Thompson & Kauling Earn MVC Scholar-Athlete Honors

Volleyball 3/30/2021 10:02:00 AM

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Juniors Hannah Thompson (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) and Kora Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley/Wichita State) were both named First-Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athletes according to an announcement by the league office Tuesday.

For the first time since 2005, Bradley Volleyball had a pair of First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete selections with Thompson garnering the honor for a second consecutive year. A health science major with a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average, Thompson is the ninth two-time First-Team Valley Scholar-Athlete for the Braves. Kauling earned the award in her first year of eligibility, with the family consumer science major boasting a 3.87 cumulative grade point average.

Thompson is the only player to rank in the top 10 in the MVC in both kills and digs per set, averaging a team-best 3.46 kills (8th in the MVC) to go with her team-high 5.02 digs per set (6th in the MVC). She has 13 double-doubles in 18 contests this season and was named the MVC Player of the Week back on Feb. 23 after averaging 4.71 kills and 5.29 digs per set in a series sweep of Evansville.

Recently taking over second on Bradley's career digs list, Thompson is the only player in the nation to average at least 5.00 digs per set and collect over 3.00 kills per set this season. She is closing in on 1,000 career kills, needing 10 to become the 15th BU player to reach the mark and would be just the 13th player in MVC history with 1,000 kills and 1,400 or more career digs. Thompson is also nearing the Bradley career digs record, sitting 33 short of matching Rachelle Dejean's (2008-11) school mark of 1,437.

Kauling has taken over the role as Bradley's primary setter and currently ranks fourth in the MVC in assists per set at 10.03. In addition to her setting, she is fifth on the team in total kills, averaging 1.58 per set, while hitting .213 and also collects 2.25 digs per set. Kauling was the first Bradley setter to have 10 or more kills in a match since 2000, doing so in back-to-back outings early in the season and is looking to become the first setter for the Braves to average at least 1.00 kill per set since Sam Hardwick in 2001.

Ranking 67th nationally in assists per set on the year, Kauling has helped Bradley rank fourth in the MVC in hitting percentage and second in kills per set while quarterbacking a BU offense that is third in the country in attacks per set (41.51). Kauling, who has eight double-doubles this year, would be the first setter in the MVC to average 10 assists and at least 1.00 kill per set dating back to UNI's Heather Hook in 2017.

The duo helped lead Bradley to a fourth-place finish (12-6) with the Braves winning a league-best 12 MVC matches as BU finished in the top four of the league standings for a school record third-straight season.

Thirty-five student-athletes were nominated for the Valley's scholar-athlete team. 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).

Bradley will face #5 seed Valparaiso Thursday in a 2 p.m. MVC Tournament quarterfinal at Illinois State's Redbird Arena.

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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

Thompson & Kauling Earn MVC Scholar-Athlete Honors

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson

#4 Kora Kauling

Players Mentioned

#6 Hannah Thompson

#4 Kora Kauling