Valparaiso (19-6, 10-2 MVC)
Friday, Nov. 7 - at Belmont (14-9, 5-7 MVC) - 1 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 8 - at Murray State (4-17, 2-10 MVC) - 5 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: With just four matches left in the regular season and a spot in the top-four of the MVC standings already secured, the Valpo volleyball team looks to hit the 20-win milestone and to keep hold of second place in the Valley this weekend as the Beacons make their final road trip of the regular season, playing at Belmont Friday afternoon and at Murray State Saturday evening.

Previously: It was six sets and done for the Beacons last weekend, who made quick work of the in-state road trip by sweeping Indiana State on Friday and Evansville on Saturday.

Looking Ahead: Valpo closes the regular season next weekend as it hosts Illinois State and Bradley.

Following the Beacons: Both matches this week are 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 526 matches (526-263, .667) 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 581-287 (.669) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Belmont - Valpo holds a 6-1 edge in the series over the Bruins, including a 5-1 record since Belmont joined the Valley. The last two meetings have been dramatic five-set victories for the Beacons - in last season's lone matchup, Valpo trailed two sets to one and 23-17 in the fourth set before rallying for the win, while earlier this year, the Beacons defended their home court after dropping the first two sets, taking the final three frames to earn the win. Ava Helming led the way in this season's first matchup with 16 kills.

Murray State - Valpo owns an 9-2 advantage in the all-time series over the Racers, including a 5-2 mark since Murray State joined the MVC. In the first meeting this season, the Beacons rebounded after dropping the first set to earn the 3-1 victory. Sam Warren had a monster night in that win, registering a career-best 22 kills on .576 hitting, while Helming tallied 16 kills on .343 hitting.

Scouting the Opposition: Belmont - The Bruins enter Friday's match with a 14-9 overall record, but are just 5-7 in MVC play and have dropped five of their last six matches - including three five-set losses. Brooke Gilliland leads the MVC in service aces (0.52/set) and ranks seventh in kills (3.45/set), while Lilly Lutz sits fourth among MVC players in digs (4.38/set).

Murray State - The Racers enter the weekend at 4-17 overall and 2-10 in MVC play, with a matchup against Southern Illinois on tap Friday before the Beacons' arrival in Murray. Ella Vogel ranks third in the Valley in kills (3.56/set), while Federica Nuccio sits in the same position in service aces (0.37/set).

Into the Tournament...: By virtue of its win at Evansville on Saturday, the Beacons secured their spot in the MVC Tournament - despite the field being cut from eight teams to six teams this season. Valpo has advanced to its conference tournament in each of Carin Avery's 24 seasons at the helm of the program.

...and with a Home Match: Playing simultaneously with Belmont's match at Drake, the Bruins' loss meant that Valpo clinched a top-four seed for the MVC Tournament. With that comes the right to host at least either a semifinal (if the Beacons finish as the 2nd seed) or a first-round match (if the Beacons finish 3rd or 4th). Whichever it is, it will be the first volleyball conference tournament match at the ARC since Valpo's win over Oral Roberts in the 2005 Mid-Continent Conference title match.

How to Secure the Second Seed: With four matches to play, Valpo is one game up on UIC in the loss column for second place and two games up on Drake. Obviously, the Beacons would secure at worst the second seed if they win out, but they also enjoy the benefit of having the head-to-head tiebreaker with both UIC (split the season series, Valpo 4-3 advantage in sets won) and Drake (Valpo won the lone regular season matchup). The result of a three-way tie with both UIC and Drake would hinge on the result of this Saturday's matchup between the other two programs.

Winning Tradition Continues: 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 Carin Avery. With 19 wins this year, Valpo is just one triumph away from the 20-win milestone - the program has won 20 or more matches in 18 of Avery's first 23 seasons and has averaged 22 wins per season in Avery's tenure.

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. Valpo's 10-2 record in conference play entering this weekend is their best conference record since the 2005 squad closed the Mid-Con campaign with a 13-1 record.

Road Warriors: Last week's pair of wins on the road kept the Beacons perfect in MVC road matches this season, as they have won all six of their conference contests away from home. Going back to the nonconference season, Valpo owns eight consecutive true road wins, as you have to go back to the Beacons' five-set loss at Northwestern way back on Sept. 9 for their last true road loss. The eight straight true road wins matches a program record, previously accomplished by the 2013 team.

Three and Out: Valpo wasted little time last weekend earning the wins at Indiana State and at Evansville, sweeping both its in-state foes. After having just one 3-0 win in their first nine MVC matches this season, the Beacons have swept three straight conference matches - the first time since 2019 they have won three straight sweeps in Valley play. Valpo has yet to lose a three-set match this season, posting a 10-0 record in such contests.

Next Up, Top 20: Senior Emma Hickey, who is ranked fourth nationally this year with 5.29 digs/set, sits on the precipice  of cracking the top-20 in NCAA D-I history in career digs. Entering the week with 2,586 career digs, Hickey currently ranks 21st in D-I history, is just 12 digs away from the top-20, and looking further ahead, just 108 digs away from the top-15. She is also just 70 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 663 more digs than any other active Division I player.

