Saint Louis SLU 7-6

Bradley BRAD 4-7

Saint Louis SLU

7-6

Final

Sep. 18, 2021

Bradley BRAD

4-7

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	5	F
Saint Louis SLU	25	23	25	19	15	(3)
Bradley BRAD	21	25	19	25	13	(2)

Box Score

Josh Schwam

Volleyball Drops Five-Set Marathon Against Saint Louis

Box Score

Game Recap: Volleyball | 9/18/2021 4:44:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Volleyball claimed a share of the 2021 CEFCU Classic title, despite wrapping up the tournament with a five-set loss to tri-champion Saint Louis Saturday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule. Set scores in favor of the Billikens were 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-13.

Bradley, Northern Colorado and Saint Louis each posted 2-1 records during the tournament, with all three teams sweeping their matches with North Dakota. The Braves topped Northern Colorado in five sets to wrap up Friday's action at the CEFCU Classic, while UNC edged Saint Louis in five sets on the opening day of play with all three teams sharing the title after posting identical 8-5 records in sets.

Senior Rachel Pranger once again paced the Braves, matching a season-best 15 kills and also tallied 17 digs. Junior Karagan Coggin added 13 kills and attacked at a .375 clip, while Kora Kauling came off the bench to post a double-double with 10 kills and match-high 29 assists in addition to collecting eight digs as she nearly posted a triple-double. Junior Serena Sparks posted a match-high 25 digs to help lead the Bradley defense.

Saint Louis (7-6 overall), hit .379 in the first set and claimed the opener 25-21. Bradley (4-7 overall) led 12-10 after a Coggin kill, but the Billikens answered with back-to-back points and would later lead 17-16. Sara Daniels had a pair of blocks and Jillian Mattingly served up an ace during a 4-0 Saint Louis run that pushed the Billikens' lead to five (21-16). The Braves managed to pull within three a trio of times down the stretch, with the last at 24-21 on a Thompson kill, only to have Saint Louis take the opener 25-21 on a BU error.

Bradley jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second and stretched the advantage to as many as eight points (18-10), before Saint Louis fought back into the contest. The Billikens used a 7-0 run to later pull even at 22-22 on a Mattingly kill. The teams traded kills when Pranger's fourth kill of the second gave the Braves set point at 24-23. Coggin and sophomore Doga Topcicek combined for a block to seal a 25-23 win for the Braves to knot things up at one set each.

In the third, Saint Louis used a 5-1 spurt midway through to break open a two-point contest and take a 20-14 lead. Pranger scored Bradley's last three points in the set on kills and had five in the frame, but the Billikens took the set 25-19.

After combining for just one kill in the first three sets, Thompson had six kills with just one error on 12 swings in the fourth to help lead the Braves to a 25-19 victory of their own. The fourth featured 10 ties and three lead changes with the last tie coming at 17-17. Bradley would score eight of the final 10 points to take the fourth 25-19 and force a deciding fifth set. Junior Raeann Bergman sparked the run with a kill and Thompson sandwiched kills around a block by Coggin and Abby Johnson to force a Saint Louis timeout. The teams alternated kills for the next four points before a Saint Louis attack error gave the Braves set point at 24-19 and Thompson's sixth kill of the set sealed the 25-19 BU win.

The fifth set came down to the wire after Bradley battled back from a 7-3 deficit. A 4-0 spurt that included kills by Johnson and Thompson put Bradley in front 9-8, only to have Saint Louis respond with three straight points. Bradley forced several Saint Louis errors down the stretch to take a 12-11 advantage and later held a 13-12 edge after Coggin's 13th kill of the match. Mattingly tied it up for Saint Louis at 13-13 with a kill, however, and back-to-back kills from Emily Henken gave the Billikens the fifth set 15-13.

The loss snapped a season-best three-match win streak for the Braves. Pranger posted her second straight double-double and averaged 2.31 kills and 3.38 digs per set, while hitting .324 to earn a spot on the CEFCU Classic All-Tournament team. Coggin joined her on the all-tournament team after she collected 2.15 kills and 1.00 blocks per set in the three contests.

The rest of the all-tournament team included Mattingly and Carlie Rodgers from Saint Louis, along with Northern Colorado's Kaily Jo Ince and Rachel Hickman in addition to Lexi Ahrens of North Dakota.

The Braves hit the road next weekend, opening Missouri Valley Conference action Friday with a 6 p.m. match at Northern Iowa.

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