Box Score 2014 Horizon League Tournament Bracket

CHICAGO - The UIC volleyball team (14-16, 7-7 HL) concluded the regular season with a 3-0 home loss (25-22, 25-21, 25-18) to Valparaiso (24-7, 9-5 HL) Saturday night. UIC looks towards the 2014 Horizon League Tournament, where the Flames will be the No. 6 seed.

The tournament begins Friday, Nov. 21 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 23. UIC will play No. 3 seed Valparaiso in the Quarterfinals Friday at 4 p.m. CT inside the Athletics Center O'rena on the campus of Oakland University.

There was a 3-way tie for the No. 4-6 seeds with Cleveland State, UIC and Youngstown State all finishing 7-7 in Horizon League play. Tiebreaker "D" was used to break this tie, which is utilized if three of more teams are tied. Tiebreaker "D" says to "compare the tied teams combined record against each other. If the tie remains, compare the tied teams against the highest ranking team in the standings until the tie is broken."

Youngstown State went 3-1 against CSU and UIC, Cleveland State went 2-2 against UIC and YSU and UIC went 1-3 against CSU and YSU. Therefore, YSU is the No. 4 seed, CSU is the No. 5 seed and UIC is the No. 6 seed.

Seniors Sara Jo Sternard, Molly McCoy and Maggie Strus were honored prior to the match. Sternard had five kills on 11 attempts, McCoy collected six kills, eight digs and two aces while Strus compiled a team-high nine digs. Sternard increased her career kill total to 1,015, Strus extended her program-record dig total to 1,665 and McCoy increased her career kill total to 735.

Sophomore Kara Johnson and junior Stephenee Yancy led UIC with 14 kills apiece. Johnson also had eight digs and two blocks. Johnson extended her double-digit kill streak to six matches and owns 24 double-figure performances this season.

Yancy put down double-figure kills in all 30 regular season matches. She also collected three blocks for the second straight match. Yancy (501 kills) became the fifth player in program history to put down 500 kills in a season.

Redshirt freshman Nicole Johnson had 40 assists and seven digs. She finished the regular season with 1,327 assists, which ranks 11th in a single-season in program history.

The first set was tied 22-22 following Rachel Bruinsma's service error. Valpo responded with a dual block, forced Casey Harris into an attack error and ended the set with a kill from Emily Campbell. The first set featured 16 ties and six lead changes.

Valpo led for much of the second set but Kara Johnson's sixth kill of the frame narrowed the Crusaders' lead to 22-21. Valpo then forced Johnson and McCoy into attack errors before Taylor Graboski's kill put the Crusaders up 2-0.

UIC jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set before Valpo stormed back to take an 18-16 lead on Campbell's 14th kill of the contest. The Flames tied the score at 18-18 on a kill from Johnson and block by Harris. The Crusaders then secured the match victory with a 7-0 run that included three kills from Campbell.

2014 Horizon League Volleyball Tournament Schedule
(All Times ET)
Friday, Nov. 21
5:00 p.m. - (6) UIC vs. (3) Valparaiso
7:30 p.m. - (5) Cleveland State vs. (4) Youngstown State
Saturday, Nov. 22
2:30 p.m. - (1) Oakland vs. Lowest remaining seed from Friday
5:00 p.m. - (2) Milwaukee vs. Highest remaining seed from Friday
Sunday, Nov. 23
2:00 p.m. - Championship Match