Valpo volleyball head coach Carin Avery announced today that Matt Eastman has joined the program’s coaching staff as a graduate assistant heading into the 2023 season.
Valpo volleyball head coach Carin Avery announced today that Maddie Moan, a 6-1 attacker from Woodstock, Ill., has transferred to Valparaiso University and joined the program for the spring semester after playing her freshman season this past fall at Milwaukee.
The Valpo volleyball program is adding another incoming freshman for the 2023 campaign, as defensive specialist Kendal Ramey will join the Beacons next fall.
The Valpo volleyball team saw its 2022 season come to a close Thursday evening in Athens, Ohio, falling in straight sets in the opening round of the NIVC to host Ohio (25-19, 25-11, 25-17).
For the third time in the last five seasons, the Valpo volleyball program heads to postseason play after earning an at-large bid to the 2022 NIVC. The Beacons will travel to Athens, Ohio for the tournament's first two rounds, taking on host Ohio in opening-round action on Thursday before a potential second-round matchup against either Central Michigan or Xavier on Friday.
The Valpo volleyball program was represented by a trio of student-athletes as the Missouri Valley Conference unveiled its Scholar-Athlete teams on Monday. Gretchen Kuckkan (Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic [Indiana State]) and Bella Ravotto (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) were named Scholar-Athlete First Team honorees, while Jillie Grant (Maumee, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) received Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention recognition.
The Valpo volleyball program returns to the postseason for the second consecutive season and the third time in the last five years, as the Beacons learned they had earned an at-large bid to the 2022 National Invitational Volleyball Championship on Sunday evening. Valpo will make the trip to Athens, Ohio for the tournament’s first two rounds and will face host Ohio on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Valpo volleyball senior middle Miranda Strongman (Wolverine Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central [LIU]) represented the Beacons on the MVC All-Tournament Team for her stellar work on both sides of the net in Valpo’s pair of tournament matches.
The Valpo volleyball program had four players recognized as Academic All-District honorees as College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) released its women’s soccer Academic All-District roll on Tuesday.
After winning its tournament opener on Sunday, the sixth-seeded Valpo volleyball team was eliminated by third-seeded UIC in second round action at the MVC Championship in Evansville, Ind. on Monday evening, as the Flames defeated the Beacons in straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-17).
There might be no more perfect ending to a match to epitomize the spirit of the Valpo volleyball program than what occurred Sunday evening, as a diving pancake by Victoria Bulmahn (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon) led directly to a kill as the sixth-seeded Beacons closed out a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 26-24) sweep of seventh-seeded Murray State in the opening round of the 2022 MVC Championship in Evansville, Ind. With the win, Valpo advances to play third-seeded UIC in second-round action Monday evening at 6 p.m.
One of the nation’s most prolific liberos, Valpo volleyball freshman Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) picked up a pair of honors Saturday as the Missouri Valley Conference unveiled its postseason awards. Hickey earned a spot both on the All-MVC Second Team and the MVC All-Freshman Team.
The Valpo volleyball team heads to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Evansville early next week. With this season's new tournament format, the sixth-seeded Beacons will have to win four matches in four days to claim the tournament title, starting with a Sunday evening matchup against seventh-seeded Murray State.
Valpo Volleyball head coach Carin Avery joins the Valpo Coaches Show to discuss the last few weeks of the regular season, the play of Emma Hickey and Mallory Januski and preview the upcoming MVC Championship.
The Valpo volleyball team held off multiple UIC match points in the third set of the regular season finale Wednesday evening at the ARC to extend the match and had an opportunity to send the match to a fifth set, but at the end, the Flames earned a 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 29-31, 29-27) victory over the Beacons. Freshman libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) broke both the Valpo and the MVC freshman single-season digs record, while junior middle Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) broke her career high in the kills department.
Valpo volleyball head coach Carin Avery announced today that a trio of talented high school seniors — Kennedy Arp, Jessica Pickett and Mara Thomas – have signed to join the Beacon volleyball program as freshmen for the 2023 season.
Already in the MVC Tournament field, the Valpo volleyball team closes out the regular season on Wednesday evening when it hosts UIC at the ARC.
On a Senior Night where the Valpo volleyball program was celebrating four players who will wrap up their collegiate careers in the coming weeks, the Beacons attempted to make it back-to-back come-from-behind victories. But visiting Illinois State spoiled the party, earning a 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 27-25) victory over Valpo Saturday evening.
