Valparaiso (13-3, 4-1 MVC)
Friday, Oct. 8 - at Loyola (12-5, 5-0 MVC) - 6 p.m.
This Week in Valpo Volleyball: After a busy weekend of action last week, it’s a light slate for the Valpo volleyball team this week, as the Beacons face just a single match - a Friday evening contest at Loyola. The matchup pits the top two teams in the MVC standings against each other.
Previously: Playing at home for the first time this season, Valpo ripped off three victories in a four-day stretch at the ARC, beating Indiana State 3-0 on Friday, Evansville 3-1 on Saturday and Drake 3-2 on Monday.
Looking Ahead: The Beacons hit the road again next weekend for the trip to central Illinois, taking on Bradley on Friday, Oct. 15 before facing Illinois State the next night.
Following the Beacons: Friday’s match will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Links for the live video, as well as live stats for all matches, are available via ValpoAthletics.com.
Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 20th season as head coach at Valparaiso, Carin Avery has won 436 matches (436-210, .675) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and tournament titles, as well as three NCAA Tournament appearances. A two-time league Coach of the Year, Avery has coached 55 All-League recipients over her tenure at Valpo. She is Valpo’s all-time leader in both victories and winning percentage, and owns a 491-234 (.677) record overall as a head coach.
Series History: The second-most common opponent in program history, Valpo and Loyola will meet on the volleyball court for the 51st time on Friday evening. The Ramblers hold a 30-20 advantage in the all-time series, but Valpo leads the series 17-8 under Coach Avery and is 5-3 since joining the MVC. The teams split the season series last season - Loyola took the season opener on its home floor in five sets in a match that Valpo played without a traditional setter, while Valpo answered with a four-set victory a week later at the ARC. Peyton McCarthy had a match-high 16 kills in that win, while Haley Hart posted 12 kills and seven blocks.
Scouting the Opposition: Loyola enters the week as the only team above Valpo in the MVC standings, winning each of its first five conference matches to boost its overall record to 12-5. Picked third in the MVC preseason poll, the Ramblers currently lead the Valley in hitting percentage and kills/set. Individually, Taylor Venuto is second in the conference in hitting percentage (.340) and fourth in blocks/set (1.15).
Valpo Picked Seventh in Preseason Poll: For the fourth time in five seasons as an MVC member, Valpo has been picked to finish in seventh place in the conference standings in preseason polling of the conference’s head coaches. Illinois State topped the poll with 79 points and three first-place votes, narrowly edging out Drake, which tallied 77 points, including three first-place votes. Valpo has outperformed its ranking in the preseason poll in each of its first four seasons in the MVC and is one of two programs (Illinois State) to post top-half finishes in the MVC standings in each of the last four seasons.
Looking Back at the Spring: The spring 2021 campaign saw Valpo post an 11-9 record and finish fifth in the MVC standings with a 10-8 mark in conference action. Rylee Cookerly repeated as MVC Libero of the Year, was named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was an AVCA All-Region honoree, while Victoria Bulmahn was tabbed the MVC Freshman of the Year. Included among Valpo’s 11 wins were the program’s first victory over Illinois State since joining the MVC and the first wins in program history over traditional power UNI.
Who’s Back and Who’s New: The Beacons return 10 letterwinners, including four starters and the libero, from the spring 2021 campaign - a group which accounted for 75% of the team’s kills, 90% of aces, 82% of digs and 86% of blocks last season. Valpo also returns a pair of players who didn’t see action last season, while welcoming in one transfer and four freshmen.
Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play in the spring 2021 season, finishing the season ranked third nationally and second in the Valley with 20.37 digs/set. Valpo has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in each of the last 10 seasons, including leading the nation with 20.03 digs/set in 2017 to go along with 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. Valpo currently sits 25th nationally in digs/set this season.
Strong Start to Conference Play: Valpo’s three wins last weekend in its first three home matches of the season pushed the team’s record to 4-1 through two weeks of MVC action. It matches the program’s best start to MVC play through five matches since joining the Valley, as the 2018 squad also sat at 4-1 five matches into conference action. That year’s team won its sixth match of the MVC slate - ironically also against Loyola - before taking its second loss in match number seven.
13-3: Valpo’s record sits at 13-3 through 16 matches, past the halfway mark of the regular season slate. This marks the ninth time in head coach Carin Avery’s tenure that Valpo has won at least 13 of its first 16 matches of the season, as the program has been 14-2 four times and 13-3 four other times prior to this season. This year’s squad has the distinction of playing the most conference matches within the first 16, though, as the Beacons have already played five MVC contests - only one of the eight other times (2007) had Valpo played even four league matches within the first 16.
