Valpo junior libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) was honored Tuesday for her work both on the court and in the classroom, as she was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team.
 
Hickey finished the season third nationally in digs per set, racking up 715 total digs — sixth-most in a single season in program history. Far and away the leader among D-I juniors in career digs, she became the fastest player in Valpo history and is tied as the fastest player in MVC history to surpass 2,000 career digs. Hickey finished the year with 2,078 career digs, fifth-most in program history.
 
In the classroom, Hickey owns a 3.93 cumulative GPA as a civil engineering major. This is the second straight year Hickey has earned Scholar-Athlete recognition from the MVC, as she was a Second Team choice as a sophomore. She has also earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition and received the MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award.