Oct. 25, 2014
Box Score CHICAGO - The UIC volleyball team (11-13, 5-4 HL) was held to 37 kills and a .077 attack percentage in a 3-0 loss (25-18, 29-27, 25-21) to Milwaukee (13-10, 7-2 HL) Saturday afternoon. The Panthers had 14 total blocks and recorded six service aces.
Milwaukee moves into second place in the Horizon League standings behind Oakland (15-9, 7-2 HL), who defeated third-place Youngstown State (15-9, 6-3 HL) in five sets Saturday. UIC remains in fourth place as the Flames hold the tiebreaker with Valparaiso (19-6, 5-4 HL), who swept Green Bay Saturday.
Junior Stephenee Yancy extended her double-digit kill streak to 24 matches as she put down 10 kills on 20 attempts for a .300 attack percentage. She had four kills on eight attempts in both the second and third sets. Yancy added two blocks and owns 40 blocks over the last nine contests.
Sophomore Kara Johnson put down nine kills for the second straight match and compiled a team-high 13 digs. She also picked up her 11th service ace in the third set. Johnson owns 12 double-digit dig performances this season.
Senior Sara Jo Sternard contributed seven kills and three blocks. She passed Mary Bloedorn (1979-82) into ninth place in program history with 308 career total blocks. Sternard owns 965 career kills and needs 35 more to become the 16th member of UIC's 1,000 Kills Club.
Senior Maggie Strus compiled 10 digs to add to her program-record total of 1,588. She owns three straight double-digit performances and 20 this season. Elsewhere on defense, freshman Allie O'Reilly had nine digs.
Redshirt freshman Nicole Johnson, who ranks second in the nation with 1,068 assists, had 33 assists and three digs. Meanwhile, sophomore Casey Harris collected a season-high five blocks and owns 22 blocks over her last eight matches.
UIC led 10-9 in the first set following McCoy's second straight block but Milwaukee used a .321 attack percentage to pull away for a 25-18 win. The Panthers put down 14 kills and recorded three service aces during the set.
UIC capitalized on 10 Milwaukee attack errors to take a 24-20 lead in the second set before the Panthers stormed back to tie the score at 24-24. With the score tied 27-27, the Panthers forced Yancy and Kara Johnson into attack errors to win the set 29-27 and go up 2-0.
Harris' second kill of the third set tied the score at 20-20 before Milwaukee scored the next four points. Harris put down another kill but Kayla Price's third kill of the match sealed the 25-21 victory for the Panthers.
UIC hits the road one last time next weekend as the Flames play at third-place Youngstown State Friday (Oct. 31) and sixth-place Cleveland State Saturday (Nov. 1). After next weekend, UIC concludes the regular season with a four-match home stand (Nov. 7-15).