Five Stars: After playing five sets in five of the season’s first eight matches, the Beacons had gone nearly a full month without a five-set affair until heading there last time out against Drake. For the sixth time in as many five-set matches this season, it was Valpo standing victorious at the end of the night. The program has now won nine consecutive five-set matches dating back to last season, the longest-such streak in program history. Notably, Valpo was down 2-0 in two of those matches - UCSB and South Alabama - before rallying to win, and faced a match point in two of those matches - Tennessee Tech and South Alabama - as well
Another Trophy For the Collection: The Beacons earned their second tournament championship of the season as they won the SIUE Cougar Classic with victories over SIUE and Western Illinois, pairing it with the trophy they won earlier this year at Tennessee Tech’s Golden Eagle Invitational. Valpo has now won 27 in-season tournament titles under head coach Carin Avery, and this season marks the 11th time in her tenure the program has claimed multiple in-season tournament championships in the same season.
Cookerly Sets Yet Another Mark: Fifth-year libero Rylee Cookerly added one more milestone to her lengthy list of accomplishments last weekend, as Friday night against Indiana State saw her surpass former Illinois State standout Courtney Pence as the MVC record holder for career digs, one week after breaking Taylor Root’s Valpo career record in the category. Cookerly, who would eventually be named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week, then moved up to second place in NCAA history in career digs on Saturday night versus Evansville. Her match-high 26 digs against Drake last time out pushed her career total to 2,833 career digs, as the two-time MVC Libero of the Year tries to make a run at the NCAA all-time record of 3,176.
Hart Earns Weekly Award: After having a strong opening weekend of MVC play, senior middle Haley Hart took her play to another level the second weekend and was honored as the MVC Player of the Week for her performance - her first career weekly award. She posted a match-high 15 kills on .500 hitting and added four blocks in the sweep of Indiana State, and then tied her career best with 16 kills on .355 hitting to go with four blocks in the four-set win over Evansville. Four of the final five points of the match (three kills, one block) came courtesy of Hart after the Beacons trailed the Purple Aces 23-20 in the fourth. Hart - a Second Team All-MVC honoree last season - added 12 kills in Monday’s win over Drake, and through five MVC matches is averaging 3.50 kills/set on .369 hitting and 0.95 blocks/set. With her performance over the last couple weeks, Hart has zoomed into the top-10 in program history in career hitting percentage and currently ranks fifth at .261.
McCarthy Reaches 1,000: With her first kill in Monday’s victory over Drake, fifth-year middle Peyton McCarthy registered the 1,000th kill of her Valpo career, becoming just the 19th player in program history to reach four figures in kills. McCarthy finished the win over the Bulldogs with 15 kills, two days after tallying a match-high 18 kills in the win over Evansville. She has now led Valpo in kills 31 times in her career and the team has posted a 22-9 record when she leads them in kills, including a perfect 5-0 mark this year. McCarthy also set a season high with eight blocks against Drake, capping a weekend in which she had 17 blocks over Valpo’s three wins to push her career total to 385, good for seventh in Valpo history and just three shy of sixth.
Right Sides Step Up: Two of last weekend’s three victories saw Valpo’s right side hitters both have strong performances to help earn victories. In the sweep of Indiana State, Maddy Boyer and Kara Cooper combined for over four kills per set on .290 hitting, as Boyer tallied seven kills and Cooper six. Then, on Monday versus Drake, they combined for 4.6 kills/set on .321 hitting, as Boyer posted a career-best 14 kills and Cooper hit .429 with nine kills and no errors.
Swistek Seizes Opportunity: Freshman Elise Swistek has been a regular at outside hitter over the last few weeks and has taken advantage of the opportunity. After entering last weekend with a season best of eight kills, Swistek posted two double-doubles over the three matches. She helped Valpo sweep Indiana State with 10 kills and 10 digs on Friday, and then went for 11 kills and 14 digs in the Monday win over Drake.
All the Honors: Seven different Valpo players received All-Tournament Team accolades over its four early-season tournaments this season. Juniors Bella Ravotto (MVP) and Gretchen Kuckkan picked up awards for their play at the SIUE Cougar Classic. Senior Jillie Grant represented the Beacons on the All-Tournament Team at Toledo in the third weekend of action. In the second weekend of play at Tennessee Tech, fifth-year middle Peyton McCarthy was named Tournament MVP (and went on to be named MVC Player of the Week) and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by fifth-year setter Brittany Anderson and sophomore setter Victoria Bulmahn. In the opening weekend at Milwaukee, McCarthy and senior middle Haley Hart earned spots on that All-Tournament Team.
