Volleyball Set To Host Southern Illinois

Josh Schwam

Volleyball 2/25/2021 9:56:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing five of the first eight matches of the season on the road, Bradley Volleyball returns to Renaissance Coliseum fresh off a road series sweep of Evansville to host Southern Illinois Sunday and Monday.

Bradley (5-3 overall, 5-3 MVC) brings a four-match win streak into the series with Southern Illinois (2-8 overall, 1-7 MVC) with the Braves heading into the weekend in a four-way tie for third in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

The series gets under way Sunday with a 3 p.m. match and wraps up Monday with a 5 p.m. contest at Renaissance Coliseum. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.

The teams split the regular-season series last year with the road squad winning each contest, but the Braves have claimed four of the last five contests against the Salukis. Overall, SIU owns a 46-22 lead in the all-time series. Three of BU's last four wins have come on the road and Southern Illinois has a 21-11 lead in matches players in Peoria.

Bradley is 5-3 or better to open Missouri Valley Conference play for the third consecutive season and the 10th time in program history. Prior to the year current three-year run of 5-3 starts or better to Valley play, the Braves last started league action 5-3 or better in 2005. Bradley will be trying to post six or more wins through the first nine Valley matches for the first time since 2018 and just the seventh time since the MVC adopted a double round-robin schedule for the 1992 campaign. Six of the last seven times the Braves won five of their first eight conference matches BU went on to win 11 or more Valley contests.

Bradley currently owns the best digs-per-set average in the country at 22.46 per set. BU's season average is almost two digs per set better than second-place Eastern Michigan (20.68). Since the NCAA adopted the 25-point set format for the 2008 season the 2012 Penn team that collected 21.53 digs per set is the only squad in the nation to average better than 21 digs per set. In fact, only two teams have collected more than 20 digs per set since 2008 with the 2017 Valparaiso squad leading the nation in digs per set 20.03.

Bradley is 3-0 at home this season and the Braves have won five consecutive home contests dating back to last season. The five-match win streak is Bradley's longest since a 12-game home win streak to start the 2018 campaign. The Braves are 26-6 at Renaissance Coliseum since the start of that 2018 season.

Junior transfer Kora Kauling is settling into her role as the team's primary setter, posting double-doubles in five of the last six outings. Currently third in the MVC in assists per set at 9.82, Kauling ranks third for the Braves in kills (1.86 per set), while hitting .220 and also collects 2.61 digs per set on the young season. She was the first Bradley setter to have 10 or more kills in a match since 2000 earlier this year and is looking to become the first setter for the Braves to average at least 1.00 kill per set since Bradley Hall of Fame member Sam Hardwick in 2001. Following the season-opening matches against Illinois State, Kauling has averaged 2.00 kills per set while hitting .263 and also collected 10.23 assists and 3.05 digs per set.

Junior outside hitter Hannah Thompson, who was named MVC Player of the Week on Tuesday, broke into Bradley's top 10 in career digs recently and is eighth in school history with 1,240 digs. Thompson also broke into the top 20 in career kills this past weekend and is currently 19th all-time at BU with 867 kills. She is 199 digs from breaking Rachelle Dejean's school record of 1,438 career digs and 33 kills from becoming the 18th Brave to reach 900 career kills.

Bradley follows up the home series with Southern Illinois with a two-game series at Valparaiso March 7 & 8.

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Players Mentioned

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

#4 Kora Kauling: S; 6' 2"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

#4 Kora Kauling
: 6' 2"; Junior
: S

Volleyball Set To Host Southern Illinois

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson

#4 Kora Kauling

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson

#4 Kora Kauling