Valpo volleyball sophomore libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Beacons to a 2-0 start to MVC action last weekend.

Hickey opened the weekend with an impressive 34-dig effort in Valpo’s five-set win over Missouri State, the third time in her career she has picked up 30 or more digs in a single match. The sophomore followed with a match-high 13 digs on Saturday as the Beacons swept a Southern Illinois squad which was picked two spots ahead of Valpo in the preseason poll.

For the weekend, Hickey averaged 5.88 digs/set as she pushed her career dig total to 984 digs — just 16 digs shy of becoming the 24^th player in program history to hit the 1,000-dig milestone. The weekly honor is Hickey’s fourth overall weekly award from the conference office and her third Defensive Player of the Week selection.