CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Thompson was named a First-Team Missouri Valley Conference selection and was one of three Bradley Volleyball individuals honored when the league announced its annual award winners at the McLeod Center Thursday afternoon.
Thompson was one of three Braves recognized with sophomore Rachel Pranger earning a spot on the MVC Second-Team and freshman Raeann Bergman named to the MVC All-Freshman Team.
The only player in the nation with 350 kills and 500 or more digs, Thompson joins Lindsay Stalzer (2003) and Laura Benzing (1999) as the only sophomores in program history to earn First-Team All-MVC honors. She is the only player to rank in the top 10 in the MVC in both kills per set (3.14) and digs per set (4.45), checking in at seventh in both categories. Thompson has matched the Bradley season record with 23 double-doubles this fall to tie the mark originally set by Jenny Pavlas in 1997.
Thompson has paced Bradley in kills 16 times and led the Braves in digs a team-high 13 times this season. Currently 55th in the nation in total digs, she has 523 digs this fall for the eighth-best season total in Bradley history behind her 528 digs from last year when she was the 2018 MVC Freshman of the Year and a Second-Team All-Valley performer. Thompson is the first Brave to capture either first or second-team All-MVC honors as both a freshman and sophomore.
The second player in MVC history to have two seasons with 350 kills and at least 500 digs, joining Illinois State's Chris Rehor (1985-88), Thompson is the only individual in league history to tally those numbers in back-to-back years. She enters the MVC Tournament with the most career kills (747) and digs (1,051) for a Bradley sophomore with her career dig total already 17th among school records. Thompson is the ninth player in Bradley history with 700 career kills and 1,000 or more digs.
Pranger is second on the team in kills per set (3.04) and third in digs (3.37), ranking eighth in the MVC in kills per set this fall. She has 15 double-doubles on the year, with 12 of those coming in Valley play and has 19 outings with 10 or more kills. Over the last 21 matches, Pranger has averaged 3.20 kills and 3.65 digs per set.
Named MVC Player of the Week on Monday, she averaged 4.00 kills and 5.14 digs per set to help Bradley wrap up a fourth-place league finish with a pair of home wins last weekend. In Valley play, Pranger averaged 3.03 kills and 3.62 digs per set. She has led team in kills 14 times and teamed with Thompson to give Bradley its first combo in program history with 340 kills and at least 375 digs.
Bradley has an individual on the MVC All-Freshman team for the second consecutive year with Bergman earning the honor in 2019 after Thompson was selected as the 2018 MVC Freshman of the Year. Currently 10th in the MVC in hitting percentage (.249), Bergman ranks fifth in blocks per set (1.00). Offensively, she averaged 1.47 kills per set for the year. In Valley play, Bergman averaged 1.04 blocks per set and her season total of 95 blocks is the highest by a Bradley freshman since 2008 (8th-best among Bradley freshman marks).
Combining with fellow freshman Karagan Coggin to give Bradley two players with 90 or blocks in the same season since 2002, Bergman averaged a 1.53 kills and 1.30 blocks per set while hitting at a .301 clip in her 12 home matches in 2019.
Bradley faces #5 seed Valparaiso this afternoon at 5 p.m. in the opening round of the MVC Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
