Valparaiso (7-3, 0-0 MVC)
at Leatherneck Classic (Macomb, Ill.)
Friday, Sept. 19 - vs. #22 Missouri (5-3) - 11 a.m. | at Western Illinois (2-8) - 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 20 - vs. Chicago State (0-7) - 1 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The Valpo volleyball team closes out nonconference action this weekend at the Leatherneck Classic in Macomb, Ill., starting out with a matchup against a nationally-ranked foe in #22 Missouri before taking on host Western Illinois and Chicago State to close the tournament out.

Previously: The Beacons nearly upset Northwestern in midweek action last week, taking a 2-0 lead in the match before dropping each of the final three sets by two points. Valpo then went on to win the Lehigh Steel Classic, as Kadence Brumitt was named Tournament MVP and Addy Kois joined her on the All-Tournament Team.

Looking Ahead: Valpo opens MVC play next weekend, welcoming Drake and UNI to the ARC for the lone matchups of the season against the Iowa-based programs.

Following the Beacons: All three matches this weekend are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats are also available for all three 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 514 matches (514-260, .664) 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 569-284 (.667) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Missouri - Valpo is 1-2 all-time against the Tigers, with the most recent meeting being a 3-0 Missouri win in September 2012 at Morehead State's Eagle Challenge.

Western Illinois - Longtime conference rivals back in the Mid-Continent Conference, Valpo holds a dominating 33-6 advantage in the all-time series over WIU. Under Coach Avery, Valpo is 16-1 against the Leathernecks, including a perfect 6-0 since Valpo departed the Mid-Con. The last meeting came on Sept. 1, 2023, a 3-0 Valpo sweep to kick off the Popcorn Classic.

Chicago State - Valpo owns more wins over the Cougars than any other team in program history, as it is 45-1 against another former Mid-Con foe. Under Coach Avery, Valpo is a perfect 23-0 against CSU, but the two teams haven't met since November 2017 - a 3-0 Valpo sweep in Chicago.

Scouting the Opposition: Missouri - The Tigers enter the weekend ranked #22 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll and have a 5-3 record, with two of their losses coming to top-15 opponents. Caylen Alexander, who was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American last season and led the nation in kills while playing for Hawai'i, paces the Tigers with 3.78 kills/set.

Western Illinois - The Leathernecks enter the weekend at 2-8 on the season, but earned one of those victories last time out - a 3-0 sweep in mid-week action at Kansas City. Coming off a 17-13 season a year ago, WIU was picked to finish sixth in the OVC preseason poll.

Chicago State - NEC champions and an NCAA Tournament participant a season ago, the Cougars are still in search of their first victory this year, coming into the weekend with an 0-7 record.

Facing a Ranked Foe: When Valpo takes the court Friday against Missouri, it will be the first time the program has taken on a nationally-ranked opponent in the regular season since a matchup at #13 Notre Dame in the spring of 2021 - a narrow 3-2 defeat. The Beacons did take on nationally-ranked Purdue in an exhibition match earlier this year. Valpo is searching for its first win over a top-25 opponent in program history.

Capturing Crowns: Valpo has continued its penchant for winning in-season tournament titles under Carin Avery this season, claiming a share of the crown at the USI Invitational on opening weekend and sweeping its way to the Lehigh Steel Classic title last weekend. 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 - if the Beacons were to win this weekend's tournament, it would be her sixth team to win three or more in-season tournaments in one season. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states.

MVP: Sophomore outside Kadence Brumitt was stellar in all facets of the game at Lehigh last weekend and was rewarded with Tournament MVP honors, her first career All-Tournament Team and Tournament MVP accolade. She led the Beacons with 3.63 kills/set on an eye-popping .424 hitting percentage and posted 3.50 digs/set as well. Brumitt opened the weekend with eight kills on .400 hitting in just two sets of action in the sweep of NJIT Friday. Saturday morning, Brumitt needed just two sets to match her career high of 13 kills, doing so on .522 hitting in the sweep of Sacred Heart, and the sophomore capped the weekend with a career-best 17 digs to go with eight kills on .333 hitting in the win over the hosts.

