Valpo volleyball senior libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) was recognized Tuesday for her stellar work both on the court and in the classroom over the course of her four-year career, as she was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Second Team.
 
The MVC Libero of the Year and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region selection this season, Hickey ranked 11^th nationally and second in the MVC in 2025 with 5.06 digs/set, capping a collegiate career where she ranked among the top-15 nationally in each of her four seasons. She was a five-time MVC Defensive Player of the Week selection, giving her nine weekly honors for her career — tied for third-most in MVC history.
 
Hickey closed her career with 2,665 digs, 17^th-most in NCAA D-I history. She closed the 2025 campaign as the active career leader in digs across all divisions and owned over 600 more digs than the next-highest D-I athlete.
 
In the classroom, Hickey owned a 3.936 GPA (as of the time of voting) as a civil engineering major. She was the 2025 MVC Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a three-time member of the MVC Scholar-Athlete Teams. Hickey has earned the MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award, been named to the MVC Honor Roll and received Valpo Presidential Academic Honors. She is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.
 
Hickey is the fourth different Valpo volleyball player to earn Academic All-America honors, combining for five such accolades, and is the first since Rylee Cookerly was named to the Academic All-America First Team in the fall of 2021. Valpo Athletics now boasts a total of 42 Academic All-Americans, 30 of which have come in the last 22 years — with at least one such honoree in 19 of those 22 years.