ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- For the second consecutive year junior outside hitter Hannah Thompson has been named a preseason all-conference selection and Bradley Volleyball was picked to finish fourth in the annual Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll of the league coaches announced by the league office Wednesday morning.
Bradley (15-15 overall, 11-7 MVC) is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Valley in 2019. In fact, the Braves had the first back-to-back seasons with at least a .500 record in nearly two decades along with the first consecutive seasons with 11 or more MVC wins for just the second time in school history.
The Braves received 71 points in the voting of the league coaches, to finish six points behind third-place pick Loyola and 23 points better than fifth-place finisher Missouri State. Defending Valley champion Northern Iowa garnered six first-place votes to top the poll at 96 points, while Illinois State received the other four first-place nods and was second at 93 points.
The third sophomore in program history to earn first-team all-conference recognition, Thompson was the first Brave to do so since Lindsay Stalzer in 2003. She was the only player to rank in the top in the MVC in both kills and digs per set, finishing the year seventh in both categories. Thompson was the 2018 MVC Freshman of the Year and took home second-team all-league honors her rookie season. She is trying to become just the fifth player in program history to earn all-conference honors in three different seasons.
With Bradley boasting one of the youngest rosters in the MVC in 2019, the Braves return a strong nucleus from last season's squad. In fact, Bradley has five of its top six in kills back this year with the eight returning letterwinners combining for nearly 80 percent of the team's kills last season. The Braves also bring back a bulk of a group that combined to rank second nationally in digs per set in 2019 at 18.84. In total, Bradley's returners combined for nearly 1,500 digs (65% of the 2019 team's total) and almost 200 blocks (78%). Last year, Bradley had its highest blocks-per-set average (2.11) since 2007 and the Braves return a pair of individuals that had at least 90 blocks the previous year for the first time dating back to the 2003 campaign.
Bradley was the only team in the MVC to have a pair of individuals with 340 kills and 375 or more digs in 2019 with Thompson and fellow junior Rachel Pranger both ranking among the top 15 in the Valley in both categories. The first Bradley duo to have 300 kills and 300 or more digs in the same season since 1990 (4th in school history), Pranger and Thompson was the first the Bradley combo with 340 kills and at least 375 digs in the same season. One of 12 combos in the country in 2019 with 390 or more digs each, Bradley's duo is one of just five such tandems returning in 2020-21.
Thompson collected a school season record 24 double-doubles during her sophomore season, breaking the previous school mark for double-doubles of 23 set by Jenny Pavlas in 1997. The only player in the nation with 380 kills and 550 or more digs in 2019, Thompson is just the second player in MVC history to have two seasons with 350 or more kills and at least 500 digs and is the only individual in league history to reach both marks in consecutive seasons. Illinois State's Chris Rehor (1985 & 1988) is the only Valley players to reach those marks in two different seasons. Thompson enters her senior year with 44 career double-doubles, which ranks fourth in Bradley history.
Bradley was led by a pair of freshmen at the net in 2019, with Karagan Coggin pacing the team with 96 total blocks and 2019 MVC All-Freshman Team selection Raeann Bergman right behind her in second at 95 blocks. The Braves had two players with 90 or more blocks in the same season for the first time since 2002. Bergman averaged 1.04 blocks per set in Valley play to rank seventh in the league, while Coggin had the eighth highest block total by a Bradley freshman and was the first frosh to lead the team in blocks dating back to Megan Schmidt in 2008. Bradley is one of three Valley teams (Drake & Loyola) to return two players that had at least 90 blocks in 2019.
Bradley opens the 2020-21 season Monday with a 6 p.m. match at I-74 rival Illinois State. The teams will turn around and face each other again the next week, with the Redbirds visiting Renaissance Coliseum Monday, Feb. 1 in the home opener for the Braves.
