Valparaiso (3-0, 0-0 MVC)
Popcorn Classic
Friday, Sept. 4 - Cincinnati (2-1) - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 5 - Oakland (2-2) - 6 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 6 - RV Michigan (3-1) - 4 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: After claiming a tournament title on opening weekend, the Valpo volleyball team returns home to the ARC for the first time this season to host the Popcorn Classic. The Beacons will take on Cincinnati Friday, Oakland Saturday and Michigan Sunday.

Previously: The Beacons opened the 2026 campaign by winning the Chattanooga Classic on opening weekend, rallying twice from down a set to earn a 3-2 win over UAB before beating the host Mocs in four sets and sweeping Tennessee State to secure the crown.

Looking Ahead: Valpo heads to Ohio next weekend for an invitational co-hosted by Akron and Cleveland State, where it will also take on Coppin State.

Following the Beacons: All three of Valpo's matches this weekend are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+ and have live audio broadcasts on WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso), while all tournament matches will have live stats available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Series History: Cincinnati - Valpo holds a 3-0 advantage in the all-time series with the Bearcats, but this year's meeting is the first between the two programs in 30 years.

Oakland - Valpo owns a commanding 23-7 lead in the all-time series over the Golden Grizzlies, a series which has seen the two programs share conference affiliation twice: 1999-2006 in the Mid-Continent Conference and 2013-16 in the Horizon League. In the only meeting between the two teams since Valpo's move to the Missouri Valley Conference, the Beacons swept Oakland to clinch the Popcorn Classic championship in 2023.

Michigan - The Wolverines have won all three matchups all time between the two programs, including its only previous visit to the ARC to kick off the 2004 season. That matchup, a 3-0 (30-24, 30-20, 35-33) win for Michigan, proved to be the only 3-0 loss on the season for Valpo, which went on to win a school-record 29 matches and claim its second straight of three consecutive Mid-Con regular season and tournament titles.

Scouting the Opposition: Cincinnati - The Bearcats enter the weekend with a 2-1 record, beating Illinois 3-2 and Syracuse 3-0 last weekend before falling to Santa Clara in straight sets in midweek action. Picked to finish 12th in the Big XII preseason poll, Cincinnati posted a 15-13 record last year and went 7-11 in Big XII play.

Oakland - The Golden Grizzlies come to the ARC with a 2-2 record, having beaten Binghamton 3-0 and lost to Bradley 3-2 and Toledo 3-0 on opening weekend before earning a 3-1 win over Central Michigan in midweek action. Picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League preseason poll, Oakland went 7-23 last season, including a 7-11 mark in Horizon League action.

Michigan - The Wolverines, who are receiving votes in this week's edition of the AVCA Top-25 poll, bring a 3-1 record to the ARC this weekend - they swept LIU and Miami on opening weekend before splitting two matches as part of the Big Ten/SEC Challenge in midweek action, falling 3-2 to South Carolina and rebounding with a 3-1 win over LSU. Picked to finish 11th in the Big Ten preseason poll, Michigan went 22-11 last year, including an 11-9 record in Big Ten play, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

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, with this past weekend's win being the program's fourth in that time frame in the state of Tennessee.

Opening Weekend Dubs: This year marks the second straight season that Valpo won a tournament title on opening weekend, as last year's squad brought home the USI Invitational title. That title came via a tiebreak with a 2-1 record, however, making this year's team the first since 2022 to post a perfect weekend on the opening weekend of the season - that year's squad ended up starting the season 12-0. This year marks the 10th time in the last 24 years that Valpo has won its opening-weekend tournament - in five of the previous nine, the program went on to win a title in the second weekend of play as well.

Home Sweet Home: This weekend's Popcorn Classic is the 33rd in-season tournament Valpo has hosted, dating all the way back to the 1980 Valparaiso Invitational. This is the fourth time in the last five years the Beacons have hosted the Popcorn Classic, with Cornell winning the most recent iteration in 2024. Valpo has won its home tournament on 10 occasions, including three straight prior to the 2024 event.

Fighting From Behind: The most dramatic of the three wins 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 of the season, racking up 14 service aces in the 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. The rest of the weekend saw the Beacons continue to excel on the serve, as they had eight apiece against Chattanooga (led by three from Maggie Uhwat) and Tennessee State (led by three from Danica Goch). For the weekend, Valpo averaged 2.42 service aces/set, currently good for 13th nationally.

MVP Gove: Junior outside Jordyn Gove earned Tournament MVP accolades at the Chattanooga Classic after averaging 3.45 kills/set on .235 hitting and 2.55 digs/set while also committing just one serve reception error on 48 attempts. She posted double-doubles in each of the tournament's first two matches, registering 10 kills and 12 digs in the win over UAB before exploding for a career-best 20 kills on .318 hitting to go with 12 digs in the victory over the hosts. Gove closed the tournament with a team-best eight kills on .350 hitting while playing just two sets in the sweep of Tennessee State. Over the course of the weekend, Gove surpassed both 500 career kills and 500 career digs. It was the first career All-Tournament Team honor for the junior, much less her first MVP award.

Right Where She Left Off: Coming off of First Team All-MVC honors last season, junior right side Ava Helming didn't miss a beat on opening weekend, earning All-Tournament Team honors at the Chattanooga Classic as she averaged 3.55 kills/set on .255 hitting while also recording 10 blocks. She opened the weekend with a career-best 22 kills on .356 hitting and six blocks in the win over UAB, and followed later on Friday in the victory over the Mocs with 16 kills, five digs and four blocks. It was her fourth career All-Tournament accolade.

