Valparaiso (2-1, 0-0 MVC)
at St. Thomas Invitational (St. Paul, Minn.)
Thursday, Sept. 5 - vs. Northern Illinois (0-2) - 4 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 6 - at St. Thomas (0-3) - 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 7 - vs. Tarleton State (0-3) - 11 a.m.

Next Up For Valpo Volleyball: Early-season action continues for the Valpo volleyball team this week with a trip to St. Paul, Minn. for the St. Thomas Invitational, where the Beacons face Northern Illinois and Tarleton State in addition to the host Tommies.

Looking Ahead: Valpo welcomes Miami (Ohio), Cornell and Purdue Fort Wayne to the ARC next weekend for the two-day, six-match Popcorn Classic.

Following the Beacons: Valpo's match against St. Thomas on Friday evening will be streamed live on the Summit League Network ($). All three matches will have live stats available, linked via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Carin Avery: In her 23rd 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 491 matches (491-244, .668) at the helm of the program and has led Valpo to three league regular season and tournament titles. The program has made seven postseason appearances under Avery, including three NCAA Tournament appearances, and advanced to the championship match of the 2021 NIVC. Avery has coached 62 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 546-268 (.671) record overall as a head coach.

Series History: Northern Illinois - The Huskies hold a 17-2 advantage in the all-time series, but all but one of those meetings came over 20 seasons ago. In the most recent matchup, the Beacons defeated NIU as part of the 2022 Popcorn Classic, 3-1. Gretchen Kuckkan had 25 kills on .489 hitting in the victory.

St. Thomas - First meeting

Tarleton State - First meeting

Scouting the Opposition: Northern Illinois - The Huskies went 0-2 on opening weekend, falling in four sets to Western Illinois and five sets to Milwaukee. NIU, which went 8-22 overall and 6-12 in MAC play last year, was picked to finish eighth in the MAC this season.

St. Thomas - The Tommies went 0-3 on opening weekend, losing in four sets to Southern Indiana and in straight sets to Bradley and DePaul. St. Thomas, which went 7-20 overall and 3-13 in Summit League action last season, was picked to finish in eighth place in the Summit League this year.

Tarleton State - The Texans went 0-3 last weekend to open the season, falling 3-0 to Central Arkansas, 3-2 to UALR and 3-1 to Texas A&M-Commerce. Tarleton State, which went 16-15 overall and 7-9 in the WAC last year, was picked to finish fifth in the WAC this year.

Valpo Picked Sixth in Preseason Poll: Valpo was picked to finish in sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2024, according to preseason polling of the conference’s head coaches. The Beacons shared sixth position with Missouri State, while UNI topped the poll. In six of Valpo's seven seasons in the Valley, the program has met or exceeded its preseason prognostication.

Looking Back at Last Season: Valpo is coming off a third consecutive postseason appearance in 2023, as the Beacons earned an at-large berth in the NIVC. The program posted an 18-15 overall record and went 10-8 in MVC play, finishing in a tie for fifth place in the Valley standings. Miranda Strongman earned First Team All-MVC honors, while Mallory Januski was a Second Team All-MVC honoree.

Who's Back: This year's squad returns nine letterwinners from the 2023 team, a group which includes the team's leader in kills (Elise Swistek) and digs (Emma Hickey). The Beacons return a good bit of their back row defensive production, as 65.7% of the team's digs from last year are back in 2024.

Who's Gone: Valpo did graduate a talented class which accounted for a good portion of the team's front row production last year, as the Beacons return just 37.9% of the kills and 25.3% of the blocks from 2023. Middles Mallory Januski and Miranda Strongman, both All-MVC selections last year, ended their Valpo careers 1-2 in program history in career hitting percentage, while the team also graduated players who ranked among the top-10 in program history in career digs (outside hitter Bella Ravotto) and assists (setter Victoria Bulmahn).

Who's New: While there's a lot of production from last year to replace in 2024, there's also an exciting new class of rookies eager to take on the challenge of stepping up into contributing roles. This year's squad has nine players with freshman eligibility - one redshirt (Jessica Pickett) and eight true freshmen. The incoming class includes two players who were AVCA High School All-Americans last year (Ava Helming, Second Team; Lilly Merk, Third Team) and three others who were First Team All-State honorees as high school seniors (Jordyn Gove, Drew Glaser, Kadence Brumitt).

Big Debuts: Valpo's season-opening win over SIUE featured a number of standout collegiate debuts from the Beacons' freshmen. Leading the way was Ava Helming, who debuted with 20 kills on .282 hitting - the most kills by a Valpo player in a match since Nov. 11, 2022. The 20 kills set a program record for kills by a freshman in her debut, and also is the high-water mark for any Valpo player in a season opener. Defensively, Jessica Pickett posted nine blocks - also a program record for blocks by a freshman in her debut and the highest total for any Valpo player in a season opener. Lilly Merk tallied 11 kills and Kadence Brumitt added 10 kills as well, marking the first time in program history three Valpo players have posted double-figure kills in their respective collegiate debuts in the same match.

