Valparaiso (17-6, 8-2 MVC)

Friday, Oct. 31 – at Indiana State (9-13, 3-7 MVC) – 5 p.m. CT

Saturday, Nov. 1 – at Evansville (6-16, 2-8 MVC) – 5 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: It’s an in-state road trip for the Valpo volleyball team this weekend, as the Beacons head south for their lone matchups of the season against Indiana State and Evansville.

Previously: The Beacons had their six-match winning streak snapped last Tuesday at home against UIC, but rebounded with a Homecoming Saturday sweep of Southern Illinois.

Looking Ahead: Valpo plays its final two road matches of the regular season next weekend as it heads further south to Belmont and Murray State.

Following the Beacons: Both matches this week are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats are also available for both matches via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 24th season as head coach at Valpo, Carin Avery is the all-time winningest head coach across all sports in the history of Valpo Athletics. She has won 524 matches (524-263, .666) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and three league tournament titles. The program has made seven postseason appearances under Avery, including three NCAA Tournament appearances, and advanced to the championship match of the 2021 NIVC. Avery has coached 61 All-League recipients over her tenure at Valpo, which has spanned three different conferences. She is Valpo’s all-time leader in both victories and winning percentage, and owns a 579-287 (.669) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Indiana State – Valpo owns the 20-16 edge in the all-time series with the Sycamores, an advantage which is extended to 10-4 since Valpo joined the Valley. The Beacons have won four straight in the series, including both matchups last year – 3-0 in Terre Haute and 3-1 in Valparaiso.

Evansville –  Valpo holds a 17-14 advantage in the all-time series, including an 12-4 mark over the Purple Aces since joining the MVC. Last season, the squads split their two matches, each defending their respective home court – Evansville winning in five sets; Valpo winning in three sets.

Scouting the Opposition: Indiana State – The Sycamores enter Friday’s match at 9-13 overall this season and are 3-7 in MVC action – after starting Valley play 3-2, they have dropped their last five matches. Kira Holland ranks third among MVC players with 3.66 kills/set.

Evansville – The Purple Aces, who host UIC Friday before facing Valpo Saturday, enter the week with a 6-16 overall record and a 2-8 mark in Valley play, having lost their last three matches. Kora Ruff ranks second in the Valley with 7.77 assists/set, while Ainoah Cruz is second in digs with 5.15/set.

Into the Top 25: Senior Emma Hickey, who is ranked sixth nationally this year with 5.20 digs/set, achieved another milestone last week, cracking the top-25 in NCAA D-I history in career digs in the third set of the sweep of SIU – making Valpo the only D-I school with three players on that top-25 list. Hickey’s career dig total of 2,546 digs now ranks 24th in D-I history, just 52 away from moving into the top-20. Hickey also moved up the MVC career digs chart last week, passing former Drake star Kylee Macke for fifth in Valley history. Hickey leads all active NCAA players (all divisions) in career digs and owns 649 more digs than any other active Division I player. 

Another Week, Another Honor: Hickey has claimed nearly half of the MVC Defensive Player of the Week awards this season, as she racked up her fourth of the year for her performances in the back row last week. The senior averaged 7.14 digs/set, leading all players with 29 digs against UIC and 21 against Southern Illinois, and handled 21 serve receptions without an error. 13 of Hickey’s 21 digs versus SIU came in the third set alone, tying her career best for a single frame. Hickey is now tied for fourth in MVC history with eight career Defensive Player of the Week selections.

8-2 Through 10: Past the halfway mark of the MVC schedule and Valpo still sits in second place with an 8-2 record, one game up on the UIC/Drake tie for third. The second seed is of immense importance this year, providing the team a bye to the semifinals and the right to host their semifinal match. The 8-2 mark through 10 conference matches is the program’s best start to a league slate since the 2013 team was 8-2 through 10 Horizon League contests.