It was a typical battle in Missouri Valley Conference action at the ARC Friday night, and while the Valpo volleyball team trailed Bradley after three sets, 2-1, the Beacons kept at it to extend the match to a fifth set, where they completed the 3-2 (25-27, 25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11) come-from-behind victory. The win, which secured Valpo a berth in the MVC Tournament, was highlighted by a career best in kills from senior right side Maddy Boyer (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and by freshman libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) coming just one dig away from the program’s single-match record.
The Valpo volleyball team will play its final three matches of the regular season at home at the ARC, starting this weekend with matches against Bradley on Friday and Illinois State on Saturday. The match versus the Redbirds will serve as the program's Senior Night, as the Beacons honor four players wrapping up their collegiate careers.
Valpo volleyball junior middle Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week following her record-setting blocking performance last Saturday at Murray State.
After dropping the first two sets Saturday afternoon at Murray State, the Valpo volleyball team stormed back to take sets three and four to force a decisive fifth frames, but the Racers came away with the 3-2 (25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 15-10) victory. Junior middle Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) dominated defensively at the net with 13 blocks, the most by a Valpo player in nearly two decades.
It’s a milestone that has become routine for the Valpo volleyball program, yet still impressive when the Beacons hit it each season, as this year’s squad reached the 20-win mark for the year Friday evening with a 3-1 victory (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16) at Belmont. Along with the team milestone, junior Victoria Bulmahn (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon) hit an individual mark as well, surpassing 2,000 career assists in the victory.
Valpo volleyball head coach Carin Avery joined the Valpo Coaches Show this week to talk about the season to date, how they've been able to succeed despite last year's strong graduating class, the depth of this year's team, and more!
With the regular season schedule starting to hit the home stretch, the Valpo volleyball team faces its final road trip of the season this weekend, trekking south to face off with MVC newcomers Belmont and Murray State.
The Valpo volleyball team bounced back from Friday night’s loss in a big way Saturday evening, putting together one of its top offensive performances of the season in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-18) sweep of Indiana State at the ARC.
Playing on its home court for the first time in three weekends Friday night, the Valpo volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20) decision to visiting Evansville at the ARC.
Coming off of two weekends on the road, the Valpo volleyball team will play five of its final seven regular season matches at home. The closing stretch begins this weekend as the Beacons host Evansville on Friday and Indiana State on Saturday.
Saturday evening, the Valpo volleyball program will host its annual Dig for the Cure match in memory of all those who have battled cancer, and along with that, will be raising money all weekend long for the Rin Seibert Scholarship.
Once again playing shorthanded and completing a grueling stretch of four consecutive road matches over the last two weekends, the Valpo volleyball team dug deep on Saturday evening with a well-rounded team effort to overcome a one-set deficit and earn a 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22) victory at third-place Southern Illinois.
Down a pair of regulars and having to change their offensive system for the first time this year, the Valpo volleyball team fought gamely Friday evening at Missouri State before falling to the Bears, 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-17).
The Valpo volleyball team opens the second half of the MVC schedule with another challenging road weekend, as the Beacons will trek down to Missouri State Friday night and then hit Southern Illinois on their way back Saturday evening.
The Valpo volleyball team claimed the first set at MVC leading UNI Saturday night in Cedar Falls, Iowa and had a couple opportunities to take the third set, but the Beacons eventually fell in a 3-1 final (20-25, 25-16, 27-25, 25-18) to the host Panthers.
The Valpo volleyball team had its four-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of host Drake Friday evening in Des Moines, Iowa, as the Bulldogs earned a 3-1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-14, 25-17) victory.
A challenging road trip awaits the Valpo volleyball team this weekend as it hits the halfway mark of the MVC schedule. The weekend opens Friday evening at a Drake squad which the Beacons are tied for second place in the MVC standings with, and continues Saturday night at first-place UNI.
It has been quite the start to the collegiate career of Valpo freshman libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn), and after posting her most productive weekend of the season to date last weekend in a pair of Beacon victories, she was recognized on Monday as the MVC Defensive Player of the Week.
It was a vintage Valpo volleyball match at the ARC Saturday evening — strong defense, extended rallies, highs and lows throughout the contest. And when the dust settled against MVC newcomer Belmont, it was the Beacons who emerged victorious, downing the Bruins in five sets (25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 15-9) for their 17th win of the season and their fourth victory in a row.
