Valparaiso (6-4, 0-0 MVC)
Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Friday, Sept. 15 - vs. SIUE (3-6) - 3:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, Sept. 16 - vs. Miami (Ohio) (3-6) - 12:30 p.m. CT | at Purdue Fort Wayne (5-4) - 6 p.m. CT

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: The Valpo volleyball team closes out nonconference play this weekend with its fourth and final in-season tournament of the 2023 campaign. The Beacons head to the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational, where they will face Miami (Ohio) and SIUE in addition to the host Mastodons.

Previously: Valpo posted a 1-2 record last week, falling in three sets to Indiana and four sets to Austin Peay at the Stacheville Challenge before closing the weekend with a four-set win over Lindenwood.

Looking Ahead: Valpo opens Missouri Valley Conference play next week with three home matches in a five-day stretch, hosting Missouri State on Friday, Sept. 22, Southern Illinois the next day and UIC on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

Following the Beacons: All three matches this weekend will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Links for the live video and live stats are available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 22nd season as head coach at Valparaiso, Carin Avery has won 477 matches (477-232, .673) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and 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. A two-time Mid-Con Coach of the Year, Avery has coached 60 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 532-256 (.675) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: SIUE - Valpo is a perfect 4-0 against the Cougars, including a 3-1 win last season on Sept. 2 as part of Valpo's Popcorn Classic. Mallory Januski had eight kills on .333 hitting in that victory, while Emma Hickey had a match-high 16 digs and Addy Kois posted 25 assists and 11 digs.

Miami (Ohio) - Valpo owns a slight 4-3 edge in the all-time series with the RedHawks, but is 4-0 under Coach Avery against Miami. The last of those meetings came in the second round of the 2018 NIVC on Miami's home court in Oxford, Ohio, a 3-0 Valpo sweep.

Purdue Fort Wayne - The Mastodons hold a slim 12-11 advantage in the all-time series, but the series is 8-4 Valpo under Coach Avery, including wins in each of the last six meetings. The two squads have not met since 2018, however, when Valpo earned a 3-2 win in Fort Wayne on Sept. 18. That match featured 17 total team blocks for Valpo, tied for sixth-most in a single match in the 25-point era.

Scouting the Opposition: SIUE - The Cougars enter the weekend at 3-6 overall, but most recently went 2-1 at their home tournament, beating Idaho and Milwaukee before losing to Western Illinois. Sydney Hummert leads a balanced offense with 2.36 kills/set, while Priscilla Jones hits .299 with 2.31 kills/set.

Miami (Ohio) - The RedHawks are 3-6 coming into this weekend's action, going 1-2 last weekend at the Illinois State Invitational with a win over the host Redbirds and losses to Saint Louis and New Mexico State. Ellie Hanson averages a team-best 3.25 kills/set and also paces the back row with 3.16 digs/set.

Purdue Fort Wayne - The Mastodons come into the weekend at 5-4 on the year after a 2-1 weekend last week at the Western New York Invitational, beating Niagara and Canisius and falling to Kent State. Panna Ratkai is averaging an impressive 4.00 kills/set on .240 hitting, while LonDynn Betts leads the defense with 4.16 digs/set.

Valpo Picked Sixth in Preseason Poll: Valpo has been picked to finish in sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2023, according to preseason polling of the conference’s head coaches. The Beacons accumulated 73 points in the polling to come in at sixth position, outpacing Illinois State by two points. UNI claimed seven of 12 first-place votes and nipped Drake by two points for the top spot in the poll.

Looking Back at Last Season: The Beacons enjoyed another successful season in 2022, finishing the campaign with a 22-11 overall record. Valpo posted a 9-9 mark in MVC play to finish in sixth place in the newly-expanded 12-team conference and won a match at the MVC Tournament for its fourth straight appearance. The Beacons earned an at-large bid to the 2022 NIVC, their third showing in the tournament in the last five seasons. After a record-setting rookie campaign, freshman libero Emma Hickey was named a Second Team All-MVC and MVC All-Freshman Team honoree.

What's Back: Valpo returns plenty of experience from last year's squad, as 11 letterwinners are back this year, including four starters plus the libero. In all, 98% of the assists, 89.3% of the digs, 62.7% of the blocks and 60.9% of the kills from last season are back in 2023.

Who's New: Joining the 11 returnees on this year's team are six players looking to make an impact in their first season as Valpo. The sextet includes four true freshmen and two transfers - one fifth-year grad transfer and one sophomore.

Capturing Crowns: The Beacons' triumph in the Popcorn Classic added yet another crown to the program's trophy case. Valpo has now won 34 in-season tournament titles in head coach Carin Avery's time at the helm of the program. The team has won at least one tournament in 17 of her seasons, and multiple tournaments 11 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states.

Nonconference Success: One win this weekend at the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational would secure a winning record in the nonconference slate for Valpo, a regular feat over the years. In Carin Avery's 21 seasons at the helm of the Valpo program, the team has ended nonconference play at or above .500 19 times.

An Approaching Milestone: Head coach Carin Avery enters this weekend's tournament with 477 victories at the helm of the Valpo volleyball program. With two more wins, Avery would become the winningest head coach across any sport in the history of Valpo Athletics, surpassing Valpo Athletics Hall of Famer Emory Bauer, who amassed 478 wins between 28 seasons as head baseball coach, 22 seasons as head football coach and one season as head men's basketball coach.

