James Gleghorn couldn’t wait to get started.

The Indiana Wesleyan tennis coach was hired to the same position at Valparaiso in late May and he was in the car as soon as possible.

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Leave it to me to name a new feature at The Victory Bell after a day of the week and then publish the second version of that feature a day late. Well, we honor Labor Day here at TVB, so this column is going up on a Tuesday. After a weekend when I went to a college match in a college arena on Friday, a college match in a high school gym on Saturday and a college match in a professional stadium on Sunday, I was more than happy for the day off. I hope you were too. Now, let’s take a look back on the week that was for Valparaiso athletics. - PO

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VALPARAISO - With no other choice but to make the best of a tough situation, the Valparaiso volleyball team rallied around acting head coach Nick Polite on Saturday.

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Update - Saturday’s Popcorn Classic games, including Valparaiso’s 6p match against Oakland, have been moved to Washington Twp. High School due to on-court conditions at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The air conditioning installation at the ARC is in the final phase and will be in place during the 2026-27 athletic season.

VALPARAISO - Everything felt a little off at the Athletics-Recreation Center on Friday night for the Valparaiso volleyball home opener.

To start, the air conditioning that Valparaiso was working to install over the summer was literally off on Friday, leading to uncomfortably hot temperatures inside the arena as a result of the recent heatwave in Northwest Indiana. It was an all hands on deck affair as gameday staff did an admirable job of clearing the court of any moisture throughout the match.

The layout for the opener to this weekend’s Popcorn Classic was off as well as the Beacons started the match using the bench on the east side of the arena as opposed to their traditional starting point on the west side. Valparaiso’s friends and family section also was moved to a different part of the chairbacks as Cincinnati fans were sitting in the traditional section where Valpo parents have been vibrant for years.

The biggest break from the norm on Friday was that Carin Avery, the architect of the Valparaiso volleyball program and the winningest coach of any sport in school history, wasn’t on the sidelines.

The school released the following statement shortly before the match began.

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Welcome to the first installment of The Monday Morning Bell, a new feature that will celebrate the best in Valparaiso athletics. Each week The Victory Bell will recognize some of the top performers across all sports at Valparaiso University in a variety of categories. This week’s edition is free to all readers. Future editions will be available exclusively to paid subscribers.

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Athlete of the Week: Jordyn Gove (Volleyball), Jr., OH

Gove couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2026 season, earning MVP honors at the Chattanooga Classic as the Valparaiso volleyball team won all three matches in its season-opening tournament. Gove had 10 kills and 12 digs in the opening comeback victory over UAB, including the game-winning kill to clinch the match. The Texas native came back later Friday evening with a career performance against host Chattanooga as Gove delivered a personal-best 20 kills to go with 12 digs. With the starters resting for much of the third match against Tennessee State, Gove still added eight kills in just two sets while hitting .350 for the match. Including the end of last season, Gove now has at least eight kills in six straight matches for the third time in her career.

Performance of the Week: Chris Gundy (Football), R-Sr., WR

Not even the confines of Brown Field could contain Chris Gundy on Saturday afternoon. The Valparaiso redshirt senior made program history by returning two punts for touchdowns in a 59-13 win over Lawrence Tech. On the second touchdown, a 41-yard return where he danced through Lawrence Tech’s defenders, Gundy eventually ran over a barricade on the outskirts of the end zone. The minor mishap did nothing to dampen the celebration as Gundy ran back into the arms of his teammates and the barricade was easily stood back on its side. Gundy finished with 108 return yards and his two touchdowns marked the first time in program history a player has done that in an entire season, to say nothing of one game. Gundy was named the Pioneer Football League Special Teams Player of the Week on Sunday.

Newcomer of the Week: Maggie Uhwat (Volleyball), Jr., OH

The Central Michigan transfer sure knew how to make a strong first impression for the Beacons. After spending two years with the Chippewas where she reached 11 kills on just one occasion, Uhwat hit that mark in her first two matches with the Beacons. The Spring Grove, Illinois, native had 11 kills, two blocks and a pair of service aces in a comeback victory against UAB. She then added 11 kills and 10 digs to go with three aces against Chattanooga. With the Beacons ailing up front early in the season, Uhwat’s presence has been a welcome addition to the roster.

