Valparaiso University

For the first time since 2022 and just the second time since 2015, the Valpo volleyball team opened the season with wins in each of its first two matches, taking down UAB 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14) and the host Mocs 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 25-22) to open the Chattanooga Classic Friday and put itself in position to win another tournament title. Career-best efforts on the attack led the way in both matches, as junior Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) recorded a career-high 22 kills in the UAB win, while junior Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) smashes her previous best with 20 kills in the win over Chattanooga.
 
How It Happened – UAB

• After the two teams split the first four sets, the fifth set was a closely contested frame, featuring 10 tie scores. It looked like the Blazers were going to pull away late, getting out to a 12-9 edge before an attack error and a block from Helming and freshman Maddie Steele (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) made it a one-point margin.
• A service error put UAB ahead 13-11, but the Beacons didn't let that slow their momentum. Helming picked up a kill, UAB committed an attack error and when senior Lindley Martin (North Judson, Ind./North Judson-San Pierre) delivered a service ace, it was Valpo with match point at 14-13.
• The Blazers recorded a kill to force extra points before Helming again responded with a kill of her own. Valpo closed out the win on its second attempt as Gove came up with the match-deciding kill.
• Valpo earned the victory over UAB despite having to twice overcome one-set deficits. It was a slow start in the opening frame, as the Blazers scored the first seven points of the season. The Beacons came back with five in a row, and briefly tied the frame at 11-11 before UAB scored 14 of the final 22 points of the set to take the opening set.
• The second set was a period of runs. It was Valpo with an early 6-1 lead before UAB rallied to tie the set at 8-8, and after the Beacons pulled back out to a 16-10 advantage, the Blazers moved back to within one point at 18-17. But Valpo held its opponents at bay, and a service ace from freshman Rylee Bumgardner (Danville, Ind./Danville) eventually closed the frame in the Beacons' favor to even the match.
• Valpo looked poised to capture the third set with relative ease, leading 17-11. UAB had other thoughts, however, scoring 13 of the next 15 points to flip the script and earn set point at 24-19. The Beacons fought off four set points, but on the final chance before forcing extra points, UAB closed out the frame.
• The fourth set had 11 tie scores, the latest coming during a 5-0 Valpo run which turned a 19-17 UAB lead into a 22-19 Valpo advantage late on. Bumgardner had a pair of aces during that spurt, while junior Maggie Uhwat (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond Burton Community [Central Michigan]) had three key late kills in the set as well. A kill from Helming closed the fourth frame in Valpo's favor, forcing the decisive fifth set.

 
How It Happened – Chattanooga

• After going through back-to-back close sets to close out the win in their first match of the season, the Beacons faced more of the same early against the hosts. The opening set was a battle which featured 13 tie scores, the latest of which came at 15-15.
• It was at that point Valpo gained a bit of separation, as Gove and Steele sandwiched kills around a Bumgardner ace to earn a three-point edge. The Beacons eventually closed the set on a 5-0 run, capped by back-to-back Gove kills, to take the early advantage in the match.
• The second set was yet another close frame, as neither team held more than a two-point lead past the halfway mark. Valpo looked like it might gain a 2-0 lead in the match, as it led late 21-19, but the Mocs ran off four points in a row and despite the Beacons holding off one set point chance, the hosts evened the match.
• A 7-0 run in the middle of the third set proved key, as the spurt — which featured a kill and three service aces from Uhwat — gave the Beacons an 18-11 lead. Valpo wasn't threatened from there, with a block by Steele and freshman Sarah Pippin (Niles, Mich./Edwardsburg) eventually closing the set to give the Beacons a 2-1 lead.
• Valpo gained the lead for good in the fourth set at 11-10, but could never pull away, and Chattanooga pulled back to within one point late at 23-22. Helming racked up yet another kill to make it match point, however, and Uhwat followed with a kill of her own to close out the 2-0 day.

 
Inside the Matches

• The 2-0 start was Valpo's first since 2022, a season which saw the Beacons win their first 12 matches of the year.
• Prior to that, you have to go back to 2015 to find a season in which Valpo opened the year with back-to-back wins. Notably, Valpo's first tournament that season was also the Chattanooga Classic, which it claimed the tournament title at en route to a 9-0 start.
• With the pair of wins Friday, Valpo put itself in pole position to claim its 37^th in-season tournament title in the last 25 seasons.
• Coming off a First Team All-MVC season a year ago, Helming had a stellar start to her junior campaign. Her 22 kills — on .356 hitting — against UAB not only were a team high, but set a career best, surpassing her previous high of 21, accomplished twice previously.
• Helming had six blocks against the Blazers as well to tie for team-high honors, one shy of her career best. The junior finished the win over Chattanooga with 16 kills and a team-high four blocks.
• Gove smashed her previous career best of 16 kills, finishing the win over Chattanooga with 20 kills on .318 hitting. She added 12 digs as well to tie for team-high honors in the win over the Mocs, after posting 10 kills and 12 digs earlier in the day against UAB. The junior owns nine career double-doubles.
• In her first official appearances in the Valpo uniform, Uhwat twice matched her previous career best of 11 kills, reaching the mark in both of Friday's wins. She also recorded 10 digs in the win over Chattanooga, a career high and her first career double-double, and had a career-best three service aces in that match as well.
• Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) joined Gove in registering double-doubles in both of Friday's wins, finishing with 20 assists and 11 digs against UAB before posting 31 assists and tying for team-high honors with 12 digs against Chattanooga. The pair of double-doubles give Thomas 27 for her career.
• After seeing limited action as a freshman last year, Olivia Wagner (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South) posted a career-high 16 assists in the win over UAB.
• Bumgardner saw the majority of action at libero in her first collegiate matches, highlighted by five service aces in the win over UAB — tied for second-most in a five-set match in the 25-point era by a Valpo player. She tied for team-high honors in both matches in the digs department as well, coming up with 14 against UAB and 12 versus Chattanooga.
• In her collegiate debut, Steele tied for team-high honors with six blocks against UAB, while Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) was errorless on the attack against the Blazers, posting eight kills on just 15 swings.
• Valpo's 13 service aces in the win over UAB, led by Bumgardner's quintet of aces, were the program's highest total since recording 14 at Belmont Oct. 19, 2024. Notably, that match was also the last time the team twice rallied from one-set deficits to earn a 3-2 match win.
• Friday's match against UAB was the first time Valpo went to extra points in a fifth set since beating Missouri State 17-15 in the decisive frame Oct. 12, 2024.

 
Next Up
Valpo (2-0) goes for the Chattanooga Classic title Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT versus Tennessee State. There will be no video stream, but live stats will be available via ValpoAthletics.com.