Valparaiso (11-7, 3-3 MVC)
Friday, Oct. 16 - at UNI (12-5, 6-0 MVC) - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 17 - at Drake (8-10, 3-3 MVC) - 5 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: After playing five of its first six MVC matches at home, the Valpo volleyball team begins a stretch of seven out of eight matches on the road with a weekend road swing through the state of Iowa, taking on UNI and Drake.

Previously: The Beacons posted a perfect 2-0 record last week, earning a four-set home win over Evansville and a sweep of Murray State.

Looking Ahead: It's a split week next week for Valpo, as it makes the short trip to Chicago Thursday, Oct. 22 before returning to the ARC to host Indiana State Saturday, Oct. 24.

Following the Beacons: Friday's match at UNI will be broadcast on ESPN+ as part of The Valley on ESPN, while Saturday's match will not have a video broadcast. Live stats will also be available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Series History: UNI - The Panthers hold a 21-4 advantage in the all-time series, including a 15-4 mark since Valpo joined the MVC. Valpo won both matchups in the spring of 2021 and in the fall of 2021, but UNI has won the last seven. In last season's lone matchup at the ARC, the Beacons were level on total points for the match with the Panthers, but UNI claimed three close sets to earn a 3-1 win. 

Drake - Valpo owns a 14-10 lead in the all-time series, including a 10-8 advantage since joining the Valley. Last season, the two teams split their matchups, as the Beacons won a four-set match at the ARC in the regular season before the Bulldogs won in four sets at the ARC in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament.

Scouting the Opposition: UNI - The Panthers sit at 6-0 in MVC play and 12-5 overall, coming off a 3-0 sweep of Drake and a 3-1 win at Southern Illinois last week - the latter its first set dropped in MVC play this year. UNI enters the week with 58 consecutive regular season wins in MVC action, the nation's longest active streak. Cassidy Hartman and Lily Dykstra sit atop the conference stat leaders in kills, averaging 4.30 and 4.13 kills/set, respectively.

Drake - The Bulldogs enter the weekend at 8-10 overall and 3-3 in MVC play and face UIC Friday before Saturday's matchup. Last week saw Drake split a pair of matches, getting swept by UNI before rebounding with a 3-1 win over Indiana State. Jasmine Dulan leads all MVC players, averaging 5.47 digs/set.

Seven Out of Eight: Between October 9 and November 13, the Beacons will play just one home match at the ARC - an Oct. 24 matchup with Indiana State. While it's not unusual for the program to play its entire nonconference schedule away from home, as it has done as so as recently as last year, this is the first time in program history that it will play seven road matches in an eight-match stretch within conference action.

Approaching Milestones: A pair of Beacons are approaching some nice round numbers worthy of recognition for their production throughout their careers. Junior Jessica Pickett enters the week with 292 career blocks, just eight shy of becoming the 16th player in program history with 300 career blocks. Fellow junior Ava Helming sits at 918 career kills, just 82 away from becoming the 21st person in Valpo's 1,000-kill club.

Doubling Up: If you took the court for Valpo in last Friday's win over Evansville, there was a 50/50 chance you ended the night with a double-double. Incredibly, five different Beacons posted double-doubles in the win against the Purple Aces. Jordyn Gove (24/11) and Ava Helming (13/12) did it with kills and digs, while Mia McCall (27/10), Mara Thomas (21/18) and Keira Lucas (10/23) did it with assists and digs.

Career Highs: Also prevalent in the box score in the win over Evansville was the number of career highs posted by the Beacons. Jordyn Gove (24) and Sarah Pippin (9) recorded career bests in the kills department, with 10 of Gove's kills coming in the third set alone, making her the first Valpo player since March 2021 with a 10-kill set. Mia McCall (27 A/10 D) and Keira Lucas (10 A/23 D) set career highs in both assists and digs, while Ava Helming recorded five service aces after entering the match with a career high of one.

Play That Ace: This year's Valpo squad has been among the best in program history in terms of service aces. The Beacons currently rank 23rd nationally with 1.94 aces/set, a mark which is on pace to easily smash the program's best average in the 25-point era, which sits at 1.46 aces/set. In fact, it would better the program's best from the 30-point era as well (1.87 aces/set). Already this season, four individual performances and four team performances have cracked the single match top-five charts for aces, including the team's 12 aces and Ava Helming's five aces last week versus Evansville.

Efficient Hitting: For the second time this season, Valpo had a match which cracked the program's top-five charts in the 25-point era for hitting percentage, as the Beacons hit at a .299 clip in the home match against Illinois State - fourth-best in a five-set match in this era. Leading the way was Maggie Uhwat, who posted a career-best 17 kills while hitting .577 - good for fourth in a five-set match on the program's individual single-match chart. Earlier this year, Valpo hit .320 in a four-set win over Oakland, which ranks fourth for a four-set match in this era, and also had 70 kills in that match - second-most in a four-set match in this era.

One-Two Punch: The combination of junior outside Jordyn Gove and junior right side Ava Helming has consistently paced the Beacons' attack this year. Helming currently ranks fourth in the MVC with 3.73 kills/set, with Gove close behind her in fifth with 3.54 kills/set. Gove, who entered the season with a career high of 16 kills, has surpassed 20 kills five times already this season, including a career-best 24 kills last week against Evansville. Meanwhile, Helming has had four matches with at least 20 kills, including a career-best 28 kills against Cleveland State - a mark which ties the most by a Valpo player in the 25-point era.

Player of the Week: Helming was named the MVC Player of the Week Sept. 14 following a weekend in northeastern Ohio where she averaged an MVC-best 4.62 kills/set on .261 hitting, highlighted by her career-high 28-kill effort in the win over Cleveland State. It is the third MVC Player of the Week honor of Helming's career, as she had one apiece as well in each of her first two seasons.

Capturing Crowns: Part of the volleyball program's winning tradition has been a penchant for capturing tournament titles, and that continued in 2026, as the Beacons claimed the Chattanooga Classic on opening weekend and the WNY Invitational in the season's fourth weekend. Valpo has won 38 in-season tournament titles since the start of the 2002 campaign. The team has won at least one tournament in 19 of those 25 seasons, and multiple tournaments 12 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states. 

All-Tournament Honors: The Beacons had four players receive All-Tournament Team accolades over their two tournaments which presented an All-Tournament Team:
Valpo - Jordyn Gove
Chattanooga - Gove (MVP), Ava Helming, Maggie Uhwat