We’re Done Already?: Saturday’s sweep of Southern Illinois was just the second three-set match for the Beacons in MVC play, joining their win at UIC. Valpo has yet to lose a three-set match this season, posting an 8-0 record in such contests.

Road Warriors: The Beacons enter the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record in road matches in MVC play, having taken down Illinois State, Bradley, UIC and Southern Illinois in a nine-day stretch in early October. Going back to the nonconference season, Valpo owns six consecutive true road wins, as you have to go back to the Beacons’ five-set loss at Northwestern way back on Sept. 9 for their last true road loss. The last time Valpo won seven straight true road matches came in 2013.

Déjà vu: The road less traveled is often less traveled for a reason, and asking a team to rally from down two sets to earn a 3-2 win is tough enough to do once, much less in consecutive matches. But that’s what the Beacons accomplished in their wins at Southern Illinois and at home versus Belmont in back-to-back contests – the first time in Carin Avery’s career at Valpo her team has done that in two consecutive outings. Under Avery, Valpo has now rallied from down 0-2 to force a fifth set 27 times and has finished off the comeback with a win in 16 of those matches. Notably, in the two most recent matches, Valpo faced an identical 5-2 deficit in the fifth set, Avery called a timeout and the Beacons then outscored their opponent 13-4 the rest of the way. 

Go the Distance: Giving the fans their money’s worth seemed to be a theme of Valpo’s six-match winning streak earlier this month, as four of the wins in the streak (Illinois State, Bradley, Southern Illinois, Belmont) went the full five sets. It is the first time in program history the Beacons have won four five-set matches in a five-match stretch. After having not won 3-2 in back-to-back conference matches since 1992, Valpo has now done so twice this year – the Illinois State and Bradley matches came on back-to-back nights, the first time since 1988 Valpo has done so in conference play on consecutive days.

Winning Tradition Continues: The Beacons secured a winning 2025 season with its home win over Murray State, the 22nd winning season in 24 years under Carin Avery. With 17 wins this year, Valpo is closing in on that 20-win milestone – the program has won 20 or more matches in 18 of Avery’s 23 seasons as well, and has averaged 22 wins per season in Avery’s tenure.

Digging It and Killing It: The Beacons rank among the nation’s best on both sides of the ball this season. Valpo currently leads the the MVC rankings with 16.91 digs/set, a mark which ranks 13th nationally, while it is second in the Valley and 18th nationally with 14.08 kills/set and second in the Valley and 19th nationally with 13.07 assists/set. Notably, that kills mark would be the program’s best kills/set average in a season since 2015.

Warren Racks Them Up: Senior right side Sam Warren has been on an absolute tear over the past few weeks for the Beacons. Warren has led Valpo in kills in four of the last five matches, including each of the last three, and is averaging 3.76 kills/set over that stretch. She has tallied at least 12 kills in seven of the last eight matches as well. In three of Valpo’s last five matches, Warren has tied or surpassed her previous career best in kills – 17 at SIU, 22 versus Murray State and 19 versus UIC. The Murray State match was especially notable, as her career-best kill total – which was the highest kill total by a Valpo player since since Gretchen Kuckkan tallied 25 kills Sept. 3, 2022 against Northern Illinois – came on just 33 swings and she finished with a .576 hitting percentage.

The Right Stuff: Sophomore right side Ava Helming has been pacing the Beacons’ attack all season long and had another strong weekend last weekend, going for 15 kills against UIC and 10 in the sweep of Southern Illinois. The MVC Player of the Week for Oct. 13, Helming has led Valpo in kills 13 times this season and ranks seventh in the Valley with 3.40 kills/set. She has been in double figures in kills in each of Valpo’s 10 MVC matches, including eight times with 15 or more kills.

Kois’ Helping Hands: Senior Addy Kois is moving into striking distance of the Beacons’ career top-10 in assists. Kois, who dished out 45 assists over last weekend’s pair of victories, now owns 2,528 career assists – just 59 shy of Jenny Rohren for 10th in Valpo history in the category.