Setting The Table: Senior setter Addy Kois picked up her second career All-Tournament Team accolade last weekend at Lehigh as she continued her strong start to the season, averaging 6.20 assists/set with a setting percentage above .500 as the Beacons' attack hit .314 for the weekend. She dished out 17 assists with a .515 setting percentage in the sweep of NJIT and followed the next morning with 20 assists and a .526 setting percentage in the sweep of Sacred Heart. Kois closed the tournament with 25 assists and a .481 setting percentage in the win over Lehigh. After posting a setting percentage above .500 just three times in her first three seasons, Kois has done so five times in this year's first 10 matches.

A Block Party: Valpo's defense at the net was a big reason it nearly upset Northwestern last week, as the Beacons racked up an MVC season-high 19 blocks against the Wildcats. That mark ranks third in D-I in a five-set match this year. In Valpo's record book, the 19 rejections are second-most in a five-set match in the 25-point era, fourth-most in a five-set match overall and tied for eighth over all matches in program history. Five times already this season, the Beacons have racked up 10 or more blocks in a match as they lead the MVC and rank 40th nationally with 2.65 blocks/set.

Merk Leads the Way: Sophomore middle Lilly Merk had a hand in a majority of those rejections at Northwestern, smashing her career best with an MVC season-high 12 blocks. That total ranks second by a Valpo player in a five-set match in the 25-point era, third in a five-set match overall and tied for fifth across all matches in program history, while it also tied for seventh among all D-I players this season in a five-set match. Merk followed with six blocks over the two matches she appeared in at the Lehigh Steel Classic. For the week, Merk averaged an MVC-best 1.50 blocks/set and was honored as MVC Defensive Player of the Week - her first career weekly award from the conference office.

Lucas Steps Up: After seeing limited action in the first two and a half weeks of her collegiate career, freshman outside Keira Lucas was an integral part of the Beacons capturing the Lehigh Steel Classic title and was honored as MVC Freshman of the Week. She opened the tournament with eight kills on .583 hitting, three service aces and five digs in just two sets of action in the sweep of NJIT, and followed with five kills and eight digs in the sweep of Sacred Heart. Lucas closed the tournament with nine kills, five digs and a pair of aces in the clinching victory over the hosts. For the week, Lucas averaged 2.44 kills/set on .302 hitting, 2.00 digs/set and committed just one serve reception error on 49 attempts.

Efficient Attack: Valpo enjoyed its most efficient match on the attack in a number of years in its sweep of Sacred Heart last weekend, swinging at a .375 clip in the win. It was the program's best single-match hitting percentage since hitting .396 against Central Michigan Sept. 1, 2018. The Beacons have already hit .300 or better in four matches this season.

Poised to Move Up: Given the long legacy of great Valpo liberos, it takes a lot to move up the program's career digs chart, but senior Emma Hickey did so last week and is poised to do so again this week. Hickey moved past Morganne Longoria for fourth in program history at Lehihg and enters the week with 2,278 career digs, just 31 shy of Brittany Malicoat for third in program history. Hickey leads all active NCAA players (all divisions) in career digs and owns over 600 more digs than any other active Division I player.

Players of the Week: Three weeks into the season, and the Beacons have already racked up three weekly awards from the conference office. Merk and Lucas' honors this week join Emma Hickey, who was tabbed the MVC Defensive Player of the Week following opening weekend. That Defensive Player of the Week honor was the fifth-such accolade of Hickey's career and her sixth weekly award overall from the conference office.

All-Tournament Accolades: Through three weekends of action, Valpo has picked up a total of seven All-Tournament Team honors. At EMU, sophomores Ava Helming and Lilly Merk received the awards, while at the USI Invitational, Helming was joined by Emma Hickey and 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.

Winning Tradition Continues: The Beacons secured a winning 2024 season as they completed the campaign with an 18-14 record, the 21st winning season in 23 years under head coach Carin Avery. Valpo has won 20 or more matches in 18 of Avery's 23 seasons as well, and has averaged 22 wins per season in Avery's tenure.

Top Half Finishes: The Beacons finished the 2024 regular season in a tie for sixth place in the MVC standings with Murray State. Valpo has now finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its eight years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat. Going back further, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 22 of Avery's 23 seasons - as well as qualifying for the conference tournament in each of her 23 seasons - and 31 of the last 32 years overall.

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.% 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.