The Valpo volleyball team secured a spot in this year's MVC Tournament field and clinched a winning season as well as the Beacons took down Indiana State, 3-1 (25-13, 25-10, 25-27, 25-15), at the ARC Friday night.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo led from the start of the opening set and gained separation with a four-point spurt, including two kills from junior Sam Warren (Kentland, Ind./South Newton) and one apiece from freshman Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) and senior Elise Swistek (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie), to pull out to an 11-5 lead.
• The Beacons pushed their lead to 17-8 on a service ace by Swistek before the Sycamores scored three in a row to cut the advantage down to six points. Gove came up with back-to-back kills, though, to not only stop the ISU run, but start an 8-2 Valpo run to close out the opening frame.
• The Beacons opened the second set on a six-point spurt, featuring two kills from freshman Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), and never trailed en route to taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
• In contrast to the first two sets, the third frame featured 12 ties and eight lead changes. Indiana State led by as many as three points late in the set and earned set point at 24-22. Kills by junior Maddie Moan (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock [Milwaukee]) and Gove staved off the pair of set points to extend the frame.
• An ISU error gave Valpo its first match point opportunity at 25-24, but the Sycamores got a kill, followed by back-to-back blocks, to take the third set and move the match to the fourth frame.
• Valpo bounced back in short order from dropping the third set, scoring five of the first six points of the fourth on its way to taking a 10-4 lead. ISU got the lead down to three points at 12-9 before an 8-1 run, including a kill and three blocks by Moan, gave the Beacons plenty of breathing room on their way to closing out the match.

 
Inside the Match

• Valpo assured itself of a berth in the MVC Tournament with Friday's win, combined with the conference's other results. The Beacons will be no worse than the seventh seed in the tournament, and are just one game back of a three-way tie for fourth place — Valpo beat all three of the teams just ahead of them in the respective lone regular season matchups.
• Friday's victory also boosted the Beacons' overall record to 16-12, securing a winning season. It is the 21^st time in the 23-year tenure of head coach Carin Avery that Valpo has finished above .500.
• The Valpo defense held Indiana State to .053 hitting on Friday, the lowest clip by a Beacon opponent in MVC play this season, and racked up 13 blocks, tied for its best output against a Valley opponent.
• It was a total team effort on the block, with five different players joining in on at least three rejections. Pickett led all players with five blocks, while freshman Drew Glaser (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) posted a season-high four blocks and Moan recorded four blocks as well.
• Pickett owns 116 blocks this year, tied for eighth-most by a Valpo player in the 25-point era.
• Junior Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) led the way on the back line with 27 digs, in the process moving into fifth place in program history with 1,981 career digs. With 618 digs this year, Hickey — who also tallied eight assists on Friday — is just 10 away from the Beacons' single-season top-10 in the 25-point era.
• Both of Valpo's setters kept plays alive well on Friday, ending the night with double-doubles. Sophomore Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) racked up 16 digs to go with 23 assists, while junior Addy Kois (Osceola, Ind./Penn) notched 10 digs and 22 assists.
• Swistek picked up her 16^th double-double of the year with 16 digs and 15 kills. The senior continues to approach her millennium kill, as she now sits at 975 career kills.
• Senior Abby Boyle (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center) narrowly missed joining the aforementioned quartet in double figures in the digs column as she registered a season-high nine digs.
• Gove finished just one off her season best as she racked up 15 kills.
• Going along with her defensive performance, Pickett tied her season-best performance on the attack from a percentage standpoint, hitting .750 as she tallied nine kills on just 12 swings without an error.
• Warren wasn't far off of Pickett's effort, hitting .615 as she posted nine kills on 13 swings with just one error. Moan had a strong attacking match as well, with seven kills on 16 swings as she hit .375.
• Junior Claire Campbell (Warrensburg, Ill./Warrensburg-Latham) made her return to action after suffering an injury in the Beacons' NIVC match last season. Campbell saw action in two sets, picking up a kill and a block.
• Freshman Danica Goch (Baroda, Mich./Lakeshore) tallied the first service ace of her collegiate career.

 
Next Up
Valpo (16-12, 8-8 MVC) hosts Evansville on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. It will be Senior Night for the Beacons, who will recognize Swistek and Boyle following the match.