Valpo Announces 2023 Volleyball Schedule
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Valpo Announces 2023 Volleyball Schedule
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Coming off its third postseason appearance in the last five seasons, the Valpo volleyball program released its schedule for the upcoming 2023 season today — a schedule which features 12 home matches at the ARC.

Valpo kicks off the 2023 campaign at Eastern Illinois’ Panther Invitational Aug. 25-26, facing Akron and ULM in addition to the host Panthers. The Beacons then step away from tournament play briefly for a midweek match at Big Ten foe Illinois Aug. 29.

Valpo kicks off the home slate Sept. 1-2 as it hosts the Popcorn Classic at the ARC. The two-day, six-match event also features Western Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Oakland. This marks the 12th time in the tenure of head coach Carin Avery that Valpo will host an in-season tournament — Valpo has claimed seven of the previous 11 tournament titles, including last season’s Popcorn Classic.

Tournaments the following two weekends close out the Beacons’ nonconference schedule. Valpo heads to Austin Peay’s Stacheville Challenge Sept. 8-9, also taking on Big Ten foe Indiana and Lindenwood in Clarksville. The program’s final tournament of the season takes place Sept. 15-16, as the Beacons go to the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational, matching up with SIUE and Miami (Ohio) before closing out the tournament versus the host Mastodons.

The always-challenging Missouri Valley Conference slate opens Sept. 22 at the ARC against Missouri State. The 18-match Valley schedule sees Valpo take on Belmont, Murray State, Indiana State and Evansville once apiece and the other seven teams twice.

The Beacons close their home schedule on Nov. 11 against UNI, while the regular season concludes Nov. 15 at UIC. The 2023 MVC Tournament will be hosted by Missouri State Nov. 19-22, with the top eight teams in the regular season standings vying for the title and the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Valpo returns 12 letterwinners from last year’s squad, which posted a 22-11 overall record — the program’s 17th 20-win campaign in Avery’s 21 seasons at the helm. The Beacons earned a bid to the 2022 NIVC, the program’s third postseason bid in the last five years, and are the only team in the Valley to finish in the top half of the MVC standings in each of the last six seasons.