Peoria, Ill. - After a weekend road trip opened up Missouri Valley play for Bradley Volleyball, the Braves now return home to ring in their 2022 home conference slate, doing so on Homecoming Weekend.
WEEKEND LINKS
Bradley vs. UIC TV (ESPN3)
Bradley vs. UIC Live Stats
TICKETS (UIC)
Bradley vs. Valparaiso TV (ESPN3)
Bradley vs. Valparaiso Live Stats
TICKETS (Valparaiso)
HOW THE BRAVES MATCH UP
While the Braves (4-10 Overall, 0-2 MVC) have started league play without getting into the win column, home court advantage looks to provide resurgence for
Alicia Williams and the team, who have picked up two of their four wins thus far within the confines of Renaissance Coliseum.
Freshman
Kendall Minta (9 kills) and junior
Doga Topcicek (16 digs) paced the Braves in a four-set battle at Indiana State to open league play.
Topcicek found her way back onto the leaderboard on Saturday at Evansville, finishing just shy of a double-double, bringing in a career-high tying 14 kills, adding nine digs as well. Nearly half of Topcicek's kills (five) came in a narrow 27-25 set three victory.
Bradley holds a (3-2) record in their past five MVC home openers, most recently defeating Southern Illinois in five sets in 2021.
ABOUT THE UIC FLAMES
Bradley starts the weekend by hosting Missouri Valley Conference newcomer UIC (9-6 Overall, 1-2 MVC) on Friday at 6 p.m. The Flames will be on their second match of the week, having won at home against their travel partner, and Bradley's Saturday opponent, Valparaiso, 3-0.
While the series with the Flames has been a non-conference tilt to this point, the two programs have met 12 times prior, with UIC holding a 9-3 advantage, including going (5-0) in Peoria.
Martina Delucchi surfaces as a key name to watch for the Flames. The junior leads UIC in kills with 218, with the next closest teammate tallying 157 kills. Delucchi's service game could also prove key for the visitors, as she also leads the team in aces with 21.
ABOUT THE VALPARAISO BEACONS
The Braves will then host Valparaiso (13-2 Overall, 1-2 MVC) to conclude the weekend. On Monday, the Beacons were successful on 21 of 99 attacks, also having a -.010 hitting percentage in their loss at UIC. That loss was just their second of the season, the first such result in a true road match.
Both the Braves and Beacons had a non-conference series going prior to Valparaiso's MVC membership, with Saturday's meeting marking the 26th in series history. It's been a close battle to this point, with the Beacons holding a slim 13-12 series advantage.
In 2021, it was a series split, with each team taking their respective home match, both of which were by 3-1 scores.
The Beacons feature a balanced attack out of the front row, with their top five players in kills all being within 12 such attacks of each other. Kara Cooper (116 kills) holds a narrow nine-kill lead in that category. Miranda Strongman is another key attacker, hitting a team-best .441 entering the weekend.
Valparaiso will take on Illinois State on Friday evening before facing off versus the Braves on Saturday.
