Sept. 12, 2000

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - The 2000 UIC volleyball team joined the 1984 and 1993 Flames' squads in the record books for best ever starts to a season as they improved to 7-1 on the year with a four-game triumph (15-3, 15-2, 13-15, 15-5) over Eastern Illinois on Tuesday evening at the UIC Pavilion.

"We certainly didn't want to start any losing streaks," remarked Head Coach Don August, whose UIC squad saw its six-game winning streak snapped on Saturday at the hands of Cal-State Northridge. "The team was pretty up for this game. I wanted them to get off to a good start, because Eastern (Illinois) is a very emotional team and if they got things going I figured they would be hard to stop."

The Flames, who are a perfect 5-0 at the UIC Pavilion this season, came out firing versus the Panthers as they cruised to 15-3, 15-2 victories in the first two games. UIC was able to capitalize on 18 Eastern Illinois attack errors in the first two frames and received nine kills from senior Jill Greer to help the Flames jump out to the early advantage.

The Panthers would show their teeth in the third game as they pounced on the Flames 15-13, but UIC would recapture its early momentum in game four to finish off Eastern Illinois 15-5.

Greer finished the match with strong all-around numbers, posting a match-high 13 kills, to go along with eight digs, six blocks and a pair of service aces. The dynamic rookie duo of Lindsey Filkins and Teaha Shepperd continued to impress Flames' fans. Filkins tied Greer with 13 kills while also tabbing nine digs. Shepperd posted her team-best seventh double-double of the season with 11 kills and 17 digs, as well as a match-high seven blocks.

UIC also received strong performances from senior setter Erica Anderson , who posted a double-double with 46 assists and 13 digs, and junior Vicki Lublow who led the Flames' defense with 18 digs.

Kim Blackwell paced Eastern Illinois, which fell to 4-3 on the season, as she finished the night with 11 kills and 12 digs.

The Flames will look for a spot in the UIC record books on Friday as they attempt to improve to 8-1 on the season at the 2000 Falcon Invitational hosted by Bowling Green State University. UIC opens play on Friday, Sept. 15, as they battle IUPUI at 4:00 p.m. August's crew then takes on Evansville at 10:00 a.m., on Saturday, Sept. 16, before tackling the host Falcons in the tournament finale at 6:00 p.m.