Oct. 29, 2010
Box Score
Box Score in PDF Format 
CHICAGO - The UIC volleyball team returned to the Flames Athletic Center for the first time this season in the hope of capturing some home court magic, but they fell short on Friday night, falling to Butler, 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 21-25).
Kelsey Safranek paced the offensive attack for UIC (11-14, 6-7 Horizon League) by recording a team-high 15 kills against the Bulldogs (17-7, 11-1 Horizon League). The sophomore also chipped in with 13 digs in the loss.
"Kelsey continued to do some really great things offensively tonight," said Flames head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley. "She was ready to go from the beginning."
Aubrey Sniegowski was the lone other UIC hitter to record double-digit kills with 12. Butler's Jessica Wolfe, the leading scorer in the conference, hammered home 22 kills to help her team leave Chicago victorious.
With the first game tied at 12 apiece, the Flames caught fire and capitalized on four Butler attacking errors to build an 18-12 advantage that they would not relinquish. The Bulldogs would come as close as three back at 23-20, however back-to-back kills by Safranek gave UIC an early 1-0 lead in the match.
Unfortunately that was as close as the home team would come. The second set was tied at 23 all following a kill by Sniegowski, however consecutive miscues, one serve and one attack, gave Butler all it needed to knot the match at two.
The third set followed the same script as the teams traded points for much of the frame. The Flames led at 11-10 following a Sniegowski kill, but that was the last lead they would hold that set. UIC would come to within two at 23-21 after a kill by Kate Eldred, but back-to-back scores by Wolfe gave Butler a 2-1 match lead.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an 8-4 advantage in the fourth set and eventually extended the lead to 16-10, but the Flames did not stop fighting. An ace by Nicole Allgood made it 18-16 and later a kill by Janise Dismuke made it 23-21, but UIC would come no closer than two points. Wolfe's match-high 22nd kill ended the match.
Libero Taylor Szatkowski led all players with 19 digs in the match, and as a team, the Flames had 64 digs to 61 for the visitors.
"We did some good things offensively all around tonight," said Schumacher-Cawley. "We need to play as a team and get contributions from everyone to win."
UIC will close out the home portion of its schedule tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. when they host the Wright State Raiders in another Horizon League match. Saturday is Senior Day which marks the last time that Szatkowski, Epiphany Davis, Jessica Dalke and the Casie Sullivan will appear in front of the home crowd. There will a brief ceremony before the match to recognize and thank this unforgettable group for their contributions to the UIC Volleyball family.
"We have to be ready to go tomorrow," said Schumacher-Cawley. "We have to focus and prepare for a Wright State team that is playing very well right now."