Stat of the Week: Three punt return touchdowns in one game (Football)

Not only did Chris Gundy return a pair of punts for touchdowns on Saturday, but Bertrand Berry II blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. The three punt-return TDs made Valparaiso just the fourth team in FCS history to accomplish that feat in a single game according to ValpoAthletics.com. The program record for most punt-return TDs in a season is four and that came in 1993.

Quote of the Week

“We were really able to dominate the special teams game. So huge credit to Coach RJ (Ghilarducci) and all those guys that are out there in special teams making stuff happen. That was really awesome to see.” - Valparaiso head football coach Andy Waddle

Bell Ringers

Eve Miller was on the field for all 90 minutes against Western Michigan on Sunday, marking the first time in her career she has played a full game. Miller entered this season with just 38 career minutes played. She’s already been on the field for 274 minutes this season. … Former Valparaiso women’s soccer player Kate Sheridan started in goal for Western Michigan on Sunday for the first time this season and the 2026 Valpo graduate blanked the Beacons in Kalamazoo. … Dating back to last season, Valparaiso quarterback Rowan Keefe has now thrown seven touchdowns in his last three games. His current stretch of 77 pass attempts without an interception is the longest in his career. … Andy Waddle is 2-0 in season openers as Valparaiso’s football coach and the Beacons have outscored their opponents 126-23 in those games. Waddle has won his last five season openers dating back to his time at Marietta and his teams have won those games by a combined score of 226-40. … Rylee Bumgardner had 14 digs and five service aces in her collegiate debut against UAB on Friday. The freshman libero finished the weekend with 30 digs and six aces. … Mara Thomas had 31 assists against Chattanooga on Saturday, marking the third time in her career the senior setter has eclipsed 30 assists, and the first time in a four-set match. … Ava Helming was dominant this weekend, setting a new career high with 22 kills against UAB and then adding 16 kills and four blocks against Chattanooga.

This Week in Valparaiso History

The 2003 Valparaiso volleyball team began its season on Aug. 29 with a pair of wins against Bucknell and Cal State-Fullerton. The Crusaders came back the next day with a pair of sweeps against Nevada and Fordham to win the Four Points Titan Classic in Fullerton, California. Liz Mikos was named the MVP while Cyndi Norman also made the All-Tournament Team. Valparaiso won 12 of 13 sets on the weekend and used the season-opening tournament to launch an eight-match winning streak. The 2003 Crusaders eventually earned a trip to the NCAA tournament, beginning a three-year stretch of consecutive trips to the Big Dance.

Looking Ahead

Thursday, Sept. 3

Soccer: at Purdue Fort Wayne, 3 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 4

Women’s Cross Country: Winrow Valparaiso Open (Sunset Hill County Park), 5 p.m.

Men’s Cross Country: Winrow Valparaiso Open (Sunset Hill County Park), 5:45 p.m.

Volleyball: vs. Cincinnati (Popcorn Classic at Athletics-Recreation Center), 6 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 5

Volleyball: vs. Oakland (Popcorn Classic at Athletics-Recreation Center), 6 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 6

Soccer: at Milwaukee, 1 p.m.

Volleyball: vs. Michigan (Popcorn Classic at Athletics-Recreation Center), 4 p.m.

Home events in BOLD

Finally, Stone Dixon and Alex Conlin, a pair of 2023 Valparaiso football alums, have organized a Valparaiso Football Alumni Golf Outing for Friday, Oct. 9 at Forest Park Golf Course in Valparaiso. The golf outing will provide a lead-in to Valpo hosting Drake on Saturday, Oct. 10 at Brown Field. Below is a flyer Stone and Alex provided for the event. The alums are aiming to raise money for the Valparaiso football program. More details can be found on the registration website.

(Photos courtesy of Valpo Athletics)

VALPARAISO - Andy Waddle’s second year as Valparaiso’s football coach started awfully similar to his first year with one major exception.

