ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Bradley Volleyball had a trio of individuals earn All-Missouri Valley Conference honors for the second time in three years with juniors Hannah Thompson and Kora Kauling both earning First-Team All-Valley honors and sophomore Karagan Coggin taking home second-team all-league distinction according to an announcement by the league office Wednesday.
A repeat First-Team All-MVC pick, Thompson is the eighth two-time, first-team all-conference selection in program history and is the seventh three-time all-conference honoree for the Braves after taking home second-team recognition as a freshman. She is Bradley's first three-time all-conference recipient since Lindsay Stalzer wrapped up her career in 2005. Kauling and Coggin both earned all-league honors for the first time.
Bradley has produced six First-Team All-Valley picks over the last four years, which is equal to the number the Braves produced from 2002 through the 2016 campaign.
Thompson, who was named a First-Team Valley Scholar-Athlete Tuesday, 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. Her 5.02 digs-per-set average would rank third among Bradley season marks.
A mid-year transfer from Wichita State following the 2019 Fall semester, Kauling has taken over as Bradley's primary setter and is the first BU setter to earn all-conference honors since Amelie Rodrigue in 2002. She 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.
Coggin is second for the Braves in both kills per set (2.42) and blocks per set (0.92), while ranking ninth in the MVC with a team-best .256 hitting percentage. She has collected a league-best 17 block solos this year, which ranks as the most by a Brave since 2008. Coggin has 10 or more kills in seven outings this season, including a career-best 14 kills in the series finale against Indiana State.
Currently ranking 125th nationally in total blocks, Coggin averaged 2.58 kills and 1.03 blocks per set while attacking at a .309 clip in home matches to help Bradley to an 8-1 record at Renaissance Coliseum this season.
The trio 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.
Bradley will face #5 seed Valparaiso Thursday in a 2 p.m. MVC Tournament quarterfinal at Illinois State's Redbird Arena.
