Valparaiso (21-8, 12-4 MVC)
Saturday, Nov. 22 - Drake (16-11, 12-4 MVC) - 6 p.m.
MVC Tournament Semifinal

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The second-seeded Valpo volleyball team opens up its quest for the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship Saturday evening, as it hosts a postseason conference tournament match at the ARC for the first time in 20 years when it faces third-seeded Drake at 6 p.m. The winner will be one step away from claiming the tournament crown.

Previously: The Beacons closed the regular season with a pair of five-set matches, falling to Illinois State before earning a dramatic win over Bradley to secure the tournament's second seed, their best finish since joining the MVC.

Looking Ahead: The tournament championship match is slated for Tuesday evening.

Following the Beacons: Saturday's match is scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats are also available for both matches via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 24th season as head coach at Valpo, Carin Avery is the all-time winningest head coach across all sports in the history of Valpo Athletics. She has won 528 matches (528-265, .666) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and three league 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 61 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 583-289 (.669) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Valpo is 14-9 all-time against Drake, including a 13-8 mark under Avery and a 10-7 record since joining the Valley. The Bulldogs had won the last five matchups in the series prior to this season's lone meeting at the ARC, where the Beacons emerged with a 3-1 victory. Ava Helming had a match-best 19 kills, while Jessica Pickett hit .500 with 11 kills and blocks and Emma Hickey racked up a match-best 27 digs. Valpo is facing Drake for the first time in an MVC Tournament match.

Scouting the Opposition: The Bulldogs come into the ARC with a 16-11 overall record and finished tied with the Beacons in second place in the MVC regular season standings with a 12-4 mark in Valley play. Drake had to rally from down two sets to one against sixth-seeded Belmont in its first-round match on Wednesday to earn a 3-2 victory. Kacia Brown and Macy Daufeldt were both named First Team All-MVC honorees, while Caroline Smith earned a spot on the MVC All-Freshman Team.

Libero of the Year: Senior Emma Hickey was tabbed the MVC Libero of the Year when the Valley announced its postseason awards Wednesday, following another stellar season in the back row. She ranks 11th nationally with 5.09 digs/set and adds 1.26 assists/set as well. Hickey led Valpo in digs 26 times in the regular season and tallied 10 or more digs 27 times, including 14 matches with at least 20 digs and three matches with at least 30 digs.

In the Top 20: Hickey enters Saturday's match with 2,647 career digs, good for 19th in D-I history and just 47 digs away from the top-15. She is also just nine digs away from former UNI standout Ellie Blankenship for fourth in MVC history in the category. Hickey leads all active NCAA players (all divisions) in career digs and owns 668 more digs than any other active Division I player.

Right Side, Strong Side: Hickey was joined on the First Team All-MVC by both of Valpo's right sides, Ava Helming and Sam Warren, as the Beacons had their highest number of First Team honorees since joining the Valley. Helming has been a consistent presence on the right side for the Beacons this season. She ranks among the top-10 in the Valley in both kills/set (8th, 3.28) and hitting percentage (10th, .298). Helming has paced the team in kills 14 times and has totaled at least ten kills in 22 of Valpo's 29 matches, including 14 of 16 times within Valley play. She has reached the 15-kill mark on 11 occasions, nine of which came in MVC matches.
 
When Helming rotates out, it has been Warren rotating in to continue the Beacons' production from the right side. She ranks just outside the top-10 in the Valley with 2.93 kills/set and has boosted that mark to 3.28 kills/set within MVC play, good for ninth among Valley players. Warren has led Valpo in kills eight times this year and has been in double figures in kills on 14 occasions. When she has tallied at least 15 kills, the Beacons own a 6-1 record — including most recently a career-best 23-kill output in the Senior Night win over Bradley.

Libero Dominance: Hickey's Libero of the Year accolade continues a remarkable string of accomplishments by Valpo liberos. Since the position was introduced to NCAA volleyball, Valpo has had six regular liberos - all six of whom have claimed at least one conference Libero/Defensive Player of the Year award: Sara Silcox was the 2003 Mid-Con Libero of the Year, Brittany Malicoat was the 2007 and 2008 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, Taylor Root was the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Morganne Longoria earned the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2016 and Rylee Cookerly was MVC Libero of the Year in 2019 and spring 2021. In all, the six liberos have combined for 10 major conference awards.

The MVC Tournament: Valpo owns a 5-7 record over its first eight seasons in the Valley in the MVC Tournament, including a 4-1 record as the better seed. The Beacons' previous top seed before earning the second seed this year was the fourth seed in 2021. This will be Valpo's first MVC Tournament match at the ARC, and the first volleyball conference tournament match of any sort since Valpo defeated Oral Roberts in the 2005 Mid-Con title match.

