Peoria and has won the last two matchups with the Purple Aces. The teams have split the regular-season series each of the last four years, however. The Braves own a 30-24 advantage in the all-time series and are 11-14 all-time in road matches against UE.

The Braves own a 40-31 lead in the all-time series with Indiana State after topping the Sycamores in four sets back in late September. Indiana State is 7-2 in the last nine matchups, however, dating back to the 2013 season when Bradley swept the regular-season series. The Sycamores have won nine of the last 10 in Terre Haute, Ind., against the Braves and Bradley is 12-21 in road matches in the series.

Bradley's four-set victory over defending MVC champion Missouri State last Friday gave the Braves their first sweep of the regular-season series with the Bears since 1999. The Braves had not swept any Valley opponent during the regular season since 2013 and already have two sweeps to their credit after a three-set victory over Southern Illinois Saturday. Bradley swept the regular-season series from three MVC foes in 2013, which was the last time the Braves reached the Valley Tournament.

Bradley served up a season-high 11 aces in Saturday's sweep of Southern Illinois and has collected 21 aces in the last three matches (1.91 per set). The Braves had not had an outing with 11 aces since a 12-ace effort in a win against Manhattan in 2015 and the last time BU had 11 or more aces in a three-set contest was Sept. 5, 2009 (12) vs. Coppin State. BU leads the MVC in aces per set (1.46), needing just seven aces for the team's best season total since 2009 (150). Junior Hannah Angeli is third in the MVC in aces (0.31) and one of three Braves to rank in the top 10 in the Valley in aces per set.

Freshman outside hitter Hannah Thompson was named MVC Freshman of the Week for the fourth time in 2018 earlier this week after double-doubles in all three Bradley matches last week and has had a double-double in five of the last six contests. Her team-best 13 double-doubles are one short of matching the school record for double-doubles by a freshman of 14 set by Marika Giguere in 2000.

Thompson is the only freshman in school history with 260 kills and 340 or more digs with her 265 kills ranking as the seventh-best total by a Bradley frosh and her 344 digs tied for the third-best total by a Bradley freshman. She is on pace to collect the most kills and digs by a Bradley frosh, needing 62 kills to top Giguere's freshman record of 326 kills in 2000 and 70 digs to surpass Rachelle Dejean's freshman record of 413 digs from 2008.

Sophomore Sara Maddox has also provided a boost to the Bradley offense lately, collecting double-digit kills in three of the last five matches. Maddox is averaging 3.50 kills per set while hitting .316 over the last five outings. Not to be outdone, junior Kathryn Graf has averaged 2.83 kills per set while hitting .310 during that same span.

Senior libero Yavianliz Rosado is closing in another milestone of her own, earning 2,000 career digs during her collegiate career which includes two years at San Jose State. Rosado is currently tied with Stephanie Behrns for 12th in school history with 1,128 career digs and is 48 digs from taking over sole possession of 10th in school history.

Rosado had 841 digs during her freshman and sophomore seasons at San Jose State and is currently 11th among active players with 1,969 career digs. Rosado's 484 digs this fall rank as the eighth-best season total in school history, needing 16 digs to become the only player in program history to have two seasons with 500 or more digs.

Bradley follows up the road trip with a two-match home stand, which gets underway Friday, Nov. 2 with a 7 p.m. match at Renaissance Coliseum against league-leading Northern Iowa.

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