Northern Colorado UNC 7-3

Bradley BRAD 4-6

Northern Colorado UNC

7-3

Final

Sep. 17, 2021

Bradley BRAD

4-6

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	5	F
Northern Colorado UNC	25	18	25	17	11	(2)
Bradley BRAD	14	25	14	25	15	(3)

Box Score

Evan Temchin

Braves Grind Out Five-Set Win Over Northern Colorado

Box Score

Game Recap: Volleyball | 9/17/2021 10:02:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Senior Rachel Pranger had match highs of 15 kills and 14 digs, while hitting at a .464 clip as she helped Bradley Volleyball grind out a 14-25, 25-18, 14-25, 25-17, 15-11 victory over Northern Colorado Friday night at Renaissance to close out the first day of the 2021 CEFCU Classic.

Trailing two sets to one after hitting a combined .046 in the first three frames, Bradley (4-6 overall) hit .293 in a 25-17 fourth-set win and .278 in the fifth set for the team's first five-set victory of the year. Pranger had all of her season-high 15 kills in the final four sets, including seven kills in the fourth to highlight the offensive efforts for the Braves.

Bradley slowed down Northern Colorado by posting a season-best 14 blocks with junior Raeann Bergman collecting eight block assists and fellow junior Karagan Coggin adding a block solo and five block assists. Senior Hannah Thompson joined Pranger in double figures in kills with 12 and matched her 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the year and the 65th of her career.

Northern Colorado (7-3 overall) got off to a hot start, hitting .458 in the first set and cruised to a 25-14 victory.

Bradley answered by taking the second set 25-18, despite hitting just .081 in the stanza. The Braves tallied six blocks and three aces in the second-set victory, limiting Northern Colorado to an .026 hitting percentage in the set. Trailing 11-8, Pranger and Thompson helped Bradley rattle off 10 straight points. Bergman started the run with a kill and Thompson sandwiched a pair of aces around a Doga Topcicek kill. The Braves followed a Northern Colorado timeout with back-to-back blocks and three straight kills from Pranger gave Bradley an 18-11 lead. The BU advantage would later balloon to 10 at 23-13 on a block by Coggin and Topcicek as the Braves took the set 25-18 to pull even in the match.

Northern Colorado got hot again in the third set, hitting .306 and held the Braves to an .094 attack percentage in the third as the Bears took the frame 25-14.

Pranger opened and closed a 25-17 fourth-set victory for Bradley with kills and posted seven in the frame to help the Braves force a deciding fifth set. She had two kills, a block and ace during a 7-1 BU spurt to open the set. Northern Colorado managed to whittle away at the Bradley lead and trailed 13-9. With the Braves leading 15-11, Topcicek found the floor with a kill to spark a 5-1 BU run that was capped by back-to-back Thompson kills as Bradley built a 20-12 advantage. Pranger added three kills down the stretch to help the Braves take the fourth 25-17.

Bradley trailed early in the fifth after Northern Colorado jumped in front 4-1, but the Braves answered with the next four points as part of a 6-1 run. Pranger helped get things started after sandwiching kills around a Northern Colorado error and Coggin capped the spurt with a kill and block to give Bradley a 7-5 lead. Northern Colorado eventually pulled even at 7-7 only to have junior Carlee Camlin put BU back in front with a kill. Coggin teamed with Thompson for a block and added a kill as Bradley's lead stood at 10-7.

Northern Colorado managed to pull within one at 10-9 when Thompson would put things away with all four of her fifth-set kills down the stretch. She had back-to-back kills to push the lead to two 11-9 and followed a Northern Colorado error with another kill to give the Braves match point at 14-9. Northern Colorado scored the next two points, before Thompson's 12th kill of the night sealed the 15-11 victory.

The victory gave Bradley its first non-conference win streak of three or more matches since closing the 2018 non-conference slate with four straight wins and the Braves are a perfect 2-0 at the CEFCU Classic after the opening day. This afternoon, Saint Louis swept North Dakota to improve to 1-1 in tournament play.

The final day of the 2021 CEFCU Classic begins Saturday at 10 a.m. with Northern Colorado facing North Dakota. Bradley closes out the tournament at 1 p.m. against Saint Louis.

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