Volleyball Set For MVC Tournament Rematch With Valparaiso

Volleyball 3/30/2021 1:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball will be looking for revenge when it takes the court Thursday afternoon at Redbird Arena in a 2 p.m. Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Valparaiso.

For the second straight season, Bradley (12-6 overall, 12-6 MVC) finished fourth in the MVC standings and Valparaiso (11-9 overall, 10-8 MVC) took fifth to set up a rematch of their MVC Tournament opening-round contest from 2019 that saw Valpo edge the Braves in five sets.

This year's MVC Tournament has been expanded to an eight-team event with all seven matches available on ESPN+. BradleyBraves.com will also provide links to live stats for the three-day tournament that will be held at Illinois State's Redbird Arena.

Bradley and Valparaiso split the regular-season series played in Valparaiso, Ind., in early March with Valpo taking the series opener in three sets and the Braves claiming a four-set victory the next night. The teams have split the regular-season series each of the last two seasons. Bradley is 4-3 against Valparaiso over the last three seasons, sweeping the regular-season series in 2018, but Valpo holds a 5-4 edge in the series since joining the MVC for the 2017 campaign. Overall, Valparaiso owns a slim 12-11 edge in the series with the teams splitting four neutral site meetings.

Bradley is making its 13th MVC Tournament appearance and the Braves will be playing in three straight Valley Tournaments for just the second time in program history (1994-96). In search of its first MVC Tournament semifinal appearance since 2002, Bradley has advanced to the semis a total of five times (2002, 2001, 1999, 1994 & 1985). The Braves are the first private school to post three straight top-four league finishes since Creighton (2006-12).

For the second straight season Bradley Volleyball finished fourth in the final MVC standings and the Braves join Illinois State as the only teams to finish in the top four in the league standings each of the last three seasons (BU was third in 2018). Bradley has three consecutive top-four conference showings for the first time in program history with the only other back-to-back top-four finishes in 2001 (3rd) and 2002 (T4th) along with the 1984 (T4th) and 1985 (4th) campaigns. The Braves have 36 Valley wins over the last three seasons, which matches the most conference wins in a three-year stretch in school history (1999-2001).

One of five teams to play a full MVC slate of games, Bradley finished the regular season with a league-high 12 conference wins to mark the second time in three years the Braves won at least 12 Valley contests. The 12-win league season is the fifth-best in school history and ranks as the fourth most conference wins for the Braves since the MVC started playing an 18-game league slate in 1996. The Valley had a nine-game conference slate from 1983 through 1991 along with 16-game (1992 & 1993) and 20-match (1994 & 1995) seasons before the current 18-game conference format started. Two of the three previous times Bradley won 12 or more matches in an 18-game conference schedule the Braves went on to reach MVC Tournament semifinals (2001 & 1999).

While Bradley is looking for its first MVC Tournament win since hosting the event in 2002, the Braves have gone to a deciding fifth set in the MVC Tournament in the opening round each of the last two seasons. In the 2019 MVC Tournament, junior Hannah Thompson collected 18 kills and 28 digs in a five-set loss to Valparaiso on the heels of a five-set, opening-round loss to Drake in 2018. In two career Valley Tournament contests, Thompson has averaged 3.60 kills and 4.70 digs per set; tallying 18 kills in both contests.

Thompson collected her 1,400th career dig last week, moving into second in school history in career digs and is also approaching another milestone. She is currently 15th in Bradley history with 990 career kills and is 10 short of the 1,000 mark in her near three years at BU. She needs 34 digs to break Bradley's career digs mark of 1,437 set by Rachelle Dejean (2008-11) and is looking to become just the 13th player in MVC history to collect 1,000 career kills and at least 1,400 digs.

The winner of Thursday's quarterfinal match between Bradley and Valparaiso will advance to Friday's 2 p.m. semifinal to face the winner of Thursday's first match of the day that features #1 seed Illinois State and #8 seed Indiana State.

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Players Mentioned

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

Players Mentioned

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

Volleyball Set For MVC Tournament Rematch With Valparaiso

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson