Oct. 7, 2011

CHICAGO - The UIC volleyball team (11-6/4-2 in Horizon League) plays host to back-to-back conference opponents this weekend as the squad faces Youngstown State Saturday at 2:00 p.m. (CT) and Cleveland State Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (CT). Both matches take place in the Flames Athletic Center in Chicago, Ill.

"We are excited to be back inside the Flames Athletic Center," head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley says. "We are looking forward to our matches against both Youngstown State and Cleveland State. These will be the last two teams we see as we close out the first round of conference play. Every match is big and none can be taken lightly. Saturday we will be celebrating breast cancer awareness as it impacts everyone in some way, and we hope to continue to bring awareness to this widespread disease."

SCOUTING THE FLAMES: UIC has posted an 11-6 record with a 4-2 record in the Horizon League. Kelsey Safranek (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) has hammered down 260 kills on the season to place her atop the conference list of kills per set at a clip of 3.98. Freshman Sara Sternard (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Westmont) and junior redshirt captain Janise Dismuke (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) are in third place (.342) and fifth place (.317), in that order in the league for hitting percentage. Sophomore captain MaryKate Imrie (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) leads the Horizon League in assists per set with 10.79.

SCOUTING THE PENGUINS: Youngstown State enters the match with a 2-16 record, including a 1-5 Horizon League record. Missy Hundelt leads the Penguins with 210 kills at a clip of .172. Hundelt ranks fourth in the conference in kills per set and service aces per set with 3.62 and 0.38, respectively. Casey D'Ambrose is eighth in the conference standings in assists per set with 8.93, while Erika West is eighth in digs per set with 3.61. In conference play, the Penguins dropped four-consecutive matches 3-0 to Wright State, Butler, Cleveland State and Milwaukee to open league play. Youngstown State then downed Loyola, 3-1, followed by being defeated 3-0 by Green Bay. The squad carries a hitting percentage of .151 with 11.3 kills per set.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: Cleveland State has compiled an 11-5 overall record, including 4-1 in the Horizon League. The Vikings leads the league in hitting percentage and service aces per set at .224 and 1.73, respectively. The squad is second in conference in assists per set (12.33) and kills per set at 13.27. Jackie Dabbelt leads the Vikings in kills with 255 at a clip of .333, while being second in conference. Other Vikings leading the conference include Marie Frease, who is seventh in hitting percentage (.305), Kara Koch with 3.98 kills per set in second place, Jordan Goad is fifth in assists per set with 9.60, Amy Grabiec is fourth in digs per set (4.16) and Megan Barhost, Garbiec, Koch and Amanda Medvetz are all listed in the top 10 for service aces per set.

FLAMES ON A ROLL: The UIC squad began the season on a five-match winning streak as the team defeated Nebraska-Omaha (3-1), Bradley (3-0), Western Illinois (3-1), DePaul (3-1) and Montana State (3-1). The five-match winning streak marked the best start a Flames volleyball team has had since 2000 when the squad began the season with a 6-0 run. Before the 3-0 loss to Milwaukee, UIC had its second five-match winning streak, beginning with a victory over Chicago State (3-0), Loyola (3-1), Green Bay (3-2), Butler (3-2) and Wright State (3-0).

FLAMES PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Safranek and Sternard have both been selected as the Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week. Safranek earned the honor during the week of Sept. 5 after her stellar play at the Dunn Hospitality Invitational where totaled 55 kills at a clip of .202, while chipping in 33 digs and three service aces to earn herself a spot on the all-tournament team. Sternard was selected for the week of Sept. 19 after her solid play in the 3-1 victory over Loyola (Sept. 23), followed by edging out Green Bay, 3-2 on Sept. 24. Sternard had eight kills at a clip of .538 against the Ramblers and 12 kills with a .600 hitting percentage against Green Bay.

ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS: The Flames began their season at Bradley's tournament, the CEFCU Classic, where Dismuke returned to her hometown to be selected as the tournament MVP, while Safranek and Imrie 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 Sternard 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 five-consecutive matches after defeating Butler, 3-2 (Sept. 30) and Wright State, 3-0 to kick off the month of October. Milwaukee snapped the Flames streak as the undefeated conference foe downed UIC, 3-0.

LAST TIME OUT: UIC had its five-match winning streak snapped as Milwaukee defeated the Flames, 3-0 Oct. 4 at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee, Wis. For the third-consecutive match, Safranek led all players in kills. She knocked down 17 in the match with the Panthers. Dismuke added nine kills at .381.

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.

--UIC--