The Valpo volleyball team started hosting of the Popcorn Classic Friday at the ARC on the right foot, sweeping Miami (25-21, 25-23, 25-17) in its tournament opener. In the nightcap, Cornell claimed each of the final two sets to earn a 3-1 (27-25, 14-25, 25-17, 29-27) victory over the Beacons. The two matches featured a number of performances which impacted the program's record book, most notably sophomore Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) registering the second-most service aces in a match in program history in the matchup with Cornell.

How It Happened – Miami

• The opening set was all RedHawks past the midway point, as Miami led by as many as nine points at 16-7.
• A four-point run on the serve of freshman Lilly Merk (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo) got the Beacons back within striking distance, and after the teams traded sideouts, Thomas went back to the service line and reeled off seven points in a row to turn the set around and put Valpo in front. Libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) had a pair of kills during that run.
• The lead was just one at 20-19 before three consecutive points for Valpo — coming on kills from three different players — gave it breathing room at 23-19. The teams sided out the rest of the way, with a kill from junior Sam Warren (Kentland, Ind./South Newton) closing the opener in the Beacons' favor.
• While the second set didn't need a big comeback from the Beacons, it required just as much, if not more, work. Miami's only leads of the frame came in the first few points, but the RedHawks hung around for the duration.
• Valpo led by as many as four points in the middle stages of the second set before Miami rallied to tie the score at 19-19, 20-20 and 21-21. Notably, the Beacons did not relinquish the advantage to the RedHawks in any of those three instances, and a block from freshmen Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Drew Glaser (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) made it 23-21 Valpo.
• Sideouts the rest of the way were capped by a kill by senior Elise Swistek (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie) to give the Beacons the 2-0 lead in the match.
• Valpo scored six of the first eight points of the third set and never gave up the edge in completing the sweep. The Beacons held Miami to just seven kills on .026 hitting in the final frame and closed out the 3-0 win on a Warren kill.

How It Happened – Cornell

• Valpo looked in control at the halfway mark of the opening frame, extending its lead to five points on multiple occasions.
• A big 7-1 run for the Big Red just past that halfway point made it a battle to the end of the set. The Beacons had the edge again late on, pulling out to a 23-20 lead, and earned two set point chances at 24-22. But Cornell held both of those off, as well as another Valpo chance at 25-24, and eventually earned the opening-frame win on its first chance to take the set.
• The second set was all Valpo, as the Beacons jumped out to a 9-4 lead and never looked back. Valpo hit .423 with 14 kills in the set on its way to evening the match.
• Cornell reeled off a 7-2 spurt to start set three, but Thomas responded with a six-point run on her serve — including three service aces — to give the Beacons an 8-7 lead.
• Valpo still led at 11-10 before the Big Red scored 15 of the set's final 21 points to go up 2-1 in the match. Cornell hit .474 in the third frame, while the Beacons hit at a negative clip.
• Another spurt on the serve of Thomas, which included two more aces, gave Valpo an 11-5 lead approaching the midway point in set four.
• Cornell responded with five points in a row to get right back in the frame, and eventually battled to a two-point edge at 18-16 before the Beacons scored five in a row — including a block and an ace by Merk — to go up 21-18.
• The Big Red tied the set at 22-22, Valpo came back with back-to-back points to earn two chances at forcing a fifth set. The Beacons actually ended up with four opportunities to close the fourth frame — 24-22, 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25 — but it was Cornell on its second match point chance which finished things.

Inside the Matches

• All four teams participating in the Popcorn Classic ended the day with a 1-1 record. In addition to the pair of Valpo results, Purdue Fort Wayne beat Cornell in five sets and Miami swept Purdue Fort Wayne.
• The Beacons have been strong on the serve in the early season, but Thomas' performance against Cornell was next-level. The sophomore racked up eight service aces, tied for second-most in a single match in program history — trailing only a nine-ace effort by Kathy Harrison versus Dayton in 1990 in the sideout scoring era.
• As recently as two weeks ago, Valpo's previous high in the 25-point era by an individual was five service aces. Merk surpassed that last weekend with a six-ace night against Northern Illinois before Thomas' performance Friday.
• Led by Thomas' effort at the service line, the Beacons racked up 14 aces as a team against the Big Red. That mark is second-most by a Valpo team in the 25-point era.
• Both matches featured an edit to the team single-match record book, as Valpo racked up 80 digs in the three-set win in the opener against Miami — tied for fifth-most in a sweep in the 25-point era and third-most by a D-I team in a three-set match this year.
• Valpo's individual career charts got a revision as well, as Hickey notched 23 digs against Miami and 20 versus Cornell to vault two spots on the career digs chart. The junior now sits ninth all-time at Valpo with 1,543 career digs.
• Swistek paced Valpo in kills and in digs in both matches, finishing with 11 kills and 27 digs against Miami before posting 14 kills and 21 digs versus Cornell. Swistek has now hit the 20-dig mark in 13 matches in her career and owns 1,173 career digs, 11 shy of the program's top-20 chart.
• Pickett matched Swistek's kill total in the tournament-opening win, racking up a season-high 11 kills on .500 hitting in the sweep of the RedHawks.
• Paced by Swistek and Pickett, Valpo enjoyed a 46-29 advantage in kills over Miami.
• Thomas finished with a double-double in the win over the RedHawks, tallying 21 assists and 11 digs, while Warren tied her career best with a team-best five blocks.
• Freshman Kadence Brumitt (Niles, Mich./Brandywine) joined Swistek with a double-figure kill tally in the nightcap versus Cornell, racking up a season-high 13 kills.
• Pickett finished with a team-best six blocks versus the Big Red.

Next Up

Valpo (5-3) goes for a strong end to the weekend on Saturday afternoon when it faces Purdue Fort Wayne in the Popcorn Classic finale at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.