All-Tournament Team Honorees: Through three weekends of the 2023 season, Valpo has had five players combine for seven All-Tournament Team selections. Most recently, middles Mallory Januski and Miranda Strongman were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Stacheville Challenge - both earning their second such honor of the season and third of their careers. Januski was previously named to the All-Tournament Team at the Popcorn Classic, where she was joined by MVP outside Bella Ravotto (third career All-Tournament Team; second career MVP) and right side Olivia Blackketter (first career honor). Strongman was previously named to the All-Tournament Team at the EIU Volleyball Invitational, joined by right side Sam Warren (first career honor).

Strong Hitting: Both Januski and Strongman were stellar on the attack over the final two matches last weekend of the Stacheville Challenge to earn their All-Tournament accolades. Januski hit .409 with 22 kills over the last two contests, highlighted by a match-high 12 kills on .458 hitting in the win over Lindenwood. Meanwhile, Strongman swung at a .414 clip with 13 kills over the final two matches, including seven kills on just 11 swings against APSU. On the season, Januski ranks fifth in the Valley with a .356 hitting percentage - just ahead of her program-record .353 season clip last year - while Strongman is hitting .270 on the campaign.

Ravotto's MVP Contributions: While her numbers for the tournament were strong (team-high 3.30 kills/set, .247, 4.30 digs/set), Bella Ravotto was Tournament MVP of the Popcorn Classic as much for her key contributions as her total stat lines. With the score tied at 18-18 in the second set against EMU, she came up with back-to-back kills and later served out the final four points of the set. Then, trailing 2-1 in the match in set four and with what had been an 11-5 lead cut to 11-10, Ravotto came up with three straight kills for the Beacons to start a stretch which saw Valpo out-score EMU the rest of the match, 29-10. In the win over Oakland, Ravotto came up with a big four-point service run in the second set to turn an 18-15 deficit into a 19-18 lead as Valpo eventually won the frame, 25-22.

Januski Cracks the Record Book: Mallory Januski posted a stellar stat line for the totality of the Popcorn Classic to earn All-Tournament honors, hitting ..434 with 2.40 kills/set and 10 blocks, but it was her performance against Eastern Michigan which stood out. Januski tallied 14 kills on .591 hitting in the win over the Eagles - the third-best hitting percentage in a five-set match in program history- and a team-best five blocks. She saved her best for the decisive set against EMU, as Valpo’s edge was just 4-3 before Januski tallied four kills over the next eight points, part of a 6-2 Beacon spurt which pushed the lead to 10-5 and kicked off a larger 11-3 run to close out the come-from-behind victory.

A Balanced Attack: Last year's Valpo team was notable for its balance on the attack, and this year's squad has been no different. Bella Ravotto's 2.48 kills/set leads the Beacons, but ranks just 20th overall among Valley players. Five regulars are averaging between 1.61 and 2.48 kills/set through the season's first ten matches.

Coming Up With Kills: Valpo's last four victories have one common thread - a double-figure edge in the kills department. Most recently, the Beacons closed action at the Stacheville Challenge with a 55-45 advantage in kills in the win over Lindenwood. The Beacons are now 6-0 this season when finishing with more kills than their opponent and have won 31 consecutive matches, dating back to Oct. 30, 2021, when they have bested their opposition in the kills department.

Another 20-Win Campaign: It's a milestone that has become routine for the program, yet still impressive in its totality - Valpo finished with 22 wins in 2022 and has now won 20 or more matches in 17 of Carin Avery's 21 seasons as head coach. Even more remarkably, one of the four seasons Valpo didn't reach 20 wins was the shortened spring 2021 campaign, when the program played just 20 matches total. The Beacons also secured their 19th winning season in Avery’s 21 seasons at the helm.

Top Half Finishes: In addition to the 20-win season, the Beacons also secured a top-half finish in the MVC standings as they finished in sixth place in the 12-team conference. Valpo has now finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its six years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat - Illinois State had finished top-half each of the last five years, but dropped out of the top-six in 2022. Going back further, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 20 of Avery's 21 seasons - as well as qualifying for the conference tournament in each of her 21 seasons - and 29 of the last 30 years overall.

Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play last fall, finishing 10th nationally and leading the MVC with 17.27 digs/set. The program has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in each of the last 12 seasons, highlighted by the 2017 campaign in which it led the nation with 20.03 digs/set. Other top finishes include third 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.

Hickey Sets New Standards: Emma Hickey made an immediate impact on Valpo’s backcourt and the record books in her rookie season. She set Valpo and MVC freshman record for digs in a season, finishing with 735 total digs, and led the Valley and ranked fourth nationally with 5.70 digs/set. No D-I freshman was within 200 digs of her season total, while it was tied for the second-most digs by a D-I freshman in the last 12 seasons. Her 735 digs are tied for fourth overall on Valpo’s single-season chart and rank sixth in MVC history as well.

Januski Runs the Middle: Senior middle Mallory Januski bided her time behind a pair of All-Conference middles in her first two seasons at Valpo, but given the opportunity in 2022 to run with a starting role, Januski took full advantage. She led Valpo and ranked fourth in the Valley with a .353 hitting percentage, a mark which smashed the program's single-season record. Januski also ranked seventh in the Valley with 0.98 blocks/set, tallying 122 total blocks — seventh-most by a Valpo player in the 25-point era. That total includes a monster 13-block performance at Murray State, a program record for the 25-point era.

One More Year: Three Valpo players are taking advantage of the additional season of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to play a fifth year of collegiate volleyball, but each of the three are at a different point in their Valpo journey. Bella Ravotto has spent all five years at the ARC, while Miranda Strongman is on her second season as a Beacon after playing three seasons at LIU. Most recently, Laura Ilizastigui joined the program as a graduate transfer for this season after spending two years apiece at Chicago State and the College of Southern Idaho.