MVC Success...: Valpo has continued its run of success in conference play again this season, as the program has now finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its nine years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat. Going back further into the Horizon League and Mid-Continent Conference days, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 23 of Avery's 24 seasons and 32 of the last 33 years overall. 

...and This Year is the Best: Valpo's 12-4 record in MVC regular season play and tied for second place finish is the program's best record and best finish within MVC play since joining the conference - the 2021 team finished in a tie for third at 12-6. The second-place finish was Valpo's first runner-up placement since 2013 in the Horizon League. Avery's teams have finished in second place in the league regular season standings seven times - four times in the Horizon, twice in the Mid-Con and now once in the MVC

20 Wins Once Again: With its win at Murray State, Valpo hit the 20-win milestone for the season - the program has won 20 or more matches in 19 of Carin Avery's 24 seasons and has averaged 22 wins per season in Avery's tenure. The Beacons secured a winning 2025 season with its home win over Murray State in mid-October, the 22nd winning season in 24 years under Avery. The Beacons secured their spot in the MVC Tournament with their win at Evansville - Valpo has qualified for its conference tournament in each of Carin Avery's 24 seasons at the helm of the program.

Dramatic End to the Regular Season: It wasn't just Valpo fans on the edge of their seats (or the balls of their feet) on Saturday evening during the 5th set against Bradley, trailing by 10-7 before the Beacons rallied for the 15-12 win. That match was the last MVC regular season match being played, meaning all eyes were on the ARC as multiple placements in the tournament bracket were up for grabs. Had Bradley emerged victorious, Drake would have been the second seed and received the first-round bye, Valpo would have dropped to the third seed, Bradley would have been in the tournament as the sixth seed and Belmont would have missed out. Instead, Valpo claimed the second seed, forcing Drake to play its first-round matchup Wednesday against sixth-seeded Belmont, which moved into the tournament field with the Braves' loss.

Going the Distance: Given the way conference play went for the Beacons, it was quite appropriate both matches in the final weekend went the full five sets. The loss to Illinois State was Valpo's first in a five-set match in Valley play this season, while the win over Bradley meant the Beacons ended MVC play with a 5-1 record in five-set contests. Notably, two of those five wins came after trailing by two sets, while two more of them came by regrouping to win a fifth set after surrendering a 2-0 lead. Even more remarkably, three of the five wins came when Coach Avery used a timeout in the fifth set, trailing 5-2.

Road Warriors: Valpo bounced back from the Belmont loss in the next-to-last weekend of the regular season with a sweep of Murray State Saturday, closing out its road slate in MVC play this season with a 7-1 record. It is the program's best performance on the road in MVC play since joining the Valley, and its best record on the road in any conference play since the 2004 NCAA Tournament team went 7-0 in Mid-Con road matches.

Digging It and Killing It: The Beacons rank among the nation's best on both sides of the ball this season. Valpo currently leads the the MVC rankings with 16.62 digs/set, a mark which ranks 17th nationally, while it is second in the Valley and 17th nationally with 14.08 kills/set and second in the Valley and 16th nationally with 13.11 assists/set. Notably, that kills mark would be the program's best kills/set average in a season since 2015.

Kois' Helping Hands: Senior Addy Kois cracked Valpo's career top-10 chart in assists early on in the Beacons' sweep of Murray State. With 57 assists last weekend, Kois boosted her career total to 2,662 assists.  The senior posted setting percentages of .606 at Belmont and .525 at Murray State, giving her eight matches this season where she has registered a setting percentage above .500.

Still Underclassmen: It's easy to forget, given the number of returnees this year's Beacon squad features, that a large number of those returnees are still just sophomores. 74.3% of the team's kills and 74.9% of the team's blocks have come courtesy of the underclassmen.

