For the fourth time this season and the eighth time in her career, Valpo volleyball senior libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
 
Hickey led all players in digs in both matches last week for the Beacons, tallying a match-high 29 digs against UIC Tuesday before leading the way with 21 digs in the sweep of Southern Illinois Saturday. Her average of 7.14 digs/set for the week was over a dig per set more than any other MVC player. Hickey also handled 21 serve receptions without committing an error over the two matches.
 
During the third set Saturday against Southern Illinois, Hickey cracked the top-25 in NCAA Division I history in career digs — making Valpo the only school with three players among the top-25 in that category — and ended the night with 2,546 digs, moving up to 24^th in D-I history. She also tallied 13 digs in that third set alone, matching her career best for a single set.
 
Hickey, who ranks sixth nationally and leads the MVC this season with 5.20 digs/set, is now tied for fourth in MVC history with eight career Defensive Player of the Week selections.