Valparaiso University

The Valpo volleyball team captured its second tournament championship of the season Saturday afternoon, as the Beacons secured the WNY Invitational title with a 3-1 (25-14, 13-25, 25-17, 25-13) win at Canisius.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo got off to a strong start on the attack Saturday, hitting .583 with 14 kills in the opening frame. Holding a slight 10-9 lead, the Beacons put together a 9-2 run — featuring three kills from Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) — to go up 19-11 on its way to taking the first set.
• The second set was a mirror image of the first, as it was Canisius with stellar attack numbers. The Golden Griffins scored six of the set's first seven points as the match evened at one set apiece.
• The Beacons turned a 6-5 deficit early in the third set into a 14-8 lead thanks to a 9-2 stretch, with Gove and Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) teaming on a block and contributing two kills apiece during the run.
• Canisius pulled back to within 17-14 before Valpo closed the set by winning eight of the final 11 points, capped by a Gove kill to give the Beacons a 2-1 lead in the match.
• It was all Valpo to start the fourth set, as Maggie Uhwat (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond Burton Community [Central Michigan]) had a pair of aces as part of a 7-0 opening to the frame. Canisius got no closer than four points the rest of the way, with the Beacons clinching the match and the tournament title on a block by Pickett and Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston).

 
Inside the Match

• Valpo dropped just one set on its way to claiming its second tournament title of the year, as the Beacons had swept Le Moyne and Niagara on Friday. Valpo previously won the Chattanooga Classic on the season's opening weekend.
• This marks the second straight season and the fourth time in the last six years the Beacons have won at least two tournament titles in a season.
• One day after twice matching her career high for service aces with three, Uhwat one-upped herself on Saturday, serving up five aces in the win. That mark is tied for second in a four-set match and tied for third in any length match by a Valpo player in the 25-point era.
• The junior also chipped in 10 digs, tying her career high there as well with her second double-digit effort of the season in that department.
• Gove led the Beacons' attack Saturday, needing just 41 swings to put away 20 kills as she hit at a .366 clip. It is the fourth time this year Gove has racked up at least 20 kills, after not doing so once in her first two collegiate seasons.
• Pickett had her best match on the attack of the season, finishing just one kill off her career best with 11 kills on just 21 swings, finishing with a .476 hitting percentage. The junior also paced Valpo with four blocks.
• Olivia Wagner (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South) led all players with 27 assists, while Rylee Bumgardner (Danville, Ind./Danville) tallied a team-best 18 digs.
• Valpo finished with a 53-39 advantage in the kills department and hit at a .306 clip, just shy of cracking the program's single-match top-five for a four-set match in the 25-point era.

 
Next Up
Valpo (8-4) opens MVC play next weekend at home as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend, starting with a Friday evening match at 6 p.m. against Belmont.