Meet Me in the Middle: After missing four matches due to injury, sophomore middle Jessica Pickett – who currently ranks second in the MVC in blocks/set – returned to action mid-match last time out versus SIU, recorded a solo block on her first point back on the floor and later added three kills on eight swings. Her fellow middles picked up the slack during her absence, however. Sophomore Lilly Merk has averaged 2.00 kills/set on .304 hitting and 1.10 blocks/set over the last five matches, while senior Maddie Moan tallied 14 kills on 26 swings in her stint in the lineup while also averaging 0.75 blocks/set.

Still Underclassmen: It’s easy to forget, given the number of returnees this year’s Beacon squad features, that a large number of those returnees are still just sophomores. 74.5% of the team’s kills and 75.1% of the team’s blocks have come courtesy of the underclassmen.

Players of the Week: Emma Hickey’s most recent accolade made it eight MVC weekly award winners for Valpo this season.

– Sophomore Ava Helming earned MVC Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career Oct. 13. She hit .520 with 15 kills in Valpo’s wins at UIC and at SIU, becoming the first Valpo player to hit at least .500 with 15 or more kills in consecutive matches since Allison Sears in October 2008. 

– Hickey was named Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this year after the Illinois State/Bradley road weekend as she averaged 5.60 digs/set and 1.70 assists/set while not committing a serve reception error on 39 attempts. 

– Jessica Pickett was named Player of the Week for the first time in her career and Hickey was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week after splitting the Drake/UNI opening weekend of conference play – Pickett hit .391 over the pair of matches with 2.88 kills/set and 1.50 blocks/set, while Hickey averaged 6.25 digs/set and committed just one serve reception error on 45 attempts. 

– Hickey was recognized as Defensive Player of the Week for the first time this year following the opening weekend of the season, which saw her earn All-Tournament Team honors at the USI Invitational as she averaged 6.60 digs/set and committed just one serve reception error on 49 attempts. 

– On Sept. 15, the Beacons boasted a pair of award winners: Lilly Merk was named Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career after averaging 1.50 blocks/set, highlighted by a 12-block effort in Valpo’s upset bid at Northwestern, while Keira Lucas was tabbed Freshman of the Week as she averaged 2.44 kills/set on .302 hitting and 2.00 digs/set while committing just one serve reception error on 49 attempts at the Lehigh Steel Classic.

Capturing Crowns: Valpo continued its penchant for winning in-season tournament titles under Carin Avery this season, claiming a share of the crown at the USI Invitational and sweeping its way to the Lehigh Steel Classic title. Valpo has won 36 in-season tournament titles in Avery’s time as head coach. The team has won at least one tournament in 18 of her seasons, and multiple tournaments 12 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states.

All-Tournament Accolades: Over the course of Valpo’s four early-season tournaments, six players combined to earn a total of nine All-Tournament Team honors.

– Leatherneck Classic: Emma Hickey, Lilly Merk

– Lehigh Steel Classic: Kadence Brumitt (MVP), Addy Kois

– EMU Tournament: Ava Helming, Merk

– USI Invitational: Helming, Hickey, Sam Warren

New-Look Conference Slate: With MVC membership down to 11 volleyball programs, the conference schedule has been pared back to 16 matches this season, meaning there will be four teams each team plays only once. Valpo’s matchups against Drake and UNI on opening weekend were its lone looks at the Iowa-based schools this season, while the Beacons will also face Evansville and Indiana State just once apiece. In addition, the MVC Tournament will feature just six teams this season after previously featuring eight programs.

MVC Success: Valpo is looking to continue its run of success in conference play again this season, as the program has finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its eight years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat. Going back further, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 22 of Avery’s 23 seasons – as well as qualifying for the conference tournament in each of her 23 seasons – and 31 of the last 32 years overall.