Players of the Week: Valpo claimed nine MVC weekly awards this season.
- Despite playing just three sets in both of the weekend's matches, Emma Hickey extended her streak of 20+ dig matches to five straight, as she tallied exactly 20 digs in both the sweep at Indiana State and the sweep at Evansville, to earn her fifth Defensive Player of the Weke honor Nov. 3. Hickey's defensive work, which also included 17 serve receptions without an error, contributed to the Beacons holding their opponents to just 11.67 kills/set on .141 hitting in the pair of wins. With nine career Defensive Player of the Week awards, Hickey is tied with Blankenship for third-most in conference history.
- Hickey picked up her fourth award of the year Oct. 27, as she averaged 7.14 digs/set, leading all players with 29 digs against UIC and 21 against Southern Illinois, and handled 21 serve receptions without an error. 13 of Hickey's 21 digs versus SIU came in the third set alone, tying her career best for a single frame. 
- Sophomore Ava Helming earned MVC Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career Oct. 13. She hit .520 with 15 kills in Valpo's wins at UIC and at SIU, becoming the first Valpo player to hit at least .500 with 15 or more kills in consecutive matches since Allison Sears in October 2008. 
- Hickey was named Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this year after the Illinois State/Bradley road weekend as she averaged 5.60 digs/set and 1.70 assists/set while not committing a serve reception error on 39 attempts. 
- Jessica Pickett was named Player of the Week for the first time in her career and Hickey was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week after splitting the Drake/UNI opening weekend of conference play - Pickett hit .391 over the pair of matches with 2.88 kills/set and 1.50 blocks/set, while Hickey averaged 6.25 digs/set and committed just one serve reception error on 45 attempts. 
- Hickey was recognized as Defensive Player of the Week for the first time this year following the opening weekend of the season, which saw her earn All-Tournament Team honors at the USI Invitational as she averaged 6.60 digs/set and committed just one serve reception error on 49 attempts. 
- On Sept. 15, the Beacons boasted a pair of award winners: Lilly Merk was named Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career after averaging 1.50 blocks/set, highlighted by a 12-block effort in Valpo's upset bid at Northwestern, while Keira Lucas was tabbed Freshman of the Week as she averaged 2.44 kills/set on .302 hitting and 2.00 digs/set while committing just one serve reception error on 49 attempts at the Lehigh Steel Classic.

Capturing Crowns: Valpo continued its penchant for winning in-season tournament titles under Carin Avery this season, claiming a share of the crown at the USI Invitational and sweeping its way to the Lehigh Steel Classic title. Valpo has won 36 in-season tournament titles in Avery's time as head coach. The team has won at least one tournament in 18 of her seasons, and multiple tournaments 12 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states.

All-Tournament Accolades: Over the course of Valpo's four early-season tournaments, six players combined to earn a total of nine All-Tournament Team honors.
- Leatherneck Classic: Emma Hickey, Lilly Merk
- Lehigh Steel Classic: Kadence Brumitt (MVP), Addy Kois
- EMU Tournament: Ava Helming, Merk
- USI Invitational: Helming, Hickey, Sam Warren

Who's Back: In a nutshell, everybody who could be. All 16 players who ended last season on the Beacons squad with remaining eligibility return for Valpo in 2025. That group accounted for 78.1% of the kills, 84.4% of the service aces, 78.0% of the digs and 93.9% of the blocks from the 2024 season.

Who's Gone: Valpo graduated just two players from last year's squad: Abby Boyle and Elise Swistek. Swistek's production will be the big piece to replace, as she closed her time at Valpo as one of just 10 players in program history to surpass 1,000 kills (1,018; 19th) and 1,000 digs (1,479; 12th).

Who's New: The Beacons welcome two freshmen to the large group of returnees this year. Keira Lucas is an outside hitter who was a three-time All-State honoree at Northview [Ind.] H.S., while Olivia Wagner is a setter who helped lead Lakeville South [Minn.] H.S. to the 2024 Minnesota Class AAAA state championship.

Young But Mighty: Legendary college basketball coach Al McGuire is credited for having said "The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores." If that's the case for last year's class of Valpo volleyball freshmen, opponents are in for a rough time this season. Last year's freshman class accounted for 59.1% of the team's kills, 31.1% of the aces and 73.6% of the blocks in the 2024 campaign. That comes out to a total of 58.7% of the team's points accounted for by freshmen last season, a mark which ranked third nationally among D-I programs, trailing only Mississippi Valley State and Le Moyne - two programs which combined for just eight wins, compared with the Beacons' 18 victories. Prior to last season, none of Avery's teams in her time at Valpo had freshmen account for even 30% of the team's points.

Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play last fall, finishing the 2024 campaign 19th nationally with an average of 17.20 digs/set. The program has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in every season since 2009, including 14 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 (10th; 2,752).

Next Stop, 600: Head coach Carin Avery reached yet another milestone last October, winning her 500th match in charge of the Valpo program with the Beacons' win at Murray State. Valpo's all-time winningest coach in any sport, Avery's 500th win came in her 752nd match in charge of the program. Avery is the second current MVC coach to win at least 500 matches at their current institution, joining UNI's Bobbi Petersen.