Valparaiso (4-2, 0-0 MVC)
Popcorn Classic (Valparaiso, Ind.)
Friday, Sept. 13 - Cornell vs. Purdue Fort Wayne - 9 a.m.
Valpo vs. Miami [Ohio] (4-2) - 11:30 a.m.
Purdue Fort Wayne vs. Miami - 3:30 p.m.
Valpo vs. Cornell (2-1) - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 14 - Miami vs. Cornell - 10 a.m.
Valpo vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (3-3) - 1 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The Valpo volleyball team hosts its annual home tournament this weekend, as the Beacons welcome Miami (Ohio), Cornell and Purdue Fort Wayne to the ARC for the two-day, six-match Popcorn Classic.

Looking Ahead: Nonconference play comes to an end for the Beacons next weekend at Wofford's Terrier Invite.

Following the Beacons: All three of Valpo's matches this weekend will be broadcast live on ESPN+. All six tournament matches will have live stats available, 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 493 matches (493-245, .668) 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 548-269 (.671) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Miami - Valpo holds a 5-3 edge in the all-time series against the RedHawks. Last season, the Beacons swept Miami at the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational as they hit .337 as a team, led by 10 kills on .643 hitting from Mallory Januski. Miranda Strongman and Elise Swistek combined for nine aces in the match, while Emma Hickey put up 18 digs.

Cornell - Valpo has won both previous meetings with the Big Red, including a 3-1 win in Cornell's last visit to the ARC in 2018. Peyton McCarthy paced Valpo in that victory with 14 kills, while Lizzie Zaleski racked up a career-best eight blocks.

Purdue Fort Wayne - The Beacons swept the Mastodons last season at the latter's home tournament, evening the all-time series at 12-12. Elise Swistek had a big match in that victory, posting 10 kills on .474 hitting and nine digs. Sam Warren delivered seven kills and four blocks as well.

Scouting the Opposition: Miami - The RedHawks come into Valpo with a 4-2 mark this season, including a perfect 3-0 record on opening weekend to win the Norfolk State Invitational. Miami is coming off a 5-25 season in 2023 and was picked to finish in 10th place in the MAC this year.

Cornell - The Big Red opened their season last weekend by going 2-1 at Navy's Kristen Dickmann Invitational. Cornell posted a 7-16 record last season and came in at fifth in the Ivy League preseason poll.

Purdue Fort Wayne - The Mastodons enter the ARC with a 3-3 record and won Stonehill's Skyhawk Invitational on opening weekend. Coming off a 10-20 season a year ago, Purdue Fort Wayne was picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League preseason poll.

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).

Hosting Success: This weekend marks the 13th time in Carin Avery's tenure as head coach that Valpo will host an early-season tournament. Valpo has claimed the tournament title with a perfect record in eight of the previous 12 events, including each of the last three - the last two of which have come in the last two seasons. The program has never finished below .500 at a home tournament under Avery and has finished with one loss or fewer in 11 of the 12.

1,500 For Hickey: Junior libero Emma Hickey reached yet another career milestone last Saturday 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.

Historic Back Row Play: To give another perspective on just how significant Hickey being the fastest in Valpo history to 1,500 career digs is, you can take a look at the program's record book and the legacy of strong defense in the back row. While she's now at 1,500 career digs, Hickey hasn't even yet cracked the program's all-time top-10 in digs, as Karen Kulick currently sits 10th with 1,527 digs. Compare that with the other MVC programs - at all 11 other schools, 1,500 digs ranks inside the program's career top-10; at 10 of them, it ranks inside the top-7; and at five of them, it ranks within the top-5.

The Rookies Produce: Valpo's freshman class has stood out at the net through the season's first two weekends. The Beacons' rookies have accounted for 60.2% of the team's kills and 74.1% of the team's blocks over the first six matches. Four different freshmen have combined for eight matches with at least 10 kills, while Lilly Merk has already provided four matches with five or more blocks.

I'm About to Play My Ace: Through two weekends of competition, early returns indicate the service game might be more of a weapon for this year's squad than in the program's recent history. The Beacons have 46 aces through the season's first six matches, averaging 1.84 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, Lilly Merk posted six service aces against Northern Illinois to set a program record in the 25-point era, while the Beacons' 12 total aces against the Huskies were the most in a five-set match in the 25-point era.

All-Tournament Honors: Four different Beacons have earned All-Tournament Team accolades through the season's first two weeks. Most recently, junior Sam Warren and senior Elise Swistek received All-Tournament honors at the St. Thomas Invitational, for both the second such award of their careers. Warren averaged 2.50 kills/set on .313 hitting over the three matches, tying her career high with 12 kills in the win over NIU before surpassing her career best with 13 kills against St. Thomas. Swistek averaged 2.69 kills/set and 3.62 digs/set, standing out in the sweep of Tarleton State with 15 kills on a career-best .500 hitting Of Swistek's 46 digs, 21 were converted into kills — an impressive 45.7% rate.

