Valparaiso (13-9, 5-4 MVC)
Friday, Oct. 20 - at Southern Illinois (12-8, 4-5 MVC) - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 21 - at Missouri State (9-12, 3-6 MVC) - 5 p.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: Fresh off of one weekend road sweep, the Valpo volleyball team goes after a second straight winning weekend away from home, as the Beacons make the trek to take on Southern Illinois Friday night and Missouri State Saturday evening.

Previously: Valpo took care of business last weekend on the road against its fellow Hoosier State Valley programs, sweeping Indiana State and taking down Evansville in four sets.

Looking Ahead: After back-to-back weekends away from home, the Beacons return to the ARC next weekend to host Belmont Friday, Oct. 27 and Murray State Saturday, Oct. 28.

Following the Beacons: Neither of this weekend's matches will have video broadcasts. Links for live stats are available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 22nd season as head coach at Valparaiso, Carin Avery is the all-time winningest head coach across all sports in the history of Valpo Athletics. She has won 484 matches (484-237, .671) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and tournament titles. The program has made six postseason appearances under Avery, including three NCAA Tournament appearances, and advanced to the championship match of the 2021 NIVC. 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 539-261 (.674) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Southern Illinois - Valpo is 10-5 all-time against the Salukis, including a commanding 10-2 series lead since joining the Valley. The Beacons have won the last five in the series, most recently a three-set sweep at the ARC earlier this season. Valpo's middles dominated in that matchup, with Mallory Januski posting 15 kills on .522 hitting and Miranda Strongman tallying 11 kills on .556 hitting.

Missouri State - The Bears hold a 10-5 advantage in the all-time series, including an 8-5 mark since Valpo joined the Valley. At the ARC in September, however, it was the Beacons who emerged victorious in a five-set battle. Mallory Januski set her career high in that win with 19 kills on .417 hitting, while Miranda Strongman added 13 kills and six blocks. Emma Hickey picked up 34 digs as well.

Scouting the Opposition: Southern Illinois - The Salukis come into Friday's match at 12-8 overall and 4-5 in MVC play, but they have dropped their last four matches. Nataly Garcia leads the SIU attack, averaging 3.47 kills/set, while Cecilia Bulmahn - sister of current Beacon Victoria and former Valpo player Jaclyn - paces the Saluki back row with 3.29 digs/set.

Missouri State - The Bears come into the weekend on a three-match losing streak, with a 9-12 overall record and a 3-6 mark in Valley play. Teagan Polcovich averages a team-best 4.94 digs/set, while Azyah Green posts 0.98 blocks/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.

Top of the Charts: With Valpo's win over Purdue Fort Wayne to close out nonconference action, head coach Carin Avery surpassed Valpo Athletics Hall of Fame member Emory Bauer for the most wins by a Valpo head coach across all sports in department history.

Bauer amassed his victories over three different sports, collecting 361 wins in 28 seasons as head coach of the baseball program, 109 victories in 22 years guiding the football team and eight wins in one season as men’s basketball head coach.

Avery’s record total, meanwhile, has obviously come all at the helm of the Valpo volleyball program. In her 22nd season as head coach, Avery’s teams have averaged better than 22 wins per year in her first 21 years guiding the program. Valpo has finished with a winning record 19 times and has posted 20 or more victories 17 times. Under Avery, Valpo has posted the six winningest seasons in program history, including a program-best 29 wins in 2004.

Locking Down the Block: Valpo's defensive performance at the net was a big part of the reason the Beacons were able to come away with a pair of wins last weekend. Against Indiana State on Friday, Valpo matched its season high with 13 rejections - tied for the program's second-most blocks in a three-set match in the 25-point era and the team's best effort in a sweep since 2017. The Beacons followed on Saturday with 10 blocks in the win at Evansville - the seventh time this season Valpo has posted 10 or more blocks in a match, including each of the last three contests.

Turning Away Attacks: Leading Valpo in the blocks department in both matches last weekend was senior middle Mallory Januski with her two highest outputs of the season. Januski was especially impressive against Indiana State, as she was in on nine of Valpo's 13 rejections against the Sycamores - matching the program's individual single-match high in a three-set match in the 25-point era. She was the first to post nine blocks in a sweep since Ellen Vanden Berg at Loyola in 2011. Januski followed with seven more blocks Saturday evening in the win at Evansville, bumping her blocks/set average this year to 0.96, good for seventh in the Valley.

The Strongman Line: You could call a .500 hitting percentage the Strongman Line this season with how frequently fifth-year middle Miranda Strongman has hit it. Strongman has posted a hitting percentage of .500 or better seven times this year, including in both of last weekend's victories. She opened the weekend with six kills on just 11 swings, hitting .545 in the sweep at Indiana State. Strongman followed by matching her career high with a team-best 15 kills on .500 hitting in the win at Evansville. Strongman is hitting at a .331 clip overall this year, sixth-best among MVC players.

Balance on the Attack: While the overall numbers were higher Saturday at Evansville, both of last weekend's matches featured the Beacons' trademark balance on the attack. Against Indiana State, four different players finished with between six and nine kills - led by Maddie Moan's nine terminations. It was the fourth time this season Valpo has won a match where no player has reached double digits in kills. Then, against Evansville, Strongman's 15 kills led the way as four players posted at least 10 kills.

Climbing the Digs Chart: Both fifth-year outside Bella Ravotto and sophomore libero Emma Hickey continue to climb the program's career digs chart. Ravotto, who moved into the top-10 in program history for career digs two weekends ago, enters this weekend with 1,519 career digs, just eight away from ninth place and 18 away from eighth place on Valpo's all-time chart. Meanwhile, Hickey - who became the fastest player in program history and MVC history to 1,000 career digs earlier this season - now owns 1,127 career digs and is just 10 away from already cracking the top-20 in program history in just her second season.

All-Tournament Team Honorees: Six different Valpo players combined for nine All-Tournament Team selections in the season's first four weekends:
Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational - Emma Hickey, Mallory Januski
Stacheville Challenge - Januski, Miranda Strongman
Popcorn Classic - Bella Ravotto (MVP), Olivia Blackketter, Januski
EIU Volleyball Invitational - Strongman, Sam Warren

Three Times the Fun: Parse the previous list and you'll see senior middle Mallory Januski picking up a trio of All-Tournament Team honors this season. It is the first time a Valpo player has earned spots on three All-Tournament teams in the same season since Allison Ketcham did so in 2018. But, one of Ketcham's honors came in the postseason at the MVC Tournament - Januski is the first Valpo player in the Carin Avery era to receive three All-Tournament Team spots from solely early-season, preconference tournaments.

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. Mallory Januski's 2.42 kills/set leads the Beacons, but ranks just 23rd overall among Valley players. Five regulars are averaging between 1.85 and 2.42 kills/set.

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.

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.