Valpo U Volleyball Outlasts Missouri State in Five-Set Thriller
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In one of the longest, if not the longest, matches by time in the history of the Valpo volleyball program, it was the Beacons who claimed the final two points to win set five in extra points and finish off a 3-2 (21-25, 25-18, 25-23, 18-25, 17-15) victory over Missouri State at the ARC Saturday night.
How It Happened
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The Bears took the lead from the jump in the fifth set. Valpo tied the score on a pair of occasions at 4-4 and 5-5, but Missouri State scored three straight after the latter deadlock to enter the media timeout with an 8-5 advantage.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Out of the stoppage, senior Elise Swistek (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie) recorded a kill, followed by back-to-back MSU errors which tied the set at 8-8. The Bears responded with four of the next five points to push out to a 12-9 lead and force Valpo to use a timeout.
–         The Beacons went to a pair of freshmen for key points trailing by three, as first Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and then Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) recorded consecutive kills as Valpo scored four in a row to take the outright lead for the first time in the set at 13-12 — in the process forcing MSU to use both its timeouts.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Out of the break, it was another freshman with a big kill, as Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) gave Valpo match point with her termination. MSU forced extra points with back-to-back points, but a Swistek kill gave the Beacons a third chance to close the match.
–         Leading 15-14, Valpo watched an MSU attack sail long and started to celebrate an apparent victory. But the Bears challenged that there was a touch on the play, and after replay review, there was adjudged a Beacons’ touch, turning the point into an MSU kill and the score 15-15.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The Beacons wasted no time regrouping, however. When play resumed, Gove came up with another kill to give Valpo its fourth chance at the match, and this time Lilly Merk (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo) finished things off with a kill of her own.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Valpo scored the first three points of the opening set, but that turned out to be its largest lead of the frame. The Bears used a 7-1 run mid-frame to pull out to a 15-9 lead, and while the Beacons eventually battled back to tie the set briefly at 20-20, MSU scored five of the last six points to take the opener.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The Beacons led from start to finish in the second set, scoring six of the first seven points to force an early MSU timeout. The Bears closed to within one point once at 14-13 before a 5-1 Valpo run created separation en route to evening the match at one set apiece.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The third set was tremendously tight, as neither side ever gained more than a two-point lead and the set featured 15 ties and eight lead changes. Valpo won the race to 20 at 20-18 before three straight points from the Bears gave them a 21-20 edge.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Out of a timeout, Pickett evened the set with a kill, Helming and Merk combined on a block and MSU committed an attack error as Valpo answered with a three-point spurt to go up 23-21.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Junior Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) responded to an MSU kill with a kill of her own for set point to Valpo at 24-22. The Bears extended the set once before Gove came up with the set-ending termination to give Valpo the 2-1 lead in the match.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â A 5-0 run early in set four gave MSU the lead for good at 7-4. The Bears led by as many as eight points multiple times in the set as they sent the match to the fifth.
Inside the Match
–         Valpo snapped its four-match losing streak with Saturday night’s victory.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The Beacons also snapped a stretch of four consecutive losses in five-set matches.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â This is the second straight season Valpo has defeated Missouri State in five sets at the ARC.
–         Saturday’s match clocked in at two hours, 45 minutes and five seconds from contact of first serve to the final point hitting the ground.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Five Beacons finished the evening in double figures in the kills department, four of whom were freshmen.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Swistek led the way for Valpo with a career-high 19 kills while committing just four attack errors, surpassing her previous best of 17 kills.
–         Helming was one kill shy of Swistek, hitting .316 with 18 kills — her second-best effort of the season.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Gove tallied 13 kills, Pickett set a season high with 12 kills and Merk rounded out the quintet with 10 kills on .391 hitting.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The Beacons racked up 78 kills as a team, tied for third-most in a five-set match in the 25-point era.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Sophomore Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) zoomed past her previous career best as she racked up 38 assists Saturday night. Junior Addy Kois (Osceola, Ind./Penn) added 28 assists as Valpo finished with 73 team assists, tied for fourth-most in a five-set match in the 25-point era.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Hickey led all players with 35 digs, the fifth time this year and the 12th time in her career she has tallied at least 30 digs. The junior surpassed the 1,800-dig mark for her career in the fifth set.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Swistek nearly had a 20/20 night, finishing with 19 digs in addition to her 19 kills. She now owns 1,326 career digs, surpassing Katie Bova on Saturday for 15th in program history.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Gove (12 digs) and Thomas (11 digs) also recorded double-doubles on Saturday.
–         Helming led Valpo’s defensive effort at the net with five blocks, while Merk was in on four rejections.
Next Up
Valpo (10-9, 2-5 MVC) returns to the road next weekend with the southern Valley swing, beginning on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Murray State.