Volleyball Closes Regular Season At Home

Seniors Hannah Angeli & Maggie Revell will be recognized following Saturday's 6 p.m. home match vs. Indiana State.

Duane Zehr

Volleyball 11/20/2019 1:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball closes out the 2019 regular season schedule with a two-match home stand, hosting Evansville (Friday) and Indiana State (Saturday) in 6 p.m. contests at Renaissance Coliseum. Seniors Hannah Angeli and Maggie Revell will be recognized following Saturday's 6 p.m. match against Indiana State.

The Braves (13-14 overall, 9-7 MVC) enter the final weekend of the regular season fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference standings and have a two-game lead on both Evansville (16-11 overall, 7-9 MVC) and Valparaiso for fifth place heading into Friday's outing against the Purple Aces.

One Bradley victory or one loss by both Evansville and Valparaiso would secure the #4 seed for the Braves for next week's Valley Championship, which will be held Nov. 28-30 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Bradley still has a chance to earn the #3 seed with the Braves one game back of third-place Illinois State and owning the tie-breaker.

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

Bradley owns a 32-24 lead in the all-time series with Evansville after edging the Purple Aces in five sets earlier this month. Overall, the Braves have won four consecutive matches in the series and claimed six of the last eight meetings. Bradley has won five consecutive home matches in the series and is 17-9 all-time in home contests against Evansville.

Bradley topped Indiana State (7-19 overall, 5-11 MVC) in four sets in the season's first meeting back on Sept. 30 and the Braves will be trying to sweep the regular-season series for the first time since 2013. Overall, Bradley owns a 41-32 lead in the all-time series with the Sycamores. Indiana State has won three of the last five meetings, however, and eight of the last 11 in the series. Bradley is 10-4 in the last 14 home matches in the series and owns a 24-9 advantage in matches played in Peoria.

Having already secured a spot in the MVC Championship, Bradley is trying to become the first private school to post back-to-back top-four league finishes since Creighton in 2011 & 2012.

Bradley will close out the regular season at home for the fourth consecutive year. Saturday's outing against Indiana State marks the second time in the last three years Bradley will host the Sycamores on Senior Day. The Braves are 2-1 when facing Indiana State in the final home match of the year, with wins in 1999 (3-0) and 2010 (3-2).

Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Thompson notched her 1,000th career dig over the weekend and also became just the third Bradley sophomore to reach 700 career kills. The 18th player in Bradley history to reach 1,000 career digs, Thompson is one of just two Braves to own two seasons with 500+ digs with her 501 digs this fall ranking as the eighth-best season total in school history behind her 528 digs from last year. Now owning 720 career kills, Thompson needs eight kills for the most kills by a Brave prior to their junior year. Jenny Pavlas (1993-97) had 727 career kills by the end of her sophomore season in 1995. In addition, Thompson's 21 double-doubles this year are just two short of matching the Bradley season record of 23 double-doubles set by Pavlas in 1997.

Bradley is the only team in the MVC to have a pair of individuals with 300 kills and 300 or more digs this season with sophomores Hannah Thompson and Rachel Pranger both ranking among the top 15 in the Valley in both categories. While this is the 18th time on record the Braves have had a pair of individuals with 300 or more kills, it is just the third time in the last 13 years Bradley has had a combo with 300+ kills. Pranger and Thompson are the first Bradley duo to have 300 kills and 300 or more digs in the same season since 1990 and the Braves have a 300-300 combo for just the fourth time in school history.

The first round of the 2019 MVC Championship will be played Thursday, Nov. 28 at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa (5/7:30 p.m.).

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