The Valpo volleyball team closed out the 2020-21 home schedule at the ARC on Monday, winning the first set from Indiana State before the Sycamores came back to earn a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-20) victory. Valpo celebrated the careers of seniors Jaclyn Bulmahn (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon) and Ally Cummings (Novi, Mich./Novi) following the match as it concluded its senior weekend.

How It Happened

• Indiana State led early in the first set before Valpo took control with an 8-0 run on the serve of freshman Victoria Bulmahn (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon). Junior Haley Hart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) had three kills during the run and Jaclyn Bulmahn tallied two kills and a solo block as Valpo took a 13-9 lead.
• Valpo extended its lead to as many as six points, but eventually needed to use all three of its set point chances to close out the opener. An Indiana State service error at 24-23 closed the first set in Valpo’s favor.
• Indiana State held an 18-14 advantage in the second set before an 8-3 stretch from Valpo ­— including three kills and a block by Jaclyn Bulmahn — gave it the lead at 22-21, its first lead since early in the set. But the Sycamores came back with four straight points to even up the match.
• Valpo jumped out on top with the first five points of the third set. ISU took 11 of the next 15 points, however, and Valpo would never regain the outright lead. The Brown and Gold trailed by just one at 16-15 before the Sycamores scored nine of the final 11 points of the set.
• An 8-1 run by ISU gave it the lead for good in the fourth set as the Sycamores led 13-7. Valpo closed back to within one point at 16-15 before the Sycamores scored five in a row to regain control.

Inside the Match

• Valpo honored Cummings and Jaclyn Bulmahn following the match as they competed for the final time on the court at the ARC. Cummings posted three kills and six digs on Monday, while Bulmahn had her second straight tremendous match offensively, hitting .432 with 19 kills.
• Hart was the only other player to join Bulmahn in double figures in kills, tallying 12 terminations Monday.
• Victoria Bulmahn handed out 46 assists and posted a match-high 28 digs, setting a new season high in the category.
• Senior Rylee Cookerly (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) notched 21 digs to move into 18^th place in NCAA history in career digs. With 2,476 digs, Cookerly is now just six away from moving into third place in MVC history and 17^th in NCAA history.
• Senior Melissa Flynders (Mokena, Ill./Providence Catholic) tallied 14 digs as well.
• Monday’s match concluded Valpo’s home slate with a 6-3 record. In the four-year careers of Cummings, Flynders and Jaclyn Bulmahn, Valpo posted a winning record at the ARC in each of their four years and finished with a 25-17 home record.

Next Up

Valpo (10-8, 9-7 MVC) closes out the regular season next weekend at Evansville. The two-match series begins Saturday evening.