Another stellar week anchoring the back row resulted in Valpo freshman libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) earning Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week honors on Monday.

Hickey opened the week by tying for match-high honors with 14 digs at UIC last Monday, but especially stood out as she helped Valpo earn its first sweep of the central Illinois road trip since the program joined the Valley. The rookie notched 25 digs on Friday night as the Beacons defeated preseason favorite Illinois State, limiting the Redbirds to .067 hitting — the second-worst hitting percentage by a Valpo opponent this season. Hickey followed up with a team-high 26 digs Saturday evening at Bradley, six of which came in the deciding fifth set as the Beacons held the Braves to .088 hitting in that set.

Maybe just as impressive as her back-row play was her setting work over the weekend in out-of-system play. Hickey racked up eight assists on just 20 sets in the Friday night win in Normal, and topped that the next night, as she came up just one assist shy of a double-double with nine helpers against Bradley.

For the week, Hickey averaged 5.25 digs/set and 1.67 assists/set. On the season, Hickey is averaging an MVC-best 5.26 digs/set, good for 13^th nationally and tops among all freshmen, as only three rookies rank among the top-50 in the nation in the category. She has posted 20 or more digs in 12 of the first 17 matches of her career.