Volleyball Hosts Illinois St. Friday During Homecoming Weekend

Duane Zehr

Volleyball 10/3/2019 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball returns to Renaissance Coliseum for Homecoming Weekend, hosting I-74 rival Illinois State Friday in a 6 p.m. contest as the Braves wrap up a stretch of five of six matches at home with the outing against the Redbirds.

Friday's match will be a "White Out" with fans encouraged to wear white to the first meeting of the 2019 season in the I-74 rivalry. The first 100 Bradley Students at Renaissance Coliseum will receive a free Bradley Volleyball t-shirt courtesy of Ideal Rentals.

The Braves (6-8 overall, 2-1 MVC) and Redbirds (9-6 overall, 2-1 MVC) split the regular-season series last year with Bradley sweeping Illinois State at Renaissance Coliseum to close out the 2018 home schedule and snap a 15-match losing streak in the series. Each of Bradley's last three victories over the Redbirds have been in Peoria and the Braves will be trying to win back-to-back outings against Illinois State for the first time since winning four of five in the series between 2001 and 2003.

Friday's match will be available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for the contest which marks the halfway point of the regular-season schedule for Bradley.

Southern Illinois (8) is the only MVC school to have played more home matches than Bradley's seven and the Braves have a league-low three true road matches to date. BU plays just three home matches in the month of October, however, including Friday's match against Illinois State and will play six of eight on the road after this week's outing against the Redbirds.

Monday's four-set victory at Indiana State snapped a five-match road losing streak in the series with the Sycamores for the Braves. Bradley has won three consecutive MVC road matches dating back to last season and four of its last five Valley road games. In fact, the Braves have six road wins in conference play between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, which is tied for the most in a two-year period since 2005 (4) and 2006 (3).

Bradley had a balanced attack in the MVC opener against Southern Illinois last Friday with four individuals collecting 10 or more kills. In fact, three Braves had 16 or more kills to mark the first time Bradley had three individuals with at least 15 kills in a match since a Nov. 14, 2013 contest against Missouri State. Bradley is one of four teams to have two players in the top 10 in the MVC in kills per set with sophomore Hannah Thompson sixth (3.28) and fellow sophomore Rachel Pranger 10th (2.88).

Sophomore Hannah Thompson continues to pile up double-doubles, pushing her streak of consecutive double-doubles to 12 with her 10 kills and 14 digs in Monday's win at Indiana State. Thompson matched the longest streak of double-doubles in Bradley history (12), tying the mark originally set by Bradley Hall of Fame member Samantha Hardwick in 2000. The 15th player in program history to collect 550 career kills and 750 career digs, Thompson is the only Brave to reach both career numbers as a sophomore.

In fact, her 775 career digs are already the most by a Bradley player before the end of their sophomore season as she topped the previous mark of 759 career digs by a BU sophomore held by Rachelle Dejean (2008-11). In addition, Thompson is one of just five players in Bradley history to reach 550 career kills as a sophomore. The only player to rank in the top 10 in the MVC in both kills per set (3.28) and digs per set (4.57), Thompson has collected 32 double-doubles in her 47 career matches at Bradley.

Freshman middle blocker Raeann Bergman is third in the MVC in attack percentage, hitting a team-best .341 on the year. She helped highlight Saturday's win over Missouri State with 10 kills on 18 attacks with no errors (.556). Bergman is also leading Bradley in blocking at 0.89 per set. During Bradley's recently completed four-match home stand, Bergman averaged 2.14 kills and 1.14 blocks per set, while boasting a .446 attack percentage.

Fellow freshman Karagan Coggin has also seen an uptick in production lately, tallying a season-best 13 kills to go with three aces, five blocks and five digs to highlight Monday's win at Indiana State. Coggin is hitting a blistering .463 over the last four matches, while averaging 1.75 kills and 1.12 blocks per set during that stretch.

Bradley follows Friday's outing against Illinois State with a two-match road swing which starts Friday, Oct. 11 at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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