Oct. 19, 2000

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - The Chicago Marathon is not until Sunday morning, but the UIC and Oral Roberts volleyball teams staged their own version on Thursday night at the UIC Pavilion as the Golden Eagles clipped the Flames 14-16, 15-7, 16-14, 13-15, 18-16, in a match that took almost three hours to complete.

"We won a lot of matches like this early in the season," UIC Head Coach Don August remarked after the match. "This was the best we've played in a long time, though, and if we continue to play at this level we'll be successful. We were in position to win this one. We had two serves for match point, but we couldn't get it done."

With the loss, UIC's fourth-straight and sixth in its last seven matches, the Flames fall to 13-8 on the season. Meanwhile, Oral Roberts continued its winning streak as they notched their eighth consecutive win, improving to 10-10 on the year.

The Golden Eagles were led by sophomore Patricia Menezes, who recorded a match-high 28 kills and 23 digs while also adding four blocks in the win. Menezes was one of three ORU players to eclipse the 20-kill plateau as teammates Ivana Placko (26 kills) and April Syko (22 kills) also surpassed the mark. Kristin Meyerson chipped in with a match-best 27 digs for the Golden Eagles.

Freshman Lindsey Filkins paced UIC as she totaled the second 20/20 performance of her career, finishing the night with 21 kills and 26 digs. The sister duo of Lynn and Lara Clarkson was also strong for the Flames as they combined for 27 kills, 15 digs and six blocks.

The match was nip-and-tuck the whole way with only game two, ORU's 15-7 win, being controlled by just one team. The first game was a marathon in itself lasting 50 minutes before UIC prevailed 16-14. That frame saw setter Erica Anderson post 27 on her 73 assists as she set up Filkins for eight kills and Lara Clarkson for seven.

While game two was dominated by ORU, who hit .353 in the frame, committing just a trio of attack errors, game's three and four were both see-saw affairs which either team could have claimed. UIC led 13-11 in the third game, only to watch Oral Roberts rally back to win 16-14. The Flames returned the favor in game four, though, as they clawed back from a 13-10 deficit to win 15-13.

In the end, the Flames had a pair of serves for match point in the rally scoring fifth game, but both times a Placko kill evened the score. With the score in game five knotted at 16-16, a double-hit by Lara Clarkson gave ORU a one-point edge. Then after the Golden Eagles dug UIC's attack attempt off the next serve, Syko pounded down a kill that ended the match 18-16.

The Flames will be back in action on Saturday as they open the second half of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference season versus Cleveland State at the UIC Pavilion at 2:00 p.m.