Hickey Repeats as MVC Defensive Player of the Week
Valpo volleyball senior libero Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) repeated as Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week this week after helping the Beacons earn a pair of five-set victories on the road last weekend.
Hickey opened the week with a season-best 37 digs in Valpo’s five-set win at Illinois State Friday night, while also delivering a career-best five service aces — second-most by a Valpo player in a five-set match in the 25-point era — and handing out eight assists. She followed on Saturday evening by tying for match-high honors with 19 digs in the Beacons’ five-set win at Bradley while also delivering nine assists — including a perfect 4-for-4 on set attempts resulting in kills in the crucial fifth set.
For the weekend, Hickey averaged 5.60 digs/set and 1.70 assists/set while cleanly handling all 39 of her serve reception attempts. During Saturday’s win, the senior moved past former Drake standout Alana Wittenburg into seventh place in MVC history in career digs, as she now has 2,429 digs for her career.
Hickey has now earned Defensive Player of the Week honors in both weekends of MVC play this season and has earned the accolade three times in all this year. Only four players in MVC history have earned the MVC Defensive Player of the Week award more often than Hickey, as this week’s honor was the seventh-such award of her career.