Valparaiso (12-9, 4-5 MVC)
Friday, Oct. 25 - Bradley (10-11, 5-4 MVC) - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 26 - Illinois State (11-11, 6-3 MVC) - 5 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The Valpo volleyball team carries a three-match winning streak into the second half of the MVC schedule, which begins this weekend at the ARC with matchups against Bradley and Illinois State.

Previously: The Beacons swept last weekend's southern road swing, winning in four sets Friday night at Murray State before a dramatic come-from-behind five-set victory at Belmont Saturday evening.

Looking Ahead: Valpo faces the first of back-to-back lengthy weekends on the road next weekend, playing at Missouri State and at Southern Illinois.

Following the Beacons: Both matches this week will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The matches will have live stats available as well, linked via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 23rd season as head coach at Valparaiso, Carin Avery is the all-time winningest head coach across all sports in the history of Valpo Athletics. She has won 501 matches (501-252, .665) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and tournament titles. The program has made seven postseason appearances under Avery, including three NCAA Tournament appearances, and advanced to the championship match of the 2021 NIVC. Avery has coached 62 All-League recipients over her tenure at Valpo, which has spanned three different conferences. She is Valpo's all-time leader in both victories and winning percentage, and owns a 556-276 (.668) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Bradley - Valpo holds a 17-12 edge in the all-time series against the Braves, including a 9-5 mark since joining the Valley. Remarkably, over the last two seasons, all four matchups between the Beacons and the Braves have gone the full five sets, and Valpo has claimed the victory in all four meetings. All told, Valpo is on a five-match winning streak over Bradley.

Illinois State - The Redbirds own a 14-5 advantage in the all-time series, including a 12-3 mark since Valpo joined the MVC. Last season, there was no home court advantage to be had in a pair of matchups, as ISU swept the Beacons at the ARC before Valpo turned the tables in Normal with a four-set win.

Scouting the Opposition: Bradley - The Braves are 10-11 overall and 5-4 in MVC play, but have dropped their last three matches. Bradley leads the conference with 1.69 service aces/set and boasts three of the top nine individuals in the category, while Irene Mostardini is fourth in the MVC with 4.87 digs/set.

Illinois State - The Redbirds enter the weekend at 11-11 overall and in a tie for third place in the Valley standings at 6-3 following two losses last weekend. Mekaila Aupiu leads all MVC players with 9.67 assists/set, while Aida Shadewald ranks second in service aces (0.41/set) and sixth in kills (3.53/set).

Valpo Picked Sixth in Preseason Poll: Valpo was picked to finish in sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2024, according to preseason polling of the conference's head coaches. The Beacons shared sixth position with Missouri State, while UNI topped the poll. In six of Valpo's seven seasons in the Valley, the program has met or exceeded its preseason prognostication.

Looking Back at Last Season: Valpo is coming off a third consecutive postseason appearance in 2023, as the Beacons earned an at-large berth in the NIVC. The program posted an 18-15 overall record and went 10-8 in MVC play, finishing in a tie for fifth place in the Valley standings. Miranda Strongman earned First Team All-MVC honors, while Mallory Januski was a Second Team All-MVC honoree.

Who's Back: This year's squad returns nine letterwinners from the 2023 team, a group which includes the team's leader in kills (Elise Swistek) and digs (Emma Hickey). The Beacons return a good bit of their back row defensive production, as 65.7% of the team's digs from last year are back in 2024.

Who's Gone: Valpo did graduate a talented class which accounted for a good portion of the team's front row production last year, as the Beacons return just 37.9% of the kills and 25.3% of the blocks from 2023. Middles Mallory Januski and Miranda Strongman, both All-MVC selections last year, ended their Valpo careers 1-2 in program history in career hitting percentage, while the team also graduated players who ranked among the top-10 in program history in career digs (outside hitter Bella Ravotto) and assists (setter Victoria Bulmahn).

Who's New: While there's a lot of production from last year to replace in 2024, there's also an exciting new class of rookies eager to take on the challenge of stepping up into contributing roles. This year's squad has nine players with freshman eligibility - one redshirt (Jessica Pickett) and eight true freshmen. The incoming class includes two players who were AVCA High School All-Americans last year (Ava Helming, Second Team; Lilly Merk, Third Team) and three others who were First Team All-State honorees as high school seniors (Jordyn Gove, Drew Glaser, Kadence Brumitt).

500 in Sight: Head coach Carin Avery reached yet another milestone last week, winning her 500th match in charge of the Valpo program Friday night at Murray State. Valpo's all-time winningest coach in any sport, Avery's 500th win came in her 752nd match in charge of the program, good for a .665 winning percentage. In her 23rd season as head coach, Avery's squads have averaged better than 22 wins per season over her 22 complete years. Avery is the second current MVC coach to win at least 500 matches at their current institution, joining UNI's Bobbi Petersen.

Starting the Second Half: The second half of the MVC slate gets underway Friday evening, and since joining the Valley, Valpo has performed better in the second half of conference action. In its first seven seasons, Valpo went 32-31 in the first half of play and 36-27 in the second half of play. Notably, the last two times Valpo hit the halfway mark under .500, it improved by two games from the first half to the second half.

