ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Senior outside hitter Hannah Thompson (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) was named the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Bradley Volleyball had a league-high three First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete selections with senior Kora Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and junior Karagan Coggin (Bartlett, Tenn./Bartlett) also garnering the honor according to an announcement by the Valley office Tuesday morning.
Thompson is the first Brave to capture MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors and is the fourth three-time First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete in program history. Bradley had three First-Team Valley Scholar-Athletes for the third time overall and first time dating back to 2002.
A health science major with a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average, Thompson was one of 30 national candidates for the Senior CLASS Award this fall in addition to becoming the first player in program history to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in three different seasons. Last year, she was the first Academic All-American in Bradley Volleyball history, taking home third-team honors, along with garnering honorable mention AVCA All-Region recognition and is a two-time First-Team All-MVC pick.
Thompson broke Bradley's career digs record in the season opener and currently ranks sixth in career kills at BU with 1,349. One of three players in MVC history with 1,300 career kills and 1,800 or more career digs, she is the first player in the nation to reach both marks since 2003 and currently ranks 18th in MVC history with 1,843 career digs. Thompson, who also holds the Bradley career record with 76 career double-doubles, has 18 double-doubles this season and paces the Braves in kills per set (3.00). One of two players in the nation with 340 kills and 425 or more digs this fall; she is averaging 3.73 digs per set.
Kauling joins Thompson on the MVC Scholar-Athlete First-Team for a second straight year. The Family & Consumer Science major boasts a 3.83 cumulative grade point average and was a Second-Team CoSIDA Academic All-District pick this year.
Ranking fifth in the MVC in assists per set this season, Kauling turned in the first triple-double at Bradley since 2003 earlier this year and has two triple-doubles this fall to become the first Brave dating back to 2000 to have multiple triple-doubles in a season.
Kauling, who was a First-Team All-MVC pick as a junior in 2020-21 after transferring from Wichita State, ranks sixth in Bradley in career assists per set (8.22) and is on pace to average better than 1.5 kills and seven assists per set for a second consecutive year after she was the first individual in the MVC to post both averages in the same season since 2013 during the 2020-21 campaign. Nine of her 11 double-doubles this season came in conference action.
A Second-Team All-MVC pick as a sophomore in 2020-21, Coggin garnered MVC Scholar-Athlete honors for the first time in her career. She paced the MVC in hitting percentage in conference action with her .345 attack percentage in Valley play breaking the previous school season record of .328 set by Rachel Jones in 2013.
Second on the team in kills per set (2.45) and blocks per set (0.68), Coggin has 10 or more kills 13 times this season, including 10 in Valley play. She is the first Brave to collect 17 or more block solos in back-to-back seasons since 2002 and 2003. A middle schedule education major, Coggin owns a 3.60 cumulative grade point average.
Forty-three student-athletes were nominated for the MVC's scholar-athlete team. The criterion for the honor parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75-percent of the regular-season matches. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore status in both athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible).
After tying for third in the MVC standings, Bradley earned the #3 seed for this week's Valley Tournament and will face #6 seed Indiana State Thursday in a 6 p.m. opening round contest at Illinois State.
