Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Bradley University Athletics

Share:
3
Winner Valparaiso Valpo 14-19
2
Bradley BRAD 15-15
Winner
Valparaiso Valpo
14-19
3
Final
2
Bradley BRAD
15-15
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Valparaiso Valpo 25 23 25 15 15 (3)
Bradley BRAD 15 25 21 25 11 (2)
Huddle
Duane Zehr

Volleyball Falls In Five To Valpo To Close Season

Share:

Story Links

Game Recap: Volleyball |
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Bradley Volleyball had its season come to an end with a five-set loss to Valparaiso in the opening round of the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Thursday despite the 24th double-double of the year from sophomore Hannah Thompson (18 kills & 28 digs) and a season-best 18 kills from junior Sara Maddox.
 
The teams entered the contest as two of the top defensive teams in the country with both ranking in the top 30 nationally in digs per set.  Valparaiso (14-19 overall) came out ahead in the dig battle 108-94 as the Crusaders took the match 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 15-25, 15-11 to advance to Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal against MVC regular-season champion Northern Iowa. 
 
Valparaiso collected 21 digs in the first set and forced eight Bradley (15-15 overall) errors as the Crusaders took the opener 25-15.  A 6-0 Valpo run midway through broke the set open with the Crusaders building a 14-6 edge.  The Braves would use a 4-0 run, highlighted by Hannah Angeli's 40th ace of the season to pull within four (14-10) and would eventually trail 16-13 after a Maddox kill.  Valparaiso would outscore Bradley 9-2 down the stretch, however, to win the first. 
 
Bradley trailed early in the second, but stormed back for a 25-23 win to even the match.  Thompson collected seven kills in the fourth and took over down the stretch.  With Valparaiso leading 12-7, Thompson had three kills during a 4-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 12-11.  The Braves would later take a 16-15 lead on a Valpo error, but the Crusaders answered with four straight points to go back in front 19-16. 
 
Thompson pulled Bradley even at 20-20 with her fourth kill of the set and answered a Valpo kill with three more kills to give Bradley a 23-21 edge.  Bradley held set point at 24-22 following a Karagan Coggin kill and Maddox capped a 25-23 Bradley win with her sixth kill of the stanza.  Maddox and Thompson combined for 13 of Bradley's 19 kills in the second with Thompson collecting four kills in Bradley's last six points. 
 
The third set was close throughout before Valparaiso managed to use a late push to claim the set 25-21.  Bradley trailed 21-20 after a Maddox kill forced a Valpo timeout.  The Crusaders responded with back-to-back points and Valpo's Maddy Boyer followed a Rachel Pranger kill with two kills of own to seal the 25-21 win for Valparaiso.
 
Bradley had its best offensive set in the fourth and hit .306 as a team to cruise to a 25-15 as the Braves went to a fifth set for the ninth time this season.  Thompson had two kills and a block during an early 7-1 spurt which put BU out front 8-2.  Valpo managed to pull within two points (9-7), only to have the Braves pull away with a 5-1 spurt later on to extend the lead to as many as eight (19-11) on a block by Thompson and senior Maggie Revell.  With the BU advantage at 22-15, Coggin, Maddox and Pranger each had kills to close out the 25-15 win for the Braves. 
 
In the fifth set, Valparaiso scored the first two points, but the teams kept things close early with Bradley taking a 7-6 lead on a Revell kill.  Three Bradley errors fueled a 4-0 Valpo spurt which put the Crusaders ahead 10-7.   Valparaiso had an error to pull Bradley within two (10-8), before two more Valpo points pushed the lead to 12-8.  The Braves cut the deficit to three at 12-9 on a Maddox kill and again at 13-10 on Coggin's eighth kill of the day.  Valparaiso had match point at 14-10 only to have Maddox keep things going with her 18th kill of the contest before the 10th BU service error of the night gave the Crusaders the 15-11 victory.
 
Thompson turned in her 24th double-double of the year to break the Bradley season record of 23 set by Jenny Pavlas in 1997.  She also pushed her season dig total up four spots on the Bradley charts, finishing the year with 556 digs for the fourth-best dig total in BU history. 
 
Maddox, who was named to the MVC All-Tournament team, hit .395 in the match with her season-best 18 kills her highest total as a Brave. 
 
Angeli turned in her 42nd career double-double (37 assists & 10 digs) in her final match, taking over fourth on Bradley's career assist list.  She moved ahead of Wendy Carney (2,943 assists) into fourth, finishing her time at BU with 2,960 career assists. 
 
Four Valparaiso players reached double figures in kills, paced by Jaclyn Bulmahn's 14 kills.  Rylee Cookerly collected a match-high 33 digs to help the Crusaders limit the Braves to a .133 attack percentage. 
 
Bradley loses just two players (Angeli & Revell) to graduation from a team which finished fourth in the regular-season MVC race. 

 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Hannah Angeli

#9 Hannah Angeli

S
6' 0"
Senior
Sara Maddox

#14 Sara Maddox

RS
6' 2"
Junior
Rachel Pranger

#21 Rachel Pranger

OH
5' 11"
Sophomore
Maggie Revell

#5 Maggie Revell

MB
6' 2"
Redshirt Senior
Hannah Thompson

#6 Hannah Thompson

OH
5' 8"
Sophomore
Karagan Coggin

#3 Karagan Coggin

RS/MB
6' 2"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Hannah Angeli

#9 Hannah Angeli

6' 0"
Senior
S
Sara Maddox

#14 Sara Maddox

6' 2"
Junior
RS
Rachel Pranger

#21 Rachel Pranger

5' 11"
Sophomore
OH
Maggie Revell

#5 Maggie Revell

6' 2"
Redshirt Senior
MB
Hannah Thompson

#6 Hannah Thompson

5' 8"
Sophomore
OH
Karagan Coggin

#3 Karagan Coggin

6' 2"
Freshman
RS/MB