Valparaiso University

The Valpo volleyball team held a 2-1 lead over visiting Illinois State Saturday night at the ARC, but the Redbirds captured the fourth set and used an early run in the fifth set to take a 3-2 (25-17, 18-25, 14-25, 25-15, 15-10) victory over the Beacons.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo was within one at 9-8 in the opening set before Illinois State reeled off six straight points to take control on its way to claiming the first frame.
• A 5-0 run, including two kills from Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), turned a 10-7 deficit into a 12-10 lead. Later in the frame, holding a 15-13 lead, the Beacons scored five of the next six points — featuring service aces from Keira Lucas (Brazil, Ind./Northview) and Lindley Martin (North Judson, Ind./North Judson-San Pierre) — to pull away on their way to leveling the match.
• Valpo led from the jump in the third set, with Illinois State eventually taking a timeout as the Beacons led 10-5. The Redbirds got no closer than four points the rest of the way as Valpo took a 2-1 lead in the match.
• The Beacons carried that momentum into the early portion of the fourth set, scoring four of the set's first five points. But ISU answered with eight of the next 10 points to force a Valpo timeout trailing 9-6, and the Redbirds had another 6-1 run later in the set to pull away and force the decisive fifth set.
• A 9-0 run on the serve of Ruth Ziegler — one of the nation's leaders in service aces per set — gave Illinois State a 10-1 lead in the fifth set, and while the Beacons eventually held off three match points to close to within 14-10, the Redbirds finished the contest on their fourth effort.

 
Inside the Match

• Saturday's match marked the third straight meeting between Valpo and Illinois State that went to five sets, as both matchups of last year's home-and-home went the distance — the road team has come away with wins in all three games.
• The result was a mirror image of a Valpo win over the Redbirds in Normal in February 2022 — the road team winning set one, the hosts taking sets two and three, the road team forcing a fifth set and then going on a big run early in the fifth set. In that aforementioned matchup, the Beacons carried their run through the entire fifth frame, taking the final set 15-2.
• Valpo lost in five sets for the first time this season after winning its previous two five-set contests.
• The Beacons dropped Saturday's match despite posting 58 kills on .299 hitting, the fourth-highest hitting percentage by a Valpo team in a five-set match in the 25-point era.
• Leading the way on the attack was Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston), who hit .362 with a match-best 21 kills — her fourth effort of at least 20 kills this season. Helming also posted a team-best and career-best 13 digs for her third double-double of the year.
• One day after matching her career high for kills, Maggie Uhwat (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond Burton Community [Central Michigan]) surpassed her previous best by three, registering 17 kills on an eye-popping .577 hitting percentage — fourth-best by a Valpo player in a five-set match in the 25-point era.
• Mia McCall (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) set a season best with 26 assists, while Olivia Wagner (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South) posted 18 assists with a .474 setting percentage.
• Danica Goch (Baroda, Mich./Lakeshore) joined Helming in setting a career best in the digs department, picking up 12 digs, while Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) recorded 10 digs to reach double figures for the ninth time this season.
• Maddie Steele (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) was in on five of the Beacons' five blocks.
• The big difference in the match proved to be Valpo's ability to slow Illinois State's attack — in the three sets the Redbirds won, they hit at a .432 clip, while in the two Valpo claimed, ISU hit just .111.
• The service game also proved vital, as ISU had 10 aces to Valpo's seven and the Beacons committed 14 service errors to the Redbirds' 10.

 
Next Up
Valpo (8-6, 0-2 MVC) closes out its three-match homestand to kick off Valley play Wednesday evening at the ARC versus UIC. First serve is slated for 6 p.m.