Volleyball Opens Four-Match Road Swing

Duane Zehr

Volleyball 10/24/2019 10:06:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing seven of the last 10 matches at Renaissance Coliseum, Bradley Volleyball kicks off a season-long, four-match road swing this weekend with contests at Missouri State (Friday) and at Southern Illinois (Saturday) to open a stretch in which the Braves play six of eight away from home.

Bradley finds itself tied with Evansville for fourth in the MVC standings heading into Friday's 6 p.m. match against Missouri State (5-18 overall, 2-7 MVC) in Springfield, Mo. The Braves topped the Bears in four sets in the season's first meeting and have won three consecutive meetings with Missouri State for the first time in the series of the history.

Southern Illinois (11-12 overall, 3-6 MVC) is seventh in the league standings heading into a Friday night home contest against Illinois State. SIU edged the Braves in five sets in the Valley opener for both teams back on Sept. 27. Bradley is looking for its third consecutive road win in the series with the Salukis, however, in Saturday's 5 p.m. matchup in Carbondale, Ill., with the teams splitting the last eight played at Davies Gym.

Friday's match at Missouri State will be carried on ESPN+, while Saturday's tilt with Southern Illinois will be available on ESPN3. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both contests.

Bradley has played the fewest true road matches (5) in the MVC this season heading into the four-match road swing. The four-match road swing marks the fifth time in program history Bradley will play four straight MVC road matches with the last falling in 2017. The only other seasons in which the Braves had a four-match Valley road swing were 1986, 1987 and 1995. Bradley has earned at least one road win on three of the four previous four-match road swings and the 1995 squad went 2-2 on its four-match road swing.

The Braves are 2-1 in MVC road matches this season and 4-1 in their last five league road matches dating back to last year with the seven Valley road wins since the start of 2018 the most in a two-year stretch for BU since 2002 and 2003 (8).

Sophomores Rachel Pranger and Hannah Thompson continue to lead Bradley offensively with one of the pair leading the team in kills in all but one match this season. The duo has also combined for nearly eight digs per set of Bradley's MVC-leading 19.82 digs per set. The Braves are the only MVC team to have two individuals that have collected at least 200 kills, 200 digs and 15 or more aces. In fact, Bradley has two players reach those marks in the same season for the first time since 2000. Thompson had her school record streak of 15 consecutive double-doubles snapped last Friday, but turned in her 16th double-double of the year Saturday against Loyola and is now 10th in Bradley history with 36 career double-doubles. Four of Pranger's seven double-doubles have come in Valley play.

Freshman Raeann Bergman averaged 2.17 blocks per set in Bradley's two matches last weekend, helping the Braves collect 3.50 blocks per set as a team in the two outings. Bradley's 2.12 blocks per set this season would be the team's best average since 2007 (2.27) and the Braves are averaging 2.25 blocks per set in Valley play. In fact, BU averaged 1.79 blocks per set as a team in the first eight matches of the year compared to 2.34 blocks per set in the last 11 contests. Freshman Karagan Coggin has a team-best 65 blocks on the year, which is the most by a Bradley freshman since 2010.

Bradley continues the four-match road swing next week, following up the weekend road swing with a match at I-74 rival Illinois State on Friday, Nov. 1.

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