Garnering Accolades: A pair of Beacons earned awards following the season's opening weekend at the IU Indy Hampton Inn Invitational. Junior Emma Hickey was tabbed the MVC Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career and received her fourth career All-Tournament Team accolade as she posted 5.42 digs/set and 1.58 assists/set, while also committing just one service reception error on 65 chances. Hickey posted 34 digs - her eighth career 30+ dig match - and 11 assists in the season-opening win over SIUE. Freshman Ava Helming was named an All-Tournament Team honoree as well, as she hit .290 with a team-best 3.18 kills/set and added seven rejections in 11 sets of action.

Big Debuts: Valpo's season-opening win over SIUE featured a number of standout collegiate debuts from the Beacons' freshmen. Leading the way was Ava Helming, who debuted with 20 kills on .282 hitting - the most kills by a Valpo player in a match since Nov. 11, 2022. The 20 kills set a program record for kills by a freshman in her debut, and also is the high-water mark for any Valpo player in a season opener. Defensively, Jessica Pickett posted nine blocks - also a program record for blocks by a freshman in her debut and the highest total for any Valpo player in a season opener. Lilly Merk tallied 11 kills and Kadence Brumitt added 10 kills as well, marking the first time in program history three Valpo players have posted double-figure kills in their respective collegiate debuts in the same match.

Winning Ways: The 2023 squad secured a winning season with an early-November win over Bradley, extending the tradition of the program's excellence. In 22 seasons under head coach Carin Avery, Valpo has posted a winning record 20 times. 18 of those times, the program has won at least 20 matches, and the team has averaged 22.2 wins per season in Avery's tenure.

Top Half Finishes: The Beacons ended the 2023 regular season in a tie for fifth-place finish in the final MVC regular season standings. Valpo has now finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its seven years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat. Going back further, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 21 of Avery's 22 seasons - as well as qualifying for the conference tournament in each of her 22 seasons - and 30 of the last 31 years overall.

Postseason History: Last year's at-large bid to the NIVC extended the program's run of postseason appearances to three consecutive years and four of the last six seasons. Valpo's history with the NIVC is highlighted by the program's run to the title match in 2021, while its first NIVC trip in 2018 featured a trip to the quarterfinals. Previously, Valpo made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances with Avery at the helm from 2003 through 2005, while the program also appeared in an NCAA Tournament play-in match three straight years 1994-1996.

Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play last fall, finishing 12th nationally with 17.17 digs/set. The program has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in each of the last 15 seasons, including 13 seasons among the top-20 and four seasons among the top-10 - highlighted by the 2017 campaign in which Valpo led the nation with 20.03 digs/set. Other top finishes include fourth nationally in the spring 2021 season (20.37/set), a fourth-place rank in 2010 and a sixth-place finish in 2015. Since the move to 25-point scoring, only seven teams have averaged more than 20 digs/set over the course of a season, and Valpo is the only program to have done it twice. 2018 saw Valpo lead the nation with 2,613 total digs - a mark which set a program single-season record and a Division I record in the 25-point era. Valpo also boasts two of the top-10 athletes in D-I history in career digs - Rylee Cookerly (2nd; 3,175) and Taylor Root (9th; 2,752).

Capturing Crowns: Valpo has had a penchant for winning in-season tournament titles under Carin Avery. The Beacons added yet another crown to the program's trophy case last season as they claimed their home tournament, the Popcorn Classic. Valpo has won 34 in-season tournament titles in head coach Carin Avery's 22 seasons at the helm of the program, winning at least one tournament in 17 of her seasons and multiple tournaments 11 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states. While Valpo tied for the best record (2-1) at its season-opening tournament at IU Indy this year, Eastern Michigan earned the tournament title by virtue of the head-to-head victory.

Hickey Racks Up the Digs: Joining the long line of standout liberos at Valpo, junior Emma Hickey aims for a third straight season as one of the nation's prolific liberos. Hickey, who became the fastest player in Valpo and MVC history to surpass 1,000 career digs last season, finished the year 15th nationally in digs/set after ranking fourth in the same category as a freshman in 2022. Hickey already ranks 11th in program history with 1,500 digs - just 27 away from the top-10 - and has tallied 444 more digs than any other D-I junior. She also leads all active NCAA players with 5.45 career digs/set.

Swistek as a Senior: Valpo will need to reload its attack this year, as the Beacons graduated three of their four most prolific attackers in terms of kills/set from last year's squad. Last year's leader in that category does return, however, as senior outside Elise Swistek registered 2.43 kills/set to pace the Beacons and also ranked second on the team with 3.39 digs/set. Swistek became the 26th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career digs late last season and currently ranks 23rd in program history with 1,125 digs, while with 715 career kills, she has a shot at potentially reaching 1,000 career kills as well.