Bradley University Athletics

Volleyball Faces UIC In Saturday Exhibition

Volleyball 8/20/2021 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Volleyball will play its lone exhibition match prior to the official start of the 2021 season Saturday when the Braves venture to Chicago for a 3 p.m. contest against UIC.

The Braves opened practice on August 9 and hosted their annual Red-White Scrimmage last Friday at Renaissance Coliseum. With nearly two weeks of practice in the books, Bradley will play its only exhibition match of the year Saturday afternoon at the Flames Athletic Center. No streaming or live stats will be available for the exhibition contest against the Flames.

UIC is coming off a 14-3 season this past spring that saw the Flames finish second in the Horizon League (14-1). In addition, UIC reached the Horizon League Championship match where the Flames fell in five sets to regular-season league champion Wright State.

Bradley and UIC will be meeting in an exhibition match for the first time. The teams have played 28 regular-season matches against each other with the Flames winning the last seven meetings to take a 17-11 lead in the all-time series. The Braves are 3-8 in road matches in the series with the last Bradley road victory against UIC coming in 2004.

Picked fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll that was announced Wednesday, Bradley returns all 11 letterwinners from last year's team that finished fourth in the final Valley standings despite winning a league-best 12 conference matches.

The Braves will open the regular season next weekend, hosting the CEFCU Invitational Aug. 27 & 28. Bradley faces Central Michigan Friday, Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the season opener.

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