Valparaiso (4-2, 0-0 MVC)
Tuesday, Sept. 9 - at Northwestern (4-1) - 7 p.m.
at Lehigh Steel Classic (Bethlehem, Pa.)
Friday, Sept. 12 - vs. NJIT (3-4) - 1:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, Sept. 13 - vs. Sacred Heart (1-4) - 9 a.m. CT | at Lehigh (3-2) - 12:30 p.m. CT

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The Valpo volleyball team steps away from tournament play briefly on Tuesday evening for a matchup at Northwestern, and then the Beacons trek east to Lehigh for the Lehigh Steel Classic.

Previously: Valpo posted a 2-1 record last weekend at the EMU Tournament, sweeping Purdue Fort Wayne and beating Niagara in four sets before falling in four sets to the host Eagles. Ava Helming and Lilly Merk represented the Beacons on the All-Tournament Team.

Looking Ahead: Preconference play wraps Sept. 19-20 at Western Illinois' Leatherneck Classic.

Following the Beacons: Tuesday's match at Northwestern will be streamed live on BTN+, while Saturday's match at Lehigh will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats are also available for all four 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 511 matches (511-259, .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 566-283 (.667) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Northwestern, Sacred Heart - First meetings.

NJIT - Valpo won the lone matchup in the all-time series in September 2015, sweeping the Highlanders as part of the Terrier Invitational.

Lehigh - The only meeting between the two programs resulted in the second win in Coach Avery's Valpo career, as Valpo defeated the Mountain Hawks, 3-1, in September 2002 at the Marquette Challenge.

Scouting the Opposition: Northwestern - The Wildcats enter Tuesday night's match at 4-1 this year, most recently splitting two matches last weekend - beating Saint Mary's and falling at #20 Baylor. Northwestern was picked to finish in 15th place in the Big Ten preseason poll this year after going 5-23 overall and 3-17 in conference play last season.

NJIT - The Highlanders enter this weekend's tournament with a 3-4 record, but are on a modest two-match winning streak, including most recently a win at Seton Hall. NJIT was picked to finish in sixth place in the America East this year after going 5-23 overall and 0-10 in AE play last season.

Sacred Heart - The Pioneers come into the weekend with a 1-5 record after going 1-2 last weekend at their home tournament. Sacred Heart was picked to finish in fourth place in the MAAC this season after going 15-16 overall and 11-7 in MAAC action last year.

Lehigh - The Mountain Hawks are coming off a 2-1 weekend at the James Madison tournament, pushing their record to 4-2 this season. Lehigh was selected fifth in the Patriot League preseason poll after going 16-13 overall and 8-8 in league play last season.

Taking on the B1G: Tuesday's contest at Northwestern marks Valpo's first regular season meeting with a current Big Ten program since facing Illinois early in the 2023 campaign - although the Beacons did take on Purdue in an exhibition match this season. Valpo is looking for its first win over a Big Ten program since beating Iowa in 2013.

The Keystone State: This weekend's third tournament of the season brings a rare visit to Pennsylvania. This is just the third time in Coach Avery's tenure that Valpo has traveled to the Keystone State and the first since 2009, when Valpo won the La Salle Invitational. The only other trip came the previous season, 2008, when Valpo competed in the Pitt Blue and Gold Tournament.

Capturing Crowns: Valpo continued its penchant for winning in-season tournament titles under Carin Avery on opening weekend, claiming a share of the crown at the USI Invitational. Valpo has won 35 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 11 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states.

Two Weekends, Two Honors: Sophomore right side Ava Helming has been on a roll to start the 2025 campaign, earning her second straight All-Tournament Team honor last weekend at the EMU Tournament as she averaged a team-best 3.27 kills/set on .329 hitting. Her week was highlighted by an astounding performance on the attack in the sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne, as she posted 12 kills on just 17 swings with no errors — her .706 hitting percentage good for fourth-best by a Valpo player in a three-set match in the 25-point era. Helming, who owns three career All-Tournament Team awards, closed the tournament with a team-high and season-high 15 kills against the host Eagles.

Merk It Down: Sophomore Lilly Merk joined Helming on the All-Tournament Team at EMU, the first such honor of her career, as she hit .358 with 2.27 kills/set and tied for team-high honors with 13 blocks. The sophomore hit .538, posting eight kills on just 13 swings, in the sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne while tallying four blocks as well. She followed with a match-high 12 kills against Niagara, tying her career best, and also picked up five blocks in the winning effort.

All-Tournament Accolades: Through two weekends of action, Valpo has picked up a total of five All-Tournament Team honors. The Beacons had three such honorees on opening weekend at the USI Invitational, as Helming was joined by Emma Hickey and Sam Warren.

Setting Things Up: Senior setter Addy Kois was a big part of Helming's success on the attack against Purdue Fort Wayne, and it showed in Kois' numbers as well. The senior handed out 23 assists in the sweep of the Mastodons on just 36 set attempts - her setting percentage of .639 was easily the best of her career. After posting a setting percentage of .500 or better just three times in her first three seasons, Kois has hit that mark three times already this year.

Digs and Kills: Valpo finds itself in a familiar place in the MVC and nationally when it comes to digging, as the Beacons lead the Valley and rank eighth nationally through two weekends of action with 17.23 digs/set. But Valpo also has been strong on the attack to start the season, leading the MVC and ranking 33rd nationally with 13.91 kills/set.

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 is poised to potentially do so this week. Hickey enters the week with 2,199 career digs, just 50 behind Morganne Longoria for fourth 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.

Player of the Week: It took just one week for the Beacons to earn their first weekly award from the conference office of the season, as Emma Hickey was tabbed the MVC Defensive Player of the Week following opening weekend. Hickey averaged an MVC-best 6.60 digs/set at the USI Invitational, leading all players in the category in all three contests, and committed just one serve reception error in 49 attempts. Her tournament was highlighted by a 33-dig performance against Northern Kentucky, the 14th time in her career she's reached 30 or more digs in a match. The Defensive Player of the Week honor is the fifth-such accolade of Hickey's career and her sixth weekly award overall from the conference office.

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.