The Valpo volleyball team received contributions all the way up and down its roster Friday evening at the ARC in a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-11) sweep of visiting Murray State in MVC action. With the win, the Beacons are tied for the D-I national lead with 16 victories on the season and have already clinched a winning season.
Coming off of a sweep of the central Illinois road trip last weekend, the Valpo volleyball team returns home to the ARC this weekend to face a pair of conference newcomers. Murray State will visit the ARC on Friday night, while the Beacons welcome Belmont to town on Saturday evening.
Another stellar week anchoring the back row resulted in Valpo freshman libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) earning Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week honors on Monday.
For the first time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, the Valpo volleyball team posted a 2-0 record on a weekend road swing through central Illinois, battling on Saturday evening for a five-set victory (25-22, 26-24, 25-27, 24-26, 15-9) at Bradley. With the win, the Beacons improve to 15-2 on the season.
It was quite a bounce-back performance from the Valpo volleyball team on Friday evening, as the Beacons went into Illinois State and showed the 3,257 fans in Redbird Arena just what Valpo Volleyball is all about, striking down the preseason favorite Redbirds in four sets (25-14, 17-25, 25-16, 25-13).
A busy stretch to open conference play for the Valpo volleyball team continues with a pair of road matches this weekend, as the Beacons play at Illinois State on Friday night and at Bradley on Saturday evening. Once the weekend is complete, Valpo will have played its first five MVC matches in a nine-day stretch.
The Valpo volleyball team dropped its MVC road opener Monday evening at UIC, falling in straight sets (25-12, 25-16, 25-14) to the Flames.
The Valpo volleyball team did its part to make sure it was a perfect Homecoming Saturday on campus, completing the sweep of the day’s two athletic events with a dramatic 3-2 (21-25, 28-26, 25-20, 15-25, 17-15) victory over Drake Saturday evening at the ARC.
The Valpo volleyball team had a match point in the fourth set of Friday night’s match at the ARC against visiting UNI to extend its school-record start to the season, but the Panthers came back to take the set and eventually emerged 3-2 victors (14-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-27, 15-9) in the MVC opener for both squads. The defeat snapped the Beacons’ 12-match winning streak to open the campaign.
A perfect run through the nonconference schedule culminated last weekend in Valpo's fourth consecutive tournament title, but now the Beacons turn their attention to the challenges that come with Missouri Valley Conference play. The MVC slate opens with three matches in four days, as Valpo will host UNI Friday night and Drake Saturday night before making the short trip to Chicago to take on UIC Monday evening.
Following an outstanding all-around weekend which culminated in Tournament MVP honors at the Roadrunner Classic, Valpo junior middle Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) was named the MVC Player of the Week on Monday.
After enjoying a lethal weekend on the attack which included an entry in Valpo’s single-match record book, junior middle Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) was honored as Tournament MVP of the Roadrunner Classic. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by setters Victoria Bulmahn (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon) and Addy Kois (Osceola, Ind./Penn), as the duo kept the Beacons offense running at a high level all weekend.
The Valpo volleyball team put the proverbial cherry on top of a perfect run through the pre-conference portion of its schedule on Saturday, sweeping Houston Baptist (25-21, 25-22, 25-20) to win the Roadrunner Classic in San Antonio, Texas. The tournament title is the fourth of the season for the Beacons, setting a program record for most in-season tournaments won in a single campaign, and extended the best start in program history to 12-0.
The 2022 Valpo volleyball team is the only one in program history to win at least 10 consecutive matches to start a season, as the Beacons improved to 11-0 on Friday with a pair of victories on the first day of competition at the Roadrunner Classic in San Antonio, Texas. Valpo survived a comeback attempt from Incarnate Word to earn a 3-2 (25-15, 25-15, 22-25, 20-25, 15-8) victory in the tournament opener and then took down tournament host UTSA in straight sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-19) in the nightcap Friday night.
With all its success over the years, there's not too many firsts left for the Valpo volleyball program to accomplish, but this weekend could bring one of them, as the Beacons look for an unprecedented sweep of four in-season tournaments in the same season as they travel to the Roadrunner Classic. With a win in the opener versus UIW, this year's team would also stand alone for the best start to a season in program history.
