Valparaiso University

The Valpo volleyball team dropped three tight sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) to visiting Drake Friday evening at the ARC in the Beacons' penultimate home match of the season. Maggie Uhwat (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond Burton Community [Central Michigan]) moved into second place in the program's history in the 25-point era for service aces in a single season, while Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) cracked the single-season top-10 in the 25-point era for kills.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo forced five ties in the opening set, the latest coming at 18-18, but the Beacons were never able to gain the lead. Drake pulled away with a 6-0 run after the last tie score, and while Valpo held off three set points, Drake converted its fourth to take the 1-0 lead in the match.
• The second set featured 13 ties and five lead changes, and the first real push for either side to take control came at the media timeout, as Valpo entered the stoppage with a 15-12 lead after a four-point spurt which included a pair of service aces from Uhwat.
• The Bulldogs came out of the timeout with a 6-1 run to go up 18-16, but the Beacons erased that two-point lead a few points later with three in a row, two of which were kills by Helming, to claim a 21-20 lead. Drake responded with the next two points, however, and after four straight sideouts gave the Bulldogs set point at 24-23, a Valpo attack error closed the frame in Drake's favor.
• Valpo found itself down 17-9 in the third set, but quickly made it a battle once again with six points in a row to get within 17-15. But the Beacons were unable to close the gap any further, and while they eventually held off two match points, Drake converted its third chance to finish the contest.

 
Inside the Match

• Uhwat recorded three service aces Friday evening, pushing her season total to 42 and leapfrogging a pair of players to move into second in program history in the 25-point era in the category. Only Ariel Cudney's 2010 season with 54 aces surpassed Uhwat's output this year.
• Helming led all players with 17 kills on .353 hitting, boosting her season total to 379 kills, good for eighth in a season by a Valpo player in the 25-point era. The junior is within seven kills of moving up to sixth on that chart.
• On the career side, Helming's 17-kill night pushed her total to 1,036 career kills, moving into 18^th place in program history in the category.
• Helming also notched 11 digs for her ninth double-double of the year.
• Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) joined Helming in double digits in the kills department with 12 kills, Olivia Wagner (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South) paced the Beacons with 21 assists and Keira Lucas (Brazil, Ind./Northview) led all players with 13 digs.
• Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) registered a match-best five blocks, boosting her career total to 326 rejections and moving her into 13^th place in program history in the category.
• Valpo held a 40-36 advantage in the kills department over Drake, but committed 23 attack errors — 17 of which were not Bulldog blocks — to the Bulldogs' 16, leading to Drake having a .202-.155 advantage in hitting percentage.

 
Next Up
Valpo (14-13, 6-9 MVC) closes out the regular season on Saturday at 5 p.m. against UNI. It will be Senior Night at the ARC, with Lindley Martin (North Judson, Ind./North Judson-San Pierre), Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) and Maddie Kmetz (St. John, Ind./Andrean [Western Michigan]) being honored after the match.