Looking Back at Last Year: Valpo is coming off an 18-win season in 2024, a campaign highlighted by the amount of production generated by the team’s youth. Jessica Pickett set program freshman records for hitting percentage and blocks, while Ava Helming had the third-most kills by a freshman in Avery’s tenure as both rookies earned spots on the MVC All-Freshman Team. On the more veteran side, Emma Hickey became the fastest player in program history and tied for the fastest in MVC history to reach 2,000 career digs.

Who’s Back: In a nutshell, everybody who could be. All 16 players who ended last season on the Beacons squad with remaining eligibility return for Valpo in 2025. That group accounted for 78.1% of the kills, 84.4% of the service aces, 78.0% of the digs and 93.9% of the blocks from the 2024 season.

Who’s Gone: Valpo graduated just two players from last year’s squad: Abby Boyle and Elise Swistek. Swistek’s production will be the big piece to replace, as she closed her time at Valpo as one of just 10 players in program history to surpass 1,000 kills (1,018; 19th) and 1,000 digs (1,479; 12th).

Who’s New: The Beacons welcome two freshmen to the large group of returnees this year. Keira Lucas is an outside hitter who was a three-time All-State honoree at Northview [Ind.] H.S., while Olivia Wagner is a setter who helped lead Lakeville South [Minn.] H.S. to the 2024 Minnesota Class AAAA state championship.

Young But Mighty: Legendary college basketball coach Al McGuire is credited for having said “The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.” If that’s the case for last year’s class of Valpo volleyball freshmen, opponents are in for a rough time this season. Last year’s freshman class accounted for 59.1% of the team’s kills, 31.1% of the aces and 73.6% of the blocks in the 2024 campaign. That comes out to a total of 58.7% of the team’s points accounted for by freshmen last season, a mark which ranked third nationally among D-I programs, trailing only Mississippi Valley State and Le Moyne – two programs which combined for just eight wins, compared with the Beacons’ 18 victories. Prior to last season, none of Avery’s teams in her time at Valpo had freshmen account for even 30% of the team’s points.

Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play last fall, finishing the 2024 campaign 19th nationally with an average of 17.20 digs/set. The program has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in every season since 2009, including 14 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 athletes in D-I history in career digs – Rylee Cookerly (2nd; 3,175) and Taylor Root (10th; 2,752).

Libero on Lockdown: Senior Emma Hickey has been quite simply one of the nation’s most prolific liberos since stepping on campus prior to the 2022 campaign. She’s ranked among the top-15 nationally in digs/set in each of her first three seasons, ending last season in third position with 5.72 digs/set. Her 715 total digs last year were sixth-most in a single season in program history.

The Pickett Fence: Sophomore Jessica Pickett made a big impact at the net in her first season of collegiate volleyball last year. An MVC All-Freshman Team honoree, Pickett ranked third in the Valley in blocks/set (1.14, 139 total) and fourth in hitting percentage (.331). She  set Valpo freshman records for both hitting percentage and total blocks – her hitting percentage ranked third overall and second in the 25-point era in Valpo’s single-season record book, while he block total ranked eighth overall and third in the 25-point era.

At the Helm(ing): Sophomore Ava Helming joined Pickett as an MVC All-Freshman Team honoree last season for her strong work on both sides of the net at the right pin as a rookie. Helming ranked second on the team with 293 kills and 78 blocks – her 293 kills is tied for third-most by a freshman under head coach Carin Avery, while 78 blocks ranks sixth by a freshman under Avery. The only other freshman to rank among the top-10 in both kills and blocks by a rookie in the Avery era was another right side in Morgan Beil, who developed into a three-time All-Horizon League performer.

Next Stop, 600: Head coach Carin Avery reached yet another milestone last October, winning her 500th match in charge of the Valpo program with the Beacons’ win at Murray State. Valpo’s all-time winningest coach in any sport, Avery’s 500th win came in her 752nd match in charge of the program. Avery is the second current MVC coach to win at least 500 matches at their current institution, joining UNI’s Bobbi Petersen.