Much like last season’s 67-10 win over Virginia Lynchburg in the season opener, the Beacons opened the 2026 campaign with a dominant 59-13 win over Lawrence Tech. The difference is Virginia Lynchburg had a roster cobbled together with random pieces while playing in the National Christian College Athletic Association. Lawrence Tech has a legitimate program and competes in the traditionally-stout Mid-States Football Association at the NAIA level.

The Beacons scored the first 28 points of the game on Saturday and then scored 24 unanswered to close out the game. Seven different players found the end zone on an afternoon where Valparaiso’s cannon signifying touchdowns was firing on repeat at Brown Field.

Five takeaways from Valparaiso’s 59-13 win over Lawrence Tech

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It took until his fifth year, but Rowan Keefe finally has some consistency, and with that, comes clarity.

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Wherever O.C. Nurse is, a crowd isn’t usually far behind.

Take, for instance, Nurse’s interview for this very story. When the Valparaiso defensive back was called over to speak with The Victory Bell on Valpo’s annual Media Day earlier this month, several of his teammates got within ear shot of Nurse and threw some playful jabs his way.

Nurse laughed them off and then flashed a smile to his teammates. The smile that he’s been flashing for his entire life.

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One of the more interesting seasons in the history of the Valparaiso volleyball program is set to begin on Friday morning.

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Kam Fouty-Koonce had big plans for his first season at Valparaiso last year.

The 6-foot-2 receiver was one of four players to follow Andy Waddle and a handful of other coaches from Marietta in the spring of 2025. Following a successful spring season, Fouty-Koonce was eager to test his talents at the Division I level last fall.

He lasted four practices.

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Call it baptism by fire. Call it being thrown to the wolves. Call it having to grow up quickly.

Whatever the phrasing, Micah Markley experienced it all last season.

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Kiara Desiderio was making her way to the field before last week’s season opener at Eastern Illinois when an EIU fan pointed out the Valparaiso sophomore and started rattling off a scouting report.

“There’s No. 10. She’s the Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year. She’s the one we have to watch out for.”

Such is life for Valparaiso’s sophomores as the relative obscurity of last season has been replaced by heightened awareness from the opposition this year.

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VALPARAISO - Moments before Thursday night’s season opener at Brown Field, Valparaiso women’s soccer senior Eve Miller went up to teammate Maya Tyburowski and gave her a long embrace.

When the two pulled apart, Miller headed toward the field to play against Western Illinois while Tyburowski made her way back to the sideline with crutches and a large knee brace.

Tyburowski is one of several Valparaiso players who have already suffered a season-ending injury this year and the sidelined Beacons were on the minds of the players who did take the pitch on Thursday night.

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Maya Tyburowski has never been one to be put in a box.

The Valparaiso junior isn’t here for stereotypes and just when someone might have her figured out, Tyburowski is likely to zag in a different direction.

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The bond between Pete Nank and Noah Kline started long before either of the two men arrived at Valparaiso University.

Nank, who is entering his second year as Valpo’s offensive line coach, began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Miami (OH) shortly after wrapping up his playing days with the RedHawks.

Around the same time, Noah Kline was a sought after offensive line recruit from just north of Cincinnati. Kline took a visit to Oxford and earned a preferred walk-on offer from Miami.

It was Nank who led Kline around campus.

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The wait has been excruciatingly long for Gus Wenning.

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Antony Morris knew it was important to be present in Valparaiso this summer.

The redshirt junior defensive lineman wanted to be there for every summer workout so he could help set the tone for his position group, just as his older teammates had done for him.

The only problem was affording a place to stay. Morris wouldn’t be living in the dorms anymore, and as an upperclassman, he was looking for a place to call his own.

That meant finding a job to pay the bills.

Enter McDonald’s.

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Ryan Pimentel took a round about journey to get back home.

The Valparaiso redshirt junior kicker hails from nearby Hobart, but he spent his first three years of college in California and Louisiana before moving back to Northwest Indiana last January.

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CHARLESTON - There was a little more 15 minutes before Valparaiso’s season opener against Eastern Illinois and longtime coach John Marovich had a pep in his step.