Another Week, Another Honor: Hickey has claimed half of the MVC Defensive Player of the Week awards this season, as she racked up her fifth of the year for her performances in the back row last week - four of which have come in the six weeks of conference action. Despite playing just three sets in both of last weekend's matches, 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. Hickey's defensive work, which also included 17 serve receptions without an error, contributed to the Beacons holding their opponent 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.

Go the Distance: Giving the fans their money's worth seemed to be a theme of Valpo's six-match winning streak earlier this month, as four of the wins in the streak (Illinois State, Bradley, Southern Illinois, Belmont) went the full five sets - including back-to-back wins (SIU, at Belmont) which featured rallying from an 0-2 deficit to win, the first time in Avery's career at Valpo the team has done that in consecutive matches. It is the first time in program history the Beacons have won four five-set matches in a five-match stretch. After having not won 3-2 in back-to-back conference matches since 1992, Valpo has now done so twice this year - the Illinois State and Bradley matches came on back-to-back nights, the first time since 1988 Valpo has done so in conference play on consecutive days.

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 17.00 digs/set, a mark which ranks 12th nationally, while it is second in the Valley and 12th nationally with 14.18 kills/set and second in the Valley and 12th nationally with 13.15 assists/set. Notably, that kills mark would be the program's best kills/set average in a season since 2015.

The Brumitt Boom: Sophomore outside Kadence Brumitt enjoyed the best weekend of her Beacon career on the attack last weekend in the pair of sweeps. Brumitt opened by coming up just one kill shy of her career high, tallying a team-best 12 kills while hitting at a .320 clip in the win at Indiana State. She followed the next night at Evansville by setting a career best with a match-high 14 kills on .367 hitting, adding 10 digs as well for a double-double. It marked the first time this season that Brumitt has outright led Valpo in kills in back-to-back matches.

Warren Racks Them Up: Senior right side Sam Warren has been on an absolute tear over the past few weeks for the Beacons. Over the last 10 matches, Warren is averaging 3.53 kills/set and has led Valpo on four occasions, and in that stretch, she has tied or surpassed her previous career best in kills (17) three times - 17 at SIU, 22 versus Murray State and 19 versus UIC. The Murray State match was especially notable, as her career-best kill total - which was the highest kill total by a Valpo player since since Gretchen Kuckkan tallied 25 kills Sept. 3, 2022 against Northern Illinois - came on just 33 swings and she finished with a .576 hitting percentage.

The Right Stuff: Sophomore right side Ava Helming has been pacing the Beacons' attack all season long. The MVC Player of the Week for Oct. 13, Helming has led Valpo in kills 13 times this season and ranks eighth in the Valley with 3.32 kills/set. She has been in double figures in kills in 10 of Valpo's 12 MVC matches, including eight times with 15 or more kills.

Kois' Helping Hands: Senior Addy Kois is moving into striking distance of the Beacons' career top-10 in assists. Kois, who dished out 36 assists over last weekend's pair of victories, now owns 2,564 career assists - just 23 shy of Jenny Rohren for 10th in Valpo history in the category.

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. 74.8% of the team's kills and 75.9% of the team's blocks have come courtesy of the underclassmen.

Players of the Week: Emma Hickey's most recent accolade made it nine MVC weekly award winners for Valpo this season.
- 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

Looking Back at Last Year: Valpo is coming off an 18-win season in 2024, a campaign highlighted by the amount of production generated by the team's youth. Jessica Pickett set program freshman records for hitting percentage and blocks, while Ava Helming had the third-most kills by a freshman in Avery's tenure as both rookies earned spots on the MVC All-Freshman Team. On the more veteran side, Emma Hickey became the fastest player in program history and tied for the fastest in MVC history to reach 2,000 career digs.

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).

Libero on Lockdown: Senior Emma Hickey has been quite simply one of the nation's most prolific liberos since stepping on campus prior to the 2022 campaign. She's ranked among the top-15 nationally in digs/set in each of her first three seasons, ending last season in third position with 5.72 digs/set. Her 715 total digs last year were sixth-most in a single season in program history.

The Pickett Fence: Sophomore Jessica Pickett made a big impact at the net in her first season of collegiate volleyball last year. An MVC All-Freshman Team honoree, Pickett ranked third in the Valley in blocks/set (1.14, 139 total) and fourth in hitting percentage (.331). She  set Valpo freshman records for both hitting percentage and total blocks - her hitting percentage ranked third overall and second in the 25-point era in Valpo's single-season record book, while he block total ranked eighth overall and third in the 25-point era.

At the Helm(ing): Sophomore Ava Helming joined Pickett as an MVC All-Freshman Team honoree last season for her strong work on both sides of the net at the right pin as a rookie. Helming ranked second on the team with 293 kills and 78 blocks - her 293 kills is tied for third-most by a freshman under head coach Carin Avery, while 78 blocks ranks sixth by a freshman under Avery. The only other freshman to rank among the top-10 in both kills and blocks by a rookie in the Avery era was another right side in Morgan Beil, who developed into a three-time All-Horizon League performer.

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.