Sept. 8, 2009

Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill.- The UIC volleyball squad fought through four sets, but suffered a 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-22) loss at Eastern Illinois Tuesday evening.

"We need to be on the same page from the second we step on the floor," head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said. "We must continue to work every day we are in the gym."

The Flames (2-6) jumped out to a 1-0 set lead with a 25-19 win against the Panthers. Eastern Illinois (5-4) had the lead 11-9 during the middle of the set, but UIC strung together six consecutive tallies on Jessica Dalke's service to pull away to a 17-11 lead. A pair of kills from Lana Lobdell dotted the sequence.

EIU would pull to within three points, pushing the score to 22-19. A pair of kills from Epiphany Davis and another from Casie Sullivan iced the win for the Flames.

The Flames found themselves playing catch-up in set two, with the Panthers taking the lead out of the gates. UIC clawed its way back into the set with six straight points on Taylor Szatkowski's serve to take a 16-15 lead, but the Panthers regained the lead with a side out. UIC would fight back and knot the score again at 17-17 and 19-19, but a 6-1 run by EIU closed out the Panthers' 25-20 win.

Set three played out very similarly to set two, with EIU taking the early lead and UIC poised for the comeback. The Flames put together a 4-1 lead in the late points of the set, but it was too little too late as the Panthers won set three 25-23.

The fourth set continued the trend, with UIC coming within just points of overtaking the host Panthers. EIU prevailed, however, closing out the fourth set and the match with a 25-22 win.

Sullivan posted 13 kills on the match for the Flames, while freshman Kelsey Safranek had a career-high 12 kills. Dalke tallied 43 assists, while Sullivan and senior Emily Schaffer shared the top dig mark with 15 ups each.

The Flames return to Chicago to host the UIC Invitational Friday and Saturday. Georgia State, Duquesne and Michigan State will all descend upon the Flames Athletic Center for the tournament, which kicks off with Michigan State versus Duquesne at 5 p.m. Friday. UIC's first match of the invitational will be against Georgia State at 7 p.m. Friday.

Fans can listen to podcasts featuring exclusive interviews with UIC head coaches, staff and student-athletes in two ways:

1. Download the free UIC Athletics Widget and click on the "UIC Flames Podcasts" link

2. Download podcasts for free on iTunes by searching "UIC Flames."