Helming Sweeps MVC Player, Freshman Weekly Awards
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After yet another strong weekend attacking from the right side, Valpo volleyball freshman Ava Helming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) doubled up on the conference awards Monday, as she was named the MVC Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week.
Helming opened the weekend by tallying 14 kills on .448 hitting and three blocks in the win over Bradley. She followed the next night with a match-high 17 kills on .433 hitting and five blocks as the Beacons defeated Illinois State.
For the weekend, Helming averaged 3.88 kills/set on .441 hitting and added an even one block per set defensively as well. She ranked fifth last week among all MVC players in kills/set, fourth in hitting percentage and ninth in blocks/set.
Helming’s recent hot streak on the attack has coincided with the Beacons’ most successful stretch of volleyball this season. Over Valpo’s five-match winning streak, Helming is averaging 3.59 kills/set on .401 hitting — in that stretch, the freshman has tallied at least 14 kills in every match and has not hit worse than .316 in a single contest.
Helming’s Freshman of the Week honor is her second consecutive award, while she is the MVC Player of the Week for the first time in her career and Valpo’s first-such honoree since Mallory Januski on Sept. 19, 2022. This is just the seventh time in MVC history the same player has swept Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week accolades and just the third time in the last decade.