The Beacons were going through their final warmups on the field when Marovich walked by the Lakeside Field press box and expressed how excited he was for the season to begin.

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The Rev. Brian E. Konkol, Ph.D., is the 20^th president of Valparaiso University. As Valparaiso is set to open the 2026-27 athletic season with Thursday’s soccer match at Eastern Illinois, Rev. Konkol penned a special contribution for The Victory Bell. This story is open to all readers. Please consider subscribing to support TVB for the upcoming season.

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I have devoted much of my life to cheering.

I cheered for my basketball teammates at Viterbo University. I have cheered for my wife, Kristen, who successfully competed at the University of Toledo and also during our time in Guyana and South Africa. I continue to cheer for my brother, Eric, and the team he coaches at the University of Tulsa, and I cheer for my children and their respective school and club soccer teams. I have cheered in many places for many people, and now I am cheering in a new and exciting way:

I cheer for Valpo.

While I have loved Valparaiso University throughout my life, I now get to cheer from the stands, and I also have the honor and joy of cheering from sidewalks, hallways, classrooms, boardrooms, offices, and countless other sites, all of which provides a remarkably different perspective from anything I have previously experienced. While much has changed over the years, there is something about cheering that has become more meaningful as of late, as I am discovering that a significant portion of leadership is about cheering for others.

To be clear, leadership requires far more than cheering. There are decisions to make, a mission and vision to articulate and integrate, goals and expectations to set, values to embody, strategies to develop and implement, challenges to address, opportunities to pursue, organizational cultures to cultivate, observations to make, and critical opinions from various sources to receive and apply. Through it all, I have come to believe that cheering is critically important for leadership, as it means helping people to embrace what is possible, encouraging them when the path is difficult, celebrating their accomplishments, offering direction, receiving lessons, and reminding others that who they are and what they do truly matters.

I am increasingly convinced that various aspects of athletics have taught me a great deal, and the more I experience Valparaiso University, the more confident I am that one of the ways we build lives for good is by supporting learners through our longstanding commitment to athletics.

This is why I cheer.

I cheer because I believe in what our student-athletes are learning. When I was a college athlete, I certainly wanted to win (and for those wondering, yes, I still very much want to win)! Whether it is in sports or various other areas of life, there is something wonderful about preparing for a competition, stepping into the arena, and discovering what you and your teammates are capable of accomplishing together. Also, when I reflect upon it all, the most important lessons I learned had little to do with the final score, as I learned that winning is ultimately not about being better than someone else, as it is about bringing out the best in yourself.

As a student-athlete I learned how to prepare when no one was watching. I learned that talent only takes you so far, as discipline, perseverance, trust, and teamwork matter enormously. I learned how to receive and utilize criticism, how to respond to both public failure and public fanfare, how to be a good teammate, and how to keep moving forward, especially when life did not go according to plan. I learned that sometimes leadership requires speaking, while at other times it means listening. I learned that the person sitting next to me in the locker room could be different from me and still become someone I trust deeply.

These lessons have stayed with me far longer than the details of individual competitions.

This is why I cheer when I witness a Valpo student pursuing excellence in the classroom while also competing at the highest level of collegiate athletics. I cheer when I see a student-athlete discovering how the habits required to become an excellent teammate can also help make them to be an excellent nurse, engineer, teacher, scientist, entrepreneur, pastor, physician, or citizen. This is one of the characteristics that makes Valparaiso University special. We are, as I have heard others so aptly describe us, a one-of-a-kind “and university”.

At Valparaiso University a student can study nursing and compete in the national tournament. An engineering student can invest long hours in a laboratory and represent Valpo on the field. A future teacher can prepare for a classroom of their own and compete as a track and field athlete. A student can pursue rigorous scholarship and discover what it means to belong to a team.

We at Valpo do not pressure our student-athletes to choose between being excellent students and excellent athletes. While other universities force learners into an “either or”, we at Valpo encourage “both and”, as we believe that education is about the formation of the whole person. In striking contrast to other colleges and universities, athletics at Valpo is not separate from our educational mission, for at our best, athletics is one of the places where our mission comes alive.