What a Rally: Things might have looked bleak for the Beacons Saturday evening at Belmont, trailing 2-1 and 23-17 in the fourth set, but this is still Valpo volleyball. The Beacons finished the fourth set on a 9-1 run to force the fifth frame, and then scored eight straight to start the fifth set on their way to a 15-4 win. All told, it was a 24-5 run between the fourth and fifth sets. It was the program's first win after facing a match point since scoring the final three points of the match after trailing 14-13 in the fifth set against South Alabama Sept. 4, 2021, while it was the first win when trailing after three sets since last November against Bradley. Meanwhile, the 15-4 win in the fifth set was Valpo's largest fifth-set win since a 15-2 final-frame win at Illinois State Feb. 22, 2021.

Seriously, This Again?: Avery's 499th and 500th wins at Valpo both ended in similar fashion. Against Missouri State in their last home match, the Beacons started celebrating an apparent 16-14 fifth-set win on an attack error before a challenge resulted in the point being overturned due to a touch call. Valpo bounced back from that with the next two points to celebrate a second time. Then, last Friday at Murray State, a kill seemingly closed out Avery's 500th victory at 25-22 in the fourth set, but a challenge resulted in the point being overturned on a net violation. This time, Valpo closed things out with a kill on the very next point.

Serving It Up: Valpo's big run against the Bruins was buoyed by the performance at the service line of sophomore Mara Thomas. Thomas rotated back to the line with Valpo trailing 23-18 in the fourth set and served five points in a row to get the Beacons back into the frame. Then, after Belmont had the serve to start set five and Valpo won the opening point, Thomas again rotated back to the line and this time delivered seven points in a row. Thomas finished with four service aces in that win, tied for fourth-most by a Valpo player in a five-set match in the 25-point era, and led the way as the Beacons racked up 14 aces, their most in a five-set match since 1996 and tied for second-most in any length match in the 25-point era.

Next Player Up: Valpo's wins last weekend were even more impressive considering the Beacons were down a pair of regular front-row players, but two others stepped right up and filled those spots. Drew Glaser was in the rotation on the right side for both matches and averaged nearly two kills per set in the two wins. Maddie Moan filled in at middle and posted nine blocks over the nine sets of action.

Freshman of the Week: Freshman right side Ava Helming also stepped up her game last weekend and was rewarded by being named the MVC Freshman of the Week on Monday. Helming opened the weekend by posting 14 kills on .379 hitting in the win at Murray State, also adding three blocks against the Racers. The next night, Helming helped Valpo to its come-from-behind win at Belmont with 16 kills on .452 hitting — her best hitting percentage of the season in a match she has reached double digits in kills. For the weekend, Helming averaged 3.33 kills/set on .417 hitting and totaled five blocks as well.

On a Roll: Senior outside Elise Swistek has been playing some of the best offensive volleyball of her career over the Beacons' three-match winning streak. She started the stretch with a career-high 19 kills on .268 hitting in the win over Missouri State. Last weekend, she delivered 16 kills on .324 hitting in the win at Murray State and finished with 17 kills in the victory at Belmont. The senior stepped up in a big way in big moments in the Belmont win, delivering a kill with Valpo facing match point and then an ace to give the Beacons set point in the fourth set. Swistek then tallied a trio of kills in the 8-0 run to start the fifth-set win.

The Rookies Produce: Valpo's freshman class has been leaned on for major production all season long. The Beacons' rookies have accounted for 60.5% of the team's kills, 29.6% of the aces and 78.7% of the blocks this year. That comes out to a total of 59.9% of the team's points accounted for by freshmen, a mark which ranks third nationally, trailing only Mississippi Valley State and Le Moyne. Freshmen have combined for 26 matches with double-figure kill totals and 17 matches with five or more blocks.

Near the Top: Junior Emma Hickey currently ranks second in D-I in both total digs (471) and digs/set (5.67). With 1,834 career digs, Hickey has far and away the most digs of any D-I junior, as number two on that list - Montana State's Lauren Lindseth - sits at 1,294 career digs. In fact, Hickey ranks 22nd nationally overall among D-I players in career digs.  

1,500 For Hickey: Emma Hickey reached yet another career milestone Sept. 7 with her final dig of the weekend at St. Thomas, as it was the 1,500th dig of her collegiate career. Hickey reached the mark in her 72nd career match, becoming the fastest player in both Valpo history and MVC history to hit 1,500. She surpassed Illinois State's Courtney Pence, who reached the mark in 74 matches, as the fastest player in the MVC history to 1,500 career digs, and also bettered Rylee Cookerly and Taylor Root in Valpo's record books, as both Cookerly and Root hit the mark in 76 matches.

At or Near the Top: It's become commonplace to see Valpo at or near the top of the Valley in digs/set, and this year has been no exception so far, as the Beacons currently rank fourth in the conference and 16th nationally in digs/set. What's perhaps more eye-popping, however, is how many other categories Valpo is ranked highly in. The Beacons currently sit second in the MVC in kills/set (35th nationally), assists/set (33rd nationally), aces/set and opponent hitting percentage, as well as third in blocks/set.

Three Times the Honors: Senior Elise Swistek became just the second Valpo player in the tenure of head coach Carin Avery to earn All-Tournament Team honors three times in a single season at early-season tournaments this season. Swistek received recognition at each of the final three tournaments of nonconference play.

I'm About to Play My Ace: The service game has been much more of a weapon for this year's squad than in Valpo's recent history. The Beacons have 135 aces through 21 matches, averaging 1.61 aces/set. To put the average into context, Valpo has not averaged more than 1.20 aces/set since the 2017 season, while its high in the 25-point era is 1.46 aces/set. Individually, Mara Thomas (8, Cornell) and Lilly Merk (6, Northern Illinois) have posted the program's two highest individual single-match ace totals of the 25-point era.