Valpo volleyball junior libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week following the opening weekend of the 2024 season after her All-Tournament performance at the IU Indy Hampton Inn Invitational.

Hickey picked right up where she left off as the Beacons’ libero, opening the season with a match-high 34 digs and a career-high 11 assists in the win over SIUE. It was the eighth effort of at least 30 digs of the junior’s career, while it was her third career double-double. Hickey followed with a team-best 19 digs against Eastern Michigan and closed the weekend with 12 digs and seven assists in the sweep of IU Indy.

For the weekend, Hickey posted 5.42 digs/set and 1.58 assists/set, while also committing just one service reception error on 65 chances. She moved up two spots on Valpo’s career digs chart as well, now ranking 12th with 1,428 career digs.

The weekly award was the fourth of Hickey’s career, as she was previously tabbed Defensive Player of the Week twice as a freshman and once as a sophomore. Hickey trails only Rylee Cookerly (5) in terms of Valpo’s weekly award winners since joining the Valley.