The Rookies Produce: Valpo's freshman class stood out throughout opening weekend, combining to account for 67.2% of the team's kills and 74.1% of the team's blocks. In addition to the above numbers from opening night, Helming notched 10 kills against Eastern Michigan and Jordyn Gove led all players with 14 kills in the win over IU Indy. Defensively, Merk had a pair of five-block matches as well.

Garnering Accolades: A pair of Beacons earned awards following the season's opening weekend. Junior Emma Hickey was tabbed the MVC Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career and received her fourth career All-Tournament Team accolade as she posted 5.42 digs/set and 1.58 assists/set, while also committing just one service reception error on 65 chances. Hickey, who moved up two spots to 12th on Valpo's career digs chart, posted 34 digs - her eighth career 30+ dig match - and 11 assists in the season-opening win over SIUE. Freshman Ava Helming was named an All-Tournament Team honoree as well, as she hit .290 with a team-best 3.18 kills/set and added seven rejections in 11 sets of action.

I'm About to Play My Ace: While it was just three matches of action last weekend, early returns indicate the service game might be more of a weapon for this year's squad than in the program's recent history. The Beacons tallied 21 aces on opening weekend, averaging 1.75 aces/set. Seven different players recorded at least one ace, with Elise Swistek pacing the team with six aces. To put the average into context, Valpo has not averaged more than 1.20 aces/set since the 2017 season, while its high in the 25-point era is 1.46 aces/set.

Winning Ways: The 2023 squad secured a winning season with an early-November win over Bradley, extending the tradition of the program's excellence. In 22 seasons under head coach Carin Avery, Valpo has posted a winning record 20 times. 18 of those times, the program has won at least 20 matches, and the team has averaged 22.2 wins per season in Avery's tenure.

Top Half Finishes: The Beacons ended the 2023 regular season in a tie for fifth-place finish in the final MVC regular season standings. Valpo has now finished in the top-half of the Valley standings in each of its seven years in the conference, the only MVC program to accomplish that feat. Going back further, Valpo has posted top-half conference finishes in 21 of Avery's 22 seasons - as well as qualifying for the conference tournament in each of her 22 seasons - and 30 of the last 31 years overall.

Postseason History: Last year's at-large bid to the NIVC extended the program's run of postseason appearances to three consecutive years and four of the last six seasons. Valpo's history with the NIVC is highlighted by the program's run to the title match in 2021, while its first NIVC trip in 2018 featured a trip to the quarterfinals. Previously, Valpo made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances with Avery at the helm from 2003 through 2005, while the program also appeared in an NCAA Tournament play-in match three straight years 1994-1996.

Digging Deep: Valpo continued its long tradition of strong back row play last fall, finishing 12th nationally with 17.17 digs/set. The program has ranked among the top-30 nationally in digs/set in each of the last 15 seasons, including 13 seasons among the top-20 and four seasons among the top-10 - highlighted by the 2017 campaign in which Valpo led the nation with 20.03 digs/set. Other top finishes include fourth 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. Valpo also boasts two of the top-10 athletes in D-I history in career digs - Rylee Cookerly (2nd; 3,175) and Taylor Root (9th; 2,752).

Capturing Crowns: Valpo has had a penchant for winning in-season tournament titles under Carin Avery. The Beacons added yet another crown to the program's trophy case last season as they claimed their home tournament, the Popcorn Classic. Valpo has won 34 in-season tournament titles in head coach Carin Avery's 22 seasons at the helm of the program, winning at least one tournament in 17 of her seasons and multiple tournaments 11 times. Those tournament titles have come in 14 different states - notably, this weekend's tournament at St. Thomas is the program's first foray into the North Star State for an early-season tournament. While Valpo tied for the best record (2-1) at its season-opening tournament last weekend, Eastern Michigan earned the tournament title by virtue of the head-to-head victory.

Hickey Racks Up the Digs: Joining the long line of standout liberos at Valpo, junior Emma Hickey aims for a third straight season as one of the nation's prolific liberos. Hickey, who became the fastest player in Valpo and MVC history to surpass 1,000 career digs last season, finished the year 15th nationally in digs/set after ranking fourth in the same category as a freshman in 2022. Hickey already ranks 12th in program history with 1,428 digs - just 99 away from the top-10 - and has tallied over 400 more digs than any other D-I junior. She also leads all active NCAA players with 5.45 career digs/set.

Swistek as a Senior: Valpo will need to reload its attack this year, as the Beacons graduated three of their four most prolific attackers in terms of kills/set from last year's squad. Last year's leader in that category does return, however, as senior outside Elise Swistek registered 2.43 kills/set to pace the Beacons and also ranked second on the team with 3.39 digs/set. Swistek became the 26th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career digs late last season and currently ranks 24th in program history with 1,078 digs, while with 680 career kills, she has a shot at potentially reaching 1,000 career kills as well.