AMES, Iowa – Senior Erica Haslag tallied a team-high 13 kills and the duo of Hannah Thompson and Yavianliz Rosado each had 14 digs to pace Bradley defensively, but the Braves had their historic season come to an end with a 25-22, 25-9, 25-13 loss at Iowa State in the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) Friday at Hilton Coliseum.
Bradley (24-9 overall) overcame a tough start with Rosado suffering an ankle injury on the first point of the match to score the first four points of the contest. Haslag had a pair of kills and junior Kathryn Graf had one of her own to help the Braves jump out to the early 4-0 lead.
Iowa State (18-13 overall) answered with a 4-0 run of its own, however, after a Cyclone time out. Bradley later broke a 17-17 tie with three consecutive points that included kills by Haslag and Thompson along with a block by sophomore Sara Maddox and senior Alissa Schovanec. The Cyclones came out of their final timeout to score the next five points behind a pair of kills from Josie Herbst to take a 22-20 lead.
Maddox briefly stopped the ISU run with a kill to pull Bradley within one at 22-21. The teams traded kills with Thompson notching her third kill of the first to once again make it a one-point Iowa State lead 23-22. Herbst gave Iowa State set point at 24-22 with a kill and Eleanor Holthaus followed with a kill of her own to give the Cyclones the opener 25-22. Haslag had seven of her team-high 13 kills in the first set to lead Bradley offensively.
The Braves had their best offensive set in the second, hitting .167 in the frame. Iowa State hit .302 however and claimed the second 25-19 to go up two sets to none. Bradley trailed 15-14 on a Schovanec kill only to have Iowa State rattle off the next four points. The Braves got no closer than four points down the stretch with the Cyclones claiming the second 25-19.
Bradley found itself in an early hole in the third as the Cyclones raced out to a 5-1 lead and eventually led 10-4. Iowa State, whit hit .367 in the stanza, also had five blocks in the third. The Cyclones handed the Braves just their second three-set loss of the year by claiming the third set 25-13.
Bradley finished the year with a 24-9 overall record, posting the most wins since the 2001 squad finished 24-8. The Braves improved their win total by 14 from just a year ago, which is tied for the biggest improvement in the nation through Friday's matches.
Haslag's 13 kills gave her 543 for the year for the 16th best season total in MVC history and second-best in school history. She is 10th all-time in MVC history with 1,688 career kills.
Rosado closed the season with 758 digs for the third-best season total in Valley history and became just the second Brave to reach 1,400 career digs. Her 1,402 career digs were 35 short of matching the Bradley career mark of 1,437 digs despite Rosado playing just 65 matches at Bradley.
Thompson was a kill short of her 21st double-double of the year and ended the season with the seventh-best single season dig total for a Brave at 528.
In addition, senior Abby Ihrke had nine digs in her final match to become just the eighth Bradley player to reach 1,200 career digs.
Jess Schaben led Iowa State offensively with 17 kills and 12 digs while hitting at a .333 clip. Izzy Enna added a match-high 19 digs to help lead a Cyclone defense which also collected 13 blocks.
Iowa State advances to the quarterfinals of the NIVC and will face North Texas, which defeated former Valley rival Wichita State Friday night.
