Oct. 3, 2011
CHICAGO - The UIC volleyball team (11-5/4-1 in Horizon League) travels to Milwaukee, Wis., for a conference match up with Milwaukee at the Klotsche Center. The Flames enter the match on the coat tails of a four-match winning streak.
"Milwaukee is a very good team, and they are playing well right now," head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley says. "We are looking forward to the challenge, and we have to be ready to play from the first serve."
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: Milwaukee enters the match with a 13-4 record, including being undefeated in conference play. The squad is led in kills by Kerri Schuh, who averages 3.64 per set and has hammered down 222 on the season. The outside hitter was a back-to-back Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week selection (Aug. 22 and Aug. 29). Morgan Potter (defensive specialist) ranks third in digs per set with 4.58 and received the honor of being the conference Defensive Player of the Week during the week of Sept. 12. Other Horizon League leaders include Rachel Neuberger (middle blocker), who at a clip of .367, leads the conference in hitting percentage, while Mackenzie Millis (middle blocker) averages 1.04 blocks per set and holds the first-place spot in the league was selected as the Defensive Player of the Week for Sept. 26.
ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS: The Flames began their season at Bradley's tournament, the CEFCU Classic, where redshirt junior co-captain Janise Dismuke (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) returned to her hometown to be selected as the tournament MVP, while junior Kelsey Safranek (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) and sophomore co-captain MaryKate Imrie (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) were named to the all-tournament team. UIC then welcomed DePaul, Loyola and Northwestern to the Flames Athletic Facility for the Chicagoland Challenge and Safranek and freshman Sara Sternard (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Westmont) earned all-tournament honors. During the final tournament, the Dunn Hospitality Invitational, Safranek was again selected as a member of the all-tournament team.
CONFERENCE PLAY UNDERWAY: The Flames opened their conference season with a 3-0 loss to Valparaiso Sept. 14, before winning back-to-back conference victories over Loyola and Green Bay. UIC defeated the Ramblers (Sept. 23) in a 3-1 decision, followed by a 3-2 victory over Green Bay Sept. 24. The Flames improved their winning streak to four-consecutive matches after defeating Butler, 3-2 (Sept. 30) and Wright State, 3-0 to kick off the month of October.
LAST TIME OUT: The team won its fourth-straight match October 1 as the team swept Wright State (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) at the Flames Athletic Center in Chicago, Ill. Safranek led all players in kills as she hammered down 17 in the match. Dismuke added 10 kills at a clip of .444.
HORIZON LEAGUE LEADERS: Sternard ranks third in hitting percentage in the Horizon League at a clip of .342 with 102 kills off of 234 total attempts. Imrie remains in the lead with 10.79 assists per set and has set up her teammates 658 times this season. Safranek leads the conference 243 kills with an average of 3.98 kills per set.
FOLLOWING THE FLAMES VOLLEYBALL SQUAD: Fans can follow the UIC volleyball squad through live stats or a live stream, which can be found at UICFlames.com.
Be sure to check back to UICFlames.com Tuesday for complete results and a recap from the match with the Panthers.
--UIC--