For the second time this season, the Valpo volleyball team boasts the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week, as the MVC announced Monday afternoon that senior Bella Ravotto (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) claimed this week’s defensive honor.
The Valpo volleyball team continued its early-season run on Saturday, clinching the Akron Invitational championship with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-11) victory at Cleveland State. With the win, the Beacons improve to 9-0 on the season and match the 2015 team for the longest winning streak to start a season in program history.
The Valpo volleyball team extended its winning streak to eight consecutive matches to open the 2022 campaign Friday in Akron, Ohio at the Akron Invitational, utilizing the entire squad to take down Morgan State, 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-13), in the morning match and then grinding out a four-set win over the host Zips (21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 28-26) in the evening. The pair of wins moves the Beacons within one win of matching the best start to a season in program history.
At the halfway point of the nonconference slate, it's two weekends down and two tournament titles for the Valpo volleyball program. The Beacons look to make it three straight championships this weekend as they travel to Ohio for an event co-hosted by Akron and Cleveland State, where they will face Morgan State in addition to the two hosts.
On the heels of a tremendous performance to help Valpo claim the tournament championship, senior Gretchen Kuckkan (Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic [Indiana State]) was named Tournament MVP of the Popcorn Classic. Kuckkan was joined on the All-Tournament Team by fellow seniors Maddy Boyer (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and Kara Cooper (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte).
Two weekends, two tournament titles for the Valpo volleyball program, as the Beacons completed a perfect weekend at the ARC in their own Popcorn Classic with a 3-1 (33-31, 25-21, 18-25, 25-15) victory over Northern Illinois to claim the tournament championship. Saturday’s win was led by a career performance from senior Gretchen Kuckkan (Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic [Indiana State]), who hit .489 with 25 kills — tied for fourth-most in a four-set match in the 25-point scoring era.
The Valpo volleyball team got its home tournament started on a winning note on Friday at the ARC, winning its first two matches of the Popcorn Classic. The Beacons opened the tournament Friday morning with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-23) victory over SIUE, and the evening match brought a thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 15-10) win against Campbell.
Coming off of a successful opening weekend in which it claimed a tournament title, the Valpo volleyball team aims to keep the momentum rolling as it opens the home slate this weekend by hosting the Popcorn Classic. The Beacons welcome SIUE, Campbell and Northern Illinois to town for the two-day, six-match event.
For Valpo volleyball freshman libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn), a memorable first weekend of collegiate competition culminated in yet another award on Monday, as Hickey was named Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the opening weekend of action.
Three members of the Valpo volleyball team received special notice for their efforts in helping the Beacons win the DoubleTree-Youngstown Invitational on the opening weekend of the 2022 season, highlighted by the selection of sophomore Elise Swistek (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie) as Tournament MVP. Swistek was joined on the All-Tournament Team by senior Bella Ravotto (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) and freshman Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn).
Make more room in the trophy case – the Valpo volleyball program has won yet another tournament championship. This time, the Beacons claimed top honors at the DoubleTree-Youngstown Invitational on Saturday afternoon by taking down host Youngstown State in four sets (25-18, 21-25, 25-10, 25-18) to make it a happy bus ride home.
It might be a new season, but at least on opening day of the 2022 campaign, it’s the same results you’ve come to know and love from the Valpo volleyball program. The Beacons kicked off the season with a pair of wins Friday at the DoubleTree-Youngstown Invitational in Youngstown, Ohio, dispatching Delaware State, 3-1 (25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21), in the season opener before sweeping Idaho (25-16, 25-19, 25-15) later that afternoon.
Coming off of one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Valpo volleyball program begins the 2022 campaign this weekend with an appearance at the DoubleTree-Youngstown Invitational. The season kicks off Friday with matches versus Delaware State and Idaho before the Beacons face former Horizon League foe Youngstown State on Saturday.
Coming off of one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Valpo volleyball program has been chosen to finish in fifth place in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2022, as the MVC released its preseason poll on Wednesday morning.
The Valpo volleyball program received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2021-22 academic year, as announced by the AVCA today. It marks the 17th time in the last 19 seasons that the program has earned the award.
The Valpo volleyball team will play 12 regular season home matches at the ARC during the 2022 season, as the program unveiled its schedule for the upcoming season Friday. The Beacons enter 2022 coming off of one of the most successful campaigns in program history, as they won 26 matches and advanced to the final of the NIVC a season ago.