Beacons Fall to UIC in Second Round of MVC Tournament
The sixth-seeded Valpo volleyball team saw its time at the MVC Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa come to an end in the second round Sunday night, as third-seeded UIC earned a 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-19) victory. The back-and-forth affair featured 34 tie scores and 18 lead changes over the four sets.
How It Happened
– Valpo won the race to 20 in the opening frame, owning a slim 20-19 edge with five points to go. But UIC scored the final six points of the set to take the opener.
– It was a four-point advantage for the Beacons in set two at 18-14 before the Flames scored five in a row to pull in front, 19-18.
– Valpo responded with a 7-2 run to end the set, capped by consecutive kills from freshman Lilly Merk (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo), to even the match at one set apiece.
– Just like the second set, the Beacons held a four-point lead late in set three at 21-17. This time, however, UIC scored eight of the final nine points of the set to pull back in front in the match, 2-1.
– Valpo enjoyed a 16-12 lead in set four, but again the Flames had a big run late in the set, scoring 13 of the match’s final 16 points to close out their win.
Inside the Match
– Merk enjoyed the best attacking match of her rookie year, finishing with a team-high and season-best 12 kills on .600 hitting. The .600 hitting percentage was the best by a Beacon this year (minimum 10 kills) and is tied for fourth-highest in a four-set match by a Valpo player in the 25-point era.
– Senior Elise Swistek (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie) posted her 18th double-double of the season and the 42nd of her career, finishing with 11 kills and 11 digs.
– Junior Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) easily led all players with 35 digs, her sixth effort of 30 or more digs this season. The 35 digs are tied for second-most in a four-set match by a Valpo player in the 25-point era and are seventh-most in a single match in MVC Tournament history.
– UIC enjoyed a 62-50 edge in kills at the end of the night and outhit Valpo .266-.166, thanks in large part to a 16-6 advantage in the blocks department.
Inside the Season
– Valpo won 18 matches this season and extended its streak of top-half MVC finishes and qualifying for the MVC Tournament to eight consecutive seasons — every year since joining the Valley.
– The Beacons counted on their freshman class for 58.7% of the team’s points this year, far and away the highest percentage of points accounted for by freshmen in the tenure of head coach Carin Avery.
– Freshman Jessica Pickett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) posted a .331 hitting percentage for the season, second-best by a Valpo player in the 25-point era and third-best across all eras, and tallied a team-high 139 blocks, third-most at Valpo in the 25-point era and eighth-most across all eras.
– Led by Pickett, the Beacons averaged 2.22 blocks/set this year, third-highest in the 25-point era.
– Sophomore Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) delivered 41 service aces, tied for second-most at Valpo in the 25-point era. As a team, the Beacons racked up 180 aces, second-most by a Valpo team in the 25-point era.
– Hickey became just the second player in program history with multiple 700-dig seasons, tallying 715 digs — sixth-most in a season by a Valpo player.
– Swistek racked up 371 kills to lead the Beacons, eighth-most by a Valpo player in the 25-point era and the most since 2018.
– Freshman Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) finished the year with 293 kills, tied for third-most by a freshman under Avery, and 78 blocks, sixth-most by a freshman in Avery’s tenure. Merk’s 75 blocks ranks seventh by a freshman under Avery, while Jordyn Gove (Amarillo, Texas/Randall) posted 238 kills, eighth-most by a freshman in Avery’s tenure.
Inside the Careers
– This year’s Valpo squad featured just two seniors.
– Swistek ended the night with 1,479 career digs and 1,018 career kills, ranking 12th and 19th in program history, respectively. She surpassed former Valpo standout Angie Nordquist in both categories on Sunday.
– Abby Boyle (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center) appeared in 91 matches, tallying 118 digs.