Volleyball Closes Regular Season At Illinois State

Josh Schwam

Volleyball 11/18/2021 10:33:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball looks to lock up the best Missouri Valley Conference finish in program history with the Braves closing out the 2021 regular-season schedule at I-74 rival Illinois State Friday in a battle for sole possession of second place in the league standings.

The two teams enter Friday's 6 p.m. match at Redbird Arena (ESPN+) tied for second in the MVC standings at 12-5. Bradley (16-12 overall, 12-5 MVC) had a season-long seven-match win streak snapped Saturday at Valparaiso after topping league-leading Loyola on the road the night before to kick off the three-match road swing that wraps up Friday.

Illinois State (16-13 overall, 12-5 MVC) edged the Braves in five sets in the season's first meeting back in mid-October at Renaissance Coliseum. Despite the loss, BU holds a slim 4-3 edge in the series in the last seven meetings and has managed to at least split the regular-season series each of the last three years.

Bradley and Illinois State sit one-and-a-half games back of Loyola in the Valley standings with Friday's winner taking over sole possession of second place and locking up a first-round bye for next week's MVC Tournament which will be held at Redbird Arena. The two teams are one-and-a-half games ahead of fourth-place Valparaiso, which plays at Northern Iowa (Friday) and Drake (Saturday) during the final weekend of the regular season.

Bradley will be closing out the regular-season slate on the road for the first time since 2015 (at Drake) after the Braves wrapped up the regular-season schedule at home each of the first five years under Head Coach Carol Price-Torok. BU has faced I-74 rival Illinois State three previous times to close the regular-season with the last in 2018 when the Braves swept the Redbirds at Renaissance Coliseum. The only time Bradley has finished the regular season on the road at Illinois State came in 2003.

The Braves, who have 12 conference wins for the second straight year, have finished as high as a tie for second in the MVC once (1999) and have never earned a top-two seed for the conference championship. Bradley's 12 league wins this year is tied for the fifth most conference wins in a season in school history. Posting 12 or more conference wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history, BU's 24 combined Valley wins over the last two years are the most in the conference and no MVC squad has more league wins than Bradley's 35 conference wins over the last three seasons. The Braves have already locked up the fourth top-three league finish in program history (2018, 2001 & 1999).

Senior Hannah Thompson has had her fair share of success at Redbird Arena, posting double-doubles in all four of her career outings at Illinois State. After collecting 17 kills and 14 digs against the Redbirds in the 2020-21 MVC Tournament, Thompson has averaged 3.75 kills and 4.13 digs per set in four career appearances at Redbird Arena. Thompson enters Friday's outing four kills from passing Abigail Kohnen for sixth on Bradley's career kills list.

Last week's victory at Loyola was Bradley's sixth road win of the season and the Braves enter Friday's contest with a 5-3 road mark in Valley play. Illinois State is the only team with more road wins in league play (6-3) than BU this fall. In fact, Bradley's six true road wins this season (6-5) are the most for the Braves dating back to 2005 (6-8) and the Braves are looking to post a .500 or better mark in true road matches for the first time since 2002 (6-6).

Since the MVC adopted an 18-game league slate in 1996, Bradley has five other seasons with five or more Valley road wins (2019, 2018, 2002, 2001 & 1999). The only seasons in which the Braves won more than five Valley road contests over that span were 2001 (6-3) and 1999 (7-2). Friday's victory at Loyola also marked the first time in program history Bradley won a road match against the MVC regular-season champion that season.

The complete MVC Tournament bracket will be announced following Saturday's conclusion to the Valley's regular-season schedule, with first-round games slated for Thursday, Nov. 25.

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Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson: OH; 5' 8"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson
: 5' 8"; Senior
: OH

Volleyball Closes Regular Season At Illinois State

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson