Volleyball Faces Loyola & Valpo During Final Road Trip

Josh Schwam

Volleyball 11/14/2019 9:40:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- With just four regular-season matches remaining, Bradley Volleyball hits the road this weekend for matches at Loyola (Friday) and at Valparaiso (Saturday) as the Braves battle for positioning in the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference Tournament later this month.

Bradley (13-12 overall, 9-5 MVC) enters the final road swing of the 2019 regular-season third in the MVC standings at 9-5 after winning four of its last five outings. The lone setback during that stretch was a hard fought five-set loss to league-leading Northern Iowa Saturday.

Loyola (19-8 overall, 12-2 MVC) sits in second in the Valley standings heading into Friday's 6 p.m. match at Gentile Arena in Chicago. Bradley needs a victory Friday to keep the Ramblers from locking up at least the #2 seed in the Valley Tournament. Loyola won the season's first meeting at Renaissance Coliseum, but the Braves have won three of the last five in the series including a win in Chicago last year.

Valparaiso (11-17 overall, 6-8 MVC) is currently tied for fifth in the Valley standings entering a Friday night home contest against fourth-place Illinois State. Bradley swept the season's first meeting with the Crusaders in Peoria and will be trying for a season sweep in Saturday's 5 p.m. match in Valparaiso, Ind. The Braves swept the regular-season series from Valparaiso last year and have won three consecutive matches in the series. Bradley is 3-2 in the series since Valpo joined the MVC. The teams have split six all-time meetings in Valparaiso, Ind., with last year's match going the full five sets.

Friday's match at Loyola will be available on ESPN+, while Saturday's contest at Valparaiso can be viewed on ESPN3. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both outings.

Four of Bradley's last six matches have gone to a deciding fifth set and the Braves have played seven five-set matches this season (3-4). While four other Valley teams have played more five set contests than Bradley this year, a league-high six of BU's five-setters have come in league play. Since Missouri State played eight five-set matches in Valley play in 2014, only two other teams have played as many as six five-set regular-season conference matches - Evansville (7 in 2018) and Missouri State (6 in 2016). Bradley is 3-3 in five-set league matches after the first five-set match in the series with Northern Iowa dating back to 2013. Overall, Bradley is 9-5 in its last 14 five-setters dating back to last season.

Since returning from an injury which sidelined her for eight matches, senior Hannah Angeli has been dealing aces. In her five outings since her return, Angeli has served up 19 aces in her 20 sets (0.95 per set) and is now averaging a conference-best 0.57 aces per set. Angeli has led Bradley in aces in each of her first two seasons and is three aces short of becoming the first Brave with 100 career aces since Briony Hammet and Lindsay Stalzer both reached the mark in 2005. In addition, she is poised to move into fifth in career assists at Bradley, needing nine to pass Sam Black and is currently 98 from passing Wendy Carney for fourth all-time at BU.

Sophomore Hannah Thompson is closing in on a pair of historic marks as well. She enters the weekend with 697 career kills, which is good for 30th in Bradley history, and also has 994 career digs. Thompson is looking to join Jenny Pavlas (727) and Lindsay Stalzer (701 kills) as the only Bradley players to reach 700 career kills as a sophomore. Already the only Brave to reach 900 career kills as a sophomore, Thompson will likely become the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs this weekend. She would be the ninth individual in Bradley history to have 700 career kills and 1,000 or more digs with Stephanie Behrns the last individual to join the group in 2002.

Bradley follows up the road swing with the final two home matches of 2019. The Braves host Evansville Friday, Nov. 22 (6 p.m.) before taking on Indiana State on Saturday, Nov. 23 (6 p.m.).

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Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli: S; 6' 0"; Senior

#6 Hannah Thompson: OH; 5' 8"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli
: 6' 0"; Senior
: S

#6 Hannah Thompson
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: OH

Volleyball Faces Loyola & Valpo During Final Road Trip

Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli

#6 Hannah Thompson

Players Mentioned

#9 Hannah Angeli

#6 Hannah Thompson