Valparaiso (5-4, 0-0 MVC)
at WNY Invitational
Friday, Sept. 18 - vs. Le Moyne (0-8) - 11 a.m. CT | at Niagara (0-6) - 5 p.m. CT
Saturday, Sept. 19 - at Canisius (0-8) - 1 p.m. CT

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The Valpo volleyball team closes out its preconference play this weekend with a trip to the Empire State for the WNY Invitational, co-hosted by Niagara and Canisius. The Beacons will also take on Le Moyne at the event.

Previously: Valpo posted a 1-2 record last weekend at the CSU/Akron Invite, beating Cleveland State and falling to Coppin State and Akron.

Looking Ahead: Valpo opens MVC play with three consecutive home matches at the ARC, starting with a pair on Homecoming weekend against Belmont and Illinois State.

Following the Beacons: Valpo's match against Niagara is slated for ESPN+ broadcast, while the Canisius match will have a pay video feed through Canisius' website. All tournament matches will have live stats available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Series History: Le Moyne - First meeting.

Niagara - Valpo has won both previous matchups against Niagara, winning 3-1 in 2010 at La Salle and 3-1 last season at Eastern Michigan. Jordyn Gove had a double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs in that win, while Mara Thomas had 28 assists and 16 digs.

Canisius - First meeting.

Scouting the Opposition: Le Moyne - The Dolphins come into the weekend at 0-8, having lost to Bucknell (3-0), Siena (3-0) and Delaware State (3-1) last weekend. Branwyn Lupton leads Le Moyne with 34 kills, while Haley Buescher has a team-best 39 digs.

Niagara - The Purple Eagles are 0-6 entering the weekend, dropping matches to Kent State (3-0), Columbia (3-1) and Mercyhurst (3-0) last weekend. Payton Lee has tallied a team-high 49 kills and Ashley Moreland has racked up a team-best 47 digs.

Canisius - The Golden Griffins come into the weekend at 0-8 this season, falling last weekend in straight sets at Syracuse. Emma Isroff owns a team-best 70 kills, while Brenda Reynaga leads Canisius with 129 digs.

Player of the Week: Junior Ava Helming was named the MVC Player of the Week on Monday 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.

Another Career High...: Helming's Friday effort against Cleveland State saw her set a career high in kills for the third time this year, as her 28 terminations (on .357 hitting) zoomed past her best of 24, set the previous weekend against Oakland. The 28 kills match the most by a Valpo player in the 25-point era, tying Angie Porché, who recorded 28 kills against Wake Forest Sept. 6, 2008. Helming's 28 kills rank joint sixth across all eras in program history - the only Valpo players who have registered more than 28 kills in a match are Nicole Schulz (twice), Porché, Kathy Harrison and Kelly Schoenhoft.

...for Gove as Well: Junior Jordyn Gove, who entered the season with a career high of 16 kills, has surpassed the 20-kill mark three times already this campaign. Most recently, Gove racked up 22 kills against Akron - matching her career high set the previous weekend against Oakland - and did so with a career-best .422 hitting percentage. The junior also tallied two more double-doubles last week, giving her six in the season's first nine matches.

Big Fifth Set: While Helming led the way on the attack in the win over Cleveland State, only two of her 28 kills came in the fifth set, as junior Maggie Uhwat stepped up with her arm in the decisive frame. After racking up just five kills and hitting negative over the first four sets against the Vikings, the junior posted five kills on .400 hitting in the fifth set. In her first season with the Beacons, Uhwat has hit double figures in kills six times in the season's first nine matches.

Digging It Up: Freshman Rylee Bumgardner submitted her two most prolific matches of the season over last week's final two matches. She tallied a team-high 17 digs in the win over Cleveland State and followed by soaring past her previous season high with a match-best 29 digs against Akron. Bumgardner also successfully received 36 serves without committing a reception error over the two contests.

A Lethal Attack: Valpo's win over Oakland came in large part due to the Beacons' efficiency on the attack. Valpo hit .320 with 70 kills in the win over the Golden Grizzlies - the kill total is tied for second in a four-set match by Valpo in the 25-point era, ironically matching a total against Oakland back on Nov. 21, 2015, while the hitting percentage ranks fourth in a four-set match in the 25-point era. Valpo outkilled Oakland by a 70-38 margin, the program's biggest advantage in that department since being +33 (76-43) in a win over Wake Forest Sept. 6, 2008. The Beacons' .320 hitting percentage was the fifth-best in program history when compiling at least 70 kills.

Setting It Up: The Beacons ran a 5-1 in that win over Oakland, and sophomore Olivia Wagner took full advantage playing all the way around at setter. Wagner dished out 57 assists, tied for second-most in a four-set match by a Valpo player in the 25-point era and just one shy of the record. Her assist total was the program's highest since Victoria Bulmahn tallied 57 assists at Drake March 1, 2021. Wagner was efficient as well, ending the night with a setting percentage of .514. Wagner's 57 assists more than doubled her collegiate career total, as she entered the night with 55 assists to her name. She also recorded a career-high 10 digs to finish with her first collegiate double-double. On the other end of Wagner's sets more often than not were Ava Helming  (24 kills) and Jordyn Gove (22 kills), becoming the first pair of Valpo players to each hit 20 kills in the same match since Feb. 14, 2021 against Southern Illinois, when Jaclyn Bulmahn notched 23 kills and Jillie Grant 22.

Capturing Crowns: Part of the volleyball program's winning tradition has been a penchant for capturing tournament titles, and that continued with the Beacons claiming the Chattanooga Classic on opening weekend. Valpo has won 37 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 11 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states.

Fighting From Behind: The most dramatic of the three wins on opening weekend was easily Valpo's season opener against UAB. The Beacons rallied from down 1-0 and 2-1 to earn the 3-2 victory in the opener, the first time they have twice overcome a one-set deficit to win a match since doing so in a win at Belmont Oct. 19, 2024. Then, the final set featured 10 tie scores and also saw Valpo trail 12-9 before rallying to win in extra points - the first time the Beacons have had a fifth set go to extra points since prevailing 17-15 in the decisive frame against Missouri State Oct. 12, 2024.

Playing Their Aces: The Beacons had their serving game on point right from the start, racking up 14 service aces in the season-opening win over UAB - second-most by a Valpo team in the 25-point era for a five-set match and fourth-most in this era for any length match. Leading the way was Rylee Bumgardner, as the freshman had five aces in her collegiate debut - tied for second individually by a Valpo player in the 25-point era in a five-set match.

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

Making Debuts: Maggie Uhwat was one of two transfers to see her first official action as a Beacon on opening weekend, as fifth-year senior setter Maddie Kmetz handed out 24 assists over parts of seven sets across the three matches. In addition, a quartet of freshmen made their collegiate debuts as well - libero Rylee Bumgardner, setter Mia McCall, middle Maddie Steele and outside/right side Sarah Pippin.