It was home sweet home for Bradley volleyball this past weekend. The team tied and broke their program record for home wins in a season with victories over Missouri State and Southern Illinois.
On Friday night against Missouri State, sophomore Sara Maddox tallied a match-high and individual season high 18 kills. Junior Kathryn Graf followed closely behind with 16 kills in the match. The Braves had a drama-free night, winning in four sets; 25-19, 24-26, 25-21, 25-21.
On Saturday, Bradley’s efficient offensive attack carried the team to their first season sweep of SIU since 2013. The Braves hit .301 as a team, to go along with a season-best 11 aces.
Their victory also broke the record for most home wins in a season, which was set in 1985. The Braves remain undefeated at the Renaissance Coliseum this season.
“The environment is just amazing, people come out and make it really fun to play here,” Maddox said. “They [also] make it really hard for the other team to play here so it [playing at home] helps us out a lot.”
Bradley’s hard hitters were out in full force Saturday night. Senior Erica Haslag had 12 kills and freshman Hannah Thompson finished with her 13th double-double on the season with 10 kills and 14 digs en route to a three set victory.
While the Braves are not guaranteed their exact position in the conference tournament, they have all but locked in a spot.
Bradley currently holds the third spot in the MVC standings at 8-3. In order to make the conference tournament in Springfield, Missouri they will need to be one of the top six teams. Bradley is 4-2 against current playoff teams. Their only loss came at UNI.
“[This weekend] really solidified our place in the top half of the conference,” Maddox said. “That really helped us out, and proved we can beat any team here and any team in the conference.”
In order to compete with the other top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, senior defensive specialist Abby Ihrke stressed the importance of not making mental mistakes.
“Our plan is always to limit unforced errors and if we do that then we have a lot of confidence in ourselves,” Ihrke said.
Head coach Carol Price-Torok said she was impressed with the play of her team over the weekend.
“I was really proud of the girls for the execution of our game-plan,” Price-Torok said. “That was something we talked about heading into this weekend.”
Bradley will once again look to transfer their home success to the road when they play at 6 p.m. tonight against Evansville and at Indiana State at 6 p.m. Saturday.