Welcome to Valpo: In her first weekend of action as a Beacon, junior outside Maggie Uhwat earned All-Tournament honors at the Chattanooga Classic as she averaged 2.45 kills/set and 1.45 digs/set. She opened the tournament by matching her career high in kills in each of the first two matches, posting 11 kills and six digs in the win over UAB and 11 kills, 10 digs and three service aces in the win over Chattanooga — the latter two marks both career bests as well as Uhwat registered her first collegiate double-double. It was the first All-Tournament Team award of her career.

Making Debuts: 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.

Looking Back at Last Year: Valpo is coming off a 21-9 campaign in 2025, including a 12-4 mark in MVC play - good for a tie for second place in the conference standings, the program's best finish since joining the Valley. Emma Hickey was named MVC Libero of the Year, MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region and a Second Team Academic All-American as she wrapped up her career ranked 17th in NCAA D-I history in career digs, while Sam Warren and Ava Helming joined Hickey as First Team All-MVC honorees.

Preseason Picks: Valpo was picked to finish third in the MVC in 2026 in the preseason polling of the conference's head coaches, trailing only UNI and Drake - it is the program's highest preseason projection since joining the Valley in 2017. Junior Ava Helming was honored as a preseason All-MVC honoree as well.

Who's Back: The Beacons return 10 letterwinners from last year's 21-win squad, a group which accounted for 50.3% of the team's kills, 49.7% of the service aces, 46.3% of the blocks and 39.6% of the digs in 2025.

Who's Gone: Valpo lost six seniors to graduation, most notably a pair of First Team All-MVC honorees in Emma Hickey and Sam Warren, as well as setter Addy Kois, who closed her career 10th in program history in career assists. The Beacons also had two players transfer out as well.

Who's New: This year's squad features seven newcomers - five true freshmen and a pair of transfers.

Winning Tradition Continues: The Beacons secured a winning 2025 season as they completed the campaign with an 21-9 record, the program's 22nd winning season in the last 24 years. Valpo has won 20 or more matches in 19 of those 24 seasons as well.

Top Half Finishes: The Beacons finished the 2025 regular season in a tie for second place in the MVC standings with Drake, trailing only UNI in the final table. Valpo has now finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its nine years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat. Going back further, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 32 of the last 33 seasons.

Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play last fall, finishing the 2025 campaign 20th nationally with an average of 16.50 digs/set. The program has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in every season since 2009, including 15 seasons among the top-20 and four seasons among the top-10 - highlighted by the 2017 campaign in which Valpo led the nation with 20.03 digs/set. Other top finishes include fourth nationally in the spring 2021 season (20.37/set), a fourth-place rank in 2010 and a sixth-place finish in 2015. Since the move to 25-point scoring, only seven teams have averaged more than 20 digs/set over the course of a season, and Valpo is the only program to have done it twice. 2018 saw Valpo lead the nation with 2,613 total digs - a mark which set a program single-season record and a Division I record in the 25-point era. Valpo also boasts two of the top-10 and three of the top-20 athletes in D-I history in career digs - Rylee Cookerly (2nd; 3,175), Taylor Root (10th; 2,752) and Emma Hickey (17th; 2,665).

Libero Dominance: Hickey's Libero of the Year accolade continued a remarkable string of accomplishments by Valpo liberos. Since the position was introduced to NCAA volleyball, Valpo has had six regular liberos - all six of whom have claimed at least one conference Libero/Defensive Player of the Year award: Sara Silcox was the 2003 Mid-Con Libero of the Year, Brittany Malicoat was the 2007 and 2008 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, Taylor Root was the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Morganne Longoria earned the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2016 and Rylee Cookerly was MVC Libero of the Year in 2019 and spring 2021. In all, the six liberos have combined for 10 major conference awards.

We've Played in That Before: All four of this season's early tournaments are at locations the Valpo program has previously played. Valpo opened the 2015 campaign by winning the Chattanooga Classic in its only previous appearance and went a perfect 3-0 at its previous appearance at the Akron/CSU co-hosted tournament in 2023. Valpo also went 3-0 at a tournament co-hosted by Niagara in 2007, but the co-host that year was Buffalo, while this year's is Canisius. And of course, Valpo has plenty of experience playing in tournaments on its home floor - this season's Popcorn Classic marks the 33rd in-season tournament Valpo has hosted in program history.

At the (Helm)ing: Junior right side Ava Helming is back for more after a stellar first half of her collegiate career. After earning MVC All-Freshman Team honors as a rookie, Helming took a leap forward last season to finish as a First Team All-MVC honoree. She led the Beacons with 364 kills and led all qualified players with a .323 hitting percentage - those numbers rank 10th and eighth, respectively, among Valpo players in a single season in the 25-point era, while she also moved into sixth in both kills/set (3.25) and points/set (3.58) in that era. Helming ranked eighth in the MVC in kills/set, eighth in points/set and 12th in hitting percentage. She hit double figures in kills 23 times, including 11 efforts of at least 15 kills, and paced Valpo in kills on 15 occasions.

Don't Hit it at Pickett: Junior middle Jessica Pickett continued to be a dominating presence at the net last year defensively. Despite missing six matches due to injury, Pickett racked up 95 blocks, with her average of 1.14 blocks/set ranking second in the MVC and moving her into second in program history for a single season in the 25-point era. Pickett has racked up 234 blocks in her first two collegiate seasons, a number which has her on pace to finish her career second in program history in the category. She is no slouch on the attack either when she gets chances out of the middle, as she ranked ninth in the MVC with a .302 hitting percentage.