Volleyball Set For MVC Tournament Opener Against Indiana State

Josh Schwam

Volleyball 11/24/2021 10:30:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Tying for third in the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season standings, Bradley Volleyball matched the highest Valley Tournament seed in school history (#3) and will face #6 seed Indiana State Thursday in a 6 p.m. opening-round contest that will be played at Illinois State's Redbird Arena.

The Braves (16-13 overall, 12-6 MVC) tied Valparaiso for third in the league standings, but won the tie breaker with the Beacons for the #3 seed in the tournament. Bradley swept the regular-season series from #6 seed Indiana State (17-11 overall, 9-9 MVC), which tied Evansville for fifth in the Valley standings and won four of its last five to claim the final spot in the six-team tournament field.

The winner of Thursday's matchup between Bradley and Indiana State advances to Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal against #2 seed and tournament-host Illinois State (17-13 overall, 13-5 MVC).

All matches of the 2021 MVC Tournament will be available on ESPN+, while BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for each Bradley match throughout the three-day event.

Bradley has won six straight in the series against Indiana State after sweeping the regular-season series. Owning a 46-32 lead in the all-time series, Bradley is 8-4 against Indiana State under head coach Carol Price-Torok. The teams will be meeting in the MVC Tournament for the first time since 2001 and third time overall. Both previous MVC Tournament meetings (2001 & 1999) resulted in Bradley victories. In fact, two of BU's last four MVC Tournament semifinal appearances have featured first-round victories against the Sycamores. The Braves are 3-0 in neutral site matches in the series since 1983 with wins coming at Illinois State (2001), Northern Iowa (1999) and Milwaukee (1984).

Since the MVC adopted a double round-robin regular-season league slate in 1992, the Braves have won three matches against the same opponent in the same season just twice (2001 & 1999) with both three-match sweeps coming against Indiana State. Bradley's only other MVC Tournament matchup in which the Braves won both regular-season meetings came in 2013 (Southern Illinois), with the Salukis winning an opening-round matchup played in Wichita, Kan.

Bradley is making its 14th MVC Tournament appearance and the Braves have reached the Valley Tournament for a school record fourth consecutive year. Prior to the four-year run, Bradley had advanced to the MVC Tournament four times in the 18-year stretch from 2000 through 2017. The only other span in program history in which Bradley reached the Valley Tournament in three straight campaigns was 1994-96. Last year, the Braves played in the MVC semifinals for the first time since 2002 and sixth time overall (2020-21, 2002, 2001, 1999, 1994 & 1985). In search of their first back-to-back semifinal appearances since 2001 & 2002, The Braves are the first private school to post four straight top-four league finishes since Creighton (2006-12).

Bradley has played a league-low two neutral site matches this season, owning a 1-1 record in those contests and the Braves have just two neutral site contests over the past two seasons dating back to MVC Tournament opening round loss to Valparaiso in Cedar Falls, Iowa, to conclude the 2019 campaign. Overall, Bradley is 13-11 in neutral site contests under sixth-year Head Coach Carol Price-Torok. The Braves have played in the MVC Tournament semifinals two of the three times they have played in the event held at Redbird Arena (2020-21 & 2001).

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