The Valpo volleyball team emerged victorious in two of a tight first three sets against Evansville Thursday night at the ARC, and the Beacons then enjoyed a much less stressful route to victory in the clinching set as they closed out a 3-1 (25-22, 30-32, 27-25, 25-14) win. Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) surpassed her career best with 24 kills, one of many career highs to be found Thursday, while Valpo once again posted one of its most prolific team performances on the serve in the 25-point era.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo was staring a 22-17 deficit in the face late in set one, but needed just five points to tie things up, rattling off five in a row — including kills from Gove and Sarah Pippin (Niles, Mich./Edwardsburg) and a Keira Lucas (Brazil, Ind./Northview) service ace — to level the set at 22-22.
• A Beacon error briefly returned the lead to the Purple Aces before Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) again tied the set with a kill. An Evansville error gave Valpo set point, and Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) came through with a service ace to complete the comeback and take the opener.
• The sides were flipped late in set two, as it was the Beacons with a late 22-19 lead before the Aces reeled off five points in a row to earn set point at 24-22.
• Incredibly, Valpo held off seven consecutive UE set points to extend the frame. Finally, a block by Pickett and Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) gave the Beacons their first set point opportunity at 30-29, but the Aces scored the final three points of the set to even the match at one set apiece.
• Valpo held a 19-15 advantage nearing the late stages of the third set before a 5-1 spurt from Evansville tied the set at 20-20.
• Much like the previous set, the two sides put together a streak of consecutive sideouts — this one a streak of 11 straight sideouts which included three set points for the Beacons that the Aces thwarted. On their fourth set point chance, however, Gove posted a kill — her 10^th of that set — to make it 2-1 Beacons for the match.
• After the drama of the first three sets, the fourth set proved to be much easier for Valpo to come out on top. The Beacons jumped out to an 8-3 lead to force an Evansville timeout and extended that advantage to 14-4 before cruising home, as the Aces got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

 
Inside the Match

• Career highs were all over the Beacons' side of the box score Thursday evening, starting with a pair in the kills column. Gove racked up a match-best 24 kills to better her previous high of 22 kills.
• Gove, who was just one kill away from cracking the program's single-match top-five chart for a four-set match in the 25-point era, reached 20 kills for the fifth time this season.
• Gove racked up 10 of her kills in the third set alone, becoming the first Valpo player since Jillie Grant at Drake March 1, 2021 to record a double-figure kill total in a single set and making her just the fourth Valpo player to accomplish the feat since joining the Valley.
• Pippin added 50% to her career high in the kills department, posting nine kills.
• Mia McCall (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) edged past her best effort with 27 assists, while Lucas doubled her career high in that category with 10 assists.
• After entering the match with just nine career service aces across nine different matches, Helming recorded five in Thursday's win — tied for second-most in a four-set match in the 25-point era by a Valpo player and tied for third-most in the 25-point era in any length match.
• Helming's five aces led the way as the Beacons finished the match with 12 service aces, the fourth time this year they've registered double digits in that department. It is the third-most aces by a Valpo team in a four-set match in the 25-point era.
• Two more career highs can be found in the digs column, as Lucas raced past her previous best of 14 digs with a match-high 23 digs and McCall hit double digits for the first time in her career with 10 digs.
• Incredibly, five different Beacons finished Thursday's win with double-doubles. Gove (24 kills/11 digs) and Helming (13 kills/12 digs) did it with kills and digs, while McCall (27 assists/10 digs), Thomas (21 assists/18 digs) and Lucas (10 assists/23 digs) did it with assists and digs.
• Pickett finished with double-digit kills for the third time this season with 10 kills and led the Beacons with four blocks.
• Freshman Kyla Bellich (Thomson, Ill./Prince of Peace Catholic) made her collegiate debut Thursday, joining the Beacons' rotation in the middle in the final two sets and recording two blocks and a kill.
• Valpo finished the win with a 64-49 advantage in kills over the Purple Aces and hit at a .218 clip to Evansville's .136 clip.
• Thanks in large part to the multitude of set point opportunities that were saved in the middle two sets, Thursday's contest featured 36 ties and 13 lead changes.
• The match was the first regular season match at the ARC on a Thursday night since Valpo opened the Popcorn Classic on a Thursday evening in 2007 against Marshall. It was the first Thursday night match at the ARC overall since the Beacons swept Butler to open the 2021 NIVC.

 
Next Up
Valpo (10-7, 2-3 MVC) goes for a perfect week Friday evening at 6 p.m. against Murray State. It will be a Gold Out at the ARC, as the program and the athletic department celebrate the life and legacy of Justin Hunt.