PEORIA, Ill. -- Juniors Karagan Coggin and Raeann Bergman combined for 27 of Bradley's 57 kills and the pair teamed to hit .490 to help Bradley Volleyball to a 25-19, 25-18, 19-25, 26-24 victory over Valparaiso in a battle for sole possession of second-place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.
The Braves (9-9 overall, 5-2 MVC) entered the contest tied with Valparaiso (13-5 overall, 4-3 MVC) for second in the Valley standings and now hold sole possession of second after the victory.
Coggin collected 14 kills with just one error to go along with a match-high six blocks to pace three Bradley players in double figures in kills. Bergman finished with a season-best 13 kills, one short of matching her career high, as she notched nine kills on her first 10 swings and hit .600 in the match.
Senior setter Kora Kauling posted her seventh double-double of the year with 42 assists and 10 digs in addition to six kills, while freshman Silan Demirkol was a dig short of another double-double; adding 10 kills and nine digs.
Bradley served up a season-best 10 aces and used a dramatic rally late in the fourth to take the match. Valpo led for most of the fourth and was on the cusp of sending the contest to a deciding fifth set after grabbing set point at 24-21. Coggin, who had four kills and two blocks in the fourth, sparked a 5-0 BU run with a kill and teamed with Kauling for a block. Kauling added a kill of her own to pull the Braves even at 24-24 and Coggin found the floor with another kill after a Valpo timeout to give Bradley match point at 25-24. BU's 10th ace of the night, thanks to sophomore Maddie Peterson, closed out a 26-24 win for the Braves.
The Bradley offense was hot in the first two sets with the Braves cruising to 25-19 and 25-18 victories to jump ahead 2-0 in the match.
Bradley never trailed in the first set, breaking open an 8-8 tie with six straight points. Coggin had a trio of kills during the run and junior Serena Sparks, who had a team-best 23 digs and two aces on the evening, had an ace during the spurt that saw the Braves build a 14-8 advantage. Valparaiso got within three a few times down the stretch with the last at 22-19, before Demirkol sandwiched a pair of kills around a Kauling kill to give BU the first set 25-19.
After hitting .324 in the first set, Bradley was even hotter in the second; collecting 16 kills without an error while hitting at a .444 clip in the frame. A pair of Carlee Camlin aces highlighted a 4-0 BU run to start the set and the Braves pushed the lead to as many as 10 (15-5). Valparaiso managed to claw back within four a pair of times, but Bradley went on to take the set 25-18 behind five kills from Coggin.
Bradley, which led from wire-to-wire in the second, trailed for the first time all night at 11-12 in the third set only to rattle off four straight and go in front 15-11. Valparaiso answered with a run of its own, however, building a 19-15 lead with a 7-0 run. A Valpo error and Kauling kill pulled the Braves within two at 19-17, but three straight points for the Beacons pushed the advantage to 22-17 and Valparaiso avoided the sweep by taking the third set 25-19.
Maddy Boyer led Valparaiso with 11 kills, while Rylee Cookerly notched 23 digs for the Beacons to tie Sparks for match-high honors.
Bradley continues a five-match home stand Saturday with a 5 p.m. contest against league-leading Loyola at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves enter Saturday's contest one game behind the Ramblers in the standings.