While students are at the center of our educational mission, there is another reason why I cheer, and it has less to do with the people competing and more to do with the people who are spectating.

I cheer because I believe fans are learners, too.

There are few experiences in contemporary life that bring people together quite like live sports. When you attend a swimming or track and field meet, or when you witness a volleyball, tennis, or soccer match, or when you take in golf, softball, bowling, baseball, basketball, football, or cross-country, in such places you will find people who might otherwise have very little reason to be together. Students sit next to alumni. Parents come across strangers. Faculty and staff visit with various members of the Valparaiso community. Children sit beside grandparents. People who disagree about many things find themselves being together when a Valpo student-athlete makes the play they have been waiting for. For a few treasured hours, we become a community, and such belonging is increasingly valuable.

We live in a time when many of our institutions struggle to create places where people with different backgrounds and beliefs can gather around something they share. I believe Valpo athletics cannot solve all of such challenges, yet we can offer something increasingly rare: a reason to show up together, an opportunity for encounter, and the possibility of becoming something greater.

I cheer because the bleachers are also classrooms.

I cheer because a game can become an introduction to a person, a team, a university, or even a community that someone might otherwise not have met, which leads to another reason why I cheer: athletics can be an entry point for people to learn about the larger life of our university.

Someone may first discover Valparaiso University because of basketball. Someone else may visit because their child has been recruited to play soccer. Another family may come to our campus because they want to watch a football game or see a student compete in track and field. They may arrive here because of athletics, but they stay here because they discover something much larger.

Those who are introduced to Valpo because of sports can eventually discover the Chapel of the Resurrection, or they can encounter a remarkable professor who electrifies the way they think. They can walk through the Christopher Center Library and meet a dedicated staff person, or they can visit with students who are studying together or making music. They can experience the beauty of our campus and the warmth of our community, and they can learn about Lutheran heritage and our enduring commitment to scholarship, freedom, and faith.

I believe most importantly, those who learn of Valparaiso University through sports can eventually discover that the student wearing a number has a name, and they are far more than a student or an athlete, and beyond the statistics is a story. My hope and prayer are that those in the bleachers come to see our student-athletes as Children of God within a sacred story, and they are all being formed within a lifelong ecosystem of faith and learning that is helping them to become who they are meant to be.

Athletics can open the door. The university invites people to enter through it and be blessed because of it.

This is all worth cheering for.

As we begin another academic year, I am excited about the future of Valpo athletics, and I dearly want our teams to compete with ambition and confidence. I also hope for our coaches to be recognized not only for what happens on the scoreboard, but also for the lives they help to build. I yearn for our student-athletes to experience the joy of competition, the discipline of excellence, and the importance of relationships, all while discovering lessons that will serve them long after their final season wearing the Brown and Gold.

And, to be clear, I want our fans to show up!

I would love for our bleachers to be full of students, families, alumni, faculty, staff, neighbors, and friends. I seek to witness an increasing number of young children visiting campus and imagining themselves someday wearing the Brown and Gold. I long for alumni to return and enrich the next generation. I encourage members of our community who have never thought of themselves as “sports people” to discover the power and possibility of being a part of something special.

As the 2026–27 season of Valparaiso University begins, here is my request: I hope you will join in and cheer alongside me.

Please, join in and cheer because you love the matches and games, and because you love Valpo. Please, join in because someone you care about is wearing the Brown and Gold. Please, join in because you want to help our student-athletes to become who God is calling them to be, and also because you believe that communities are built when people choose to show up for one another.

And, yes, please join in because we want to win, and your cheering helps us to win!

I will be cheering for all of this to happen, and I will also be cheering for something larger and lasting: for the student who discovers confidence, for the teammate who learns to lead, for the fan who finds a new sense of togetherness, for the family that discovers a university they did not know before, and for the community that gathers around those who are giving their very best.

I have spent a good portion of my life cheering, and thanks be to God, I hope to spend a good portion of the years ahead cheering alongside you.

I am grateful for the honor and joying of cheering for Valpo.

Please, join in and cheer alongside me.

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(Photos courtesy of Valpo Athletics and Rev. Brian Konkol)