Sept. 16, 2014

Box Score

DEKALB, Ill. - The UIC volleyball team (4-8) fell to Northern Illinois (7-4) Tuesday night at Victor E. Court by a score of 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-19, 25-17). The Flames put down more kills than the Huskies (56-51) but could not overcome 14 blocks and seven aces by the Huskies.

Junior Stephenee Yancy extended her double-digit kill streak to 12 matches with 18 kills on 31 attempts for an impressive .484 attack percentage. She had seven kills on nine attempts in UIC's second set victory. Yancy has averaged 4.28 kills per set and a .429 attack percentage over her last seven matches.

Redshirt freshman Nicole Johnson, who leads the nation in assists, dished out 41 assists and has already recorded over 40 assists on eight occasions this season. She also collected two service aces and owns nine over her last five contests.

Senior Molly McCoy had 13 kills on 35 attempts and has put down double-digit kills in four out of her last five matches. She is three kills away from 600 in her UIC career. McCoy is averaging 2.86 kills per set over her last five matches after 2.12 in her first seven contests.

Senior Sara Jo Sternard had 10 kills on 26 attempts to increase her career total to 897 kills. She needs 103 more to become the 16th member of UIC's 1,000 Kills Club. Sternard also picked up two solo blocks and ranks seventh in program history with 68 solo blocks.

Sophomore Kara Johnson collected her fifth consecutive double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. She owns eight double-doubles this season and 12 in her UIC career.

Allie O'Reilly (14 digs), Tracy Friel (12 digs) and Maggie Strus (11 digs) were active on defense for UIC. Strus increased her career total to 1,433 digs and needs 99 more to become UIC's all-time dig leader. O'Reilly led the Flames in digs for the second time while Friel extended her streak with at least one service ace to five matches.

UIC led 12-11 in the first set but NIU used five blocks, including two straight to end the set, to go up 1-0. The Flames put down 17 kills and had two service aces in the second set win, which ended with McCoy's fourth kill of the frame.

UIC tied the third set at 16-16 on Kyisha Hunt's fourth kill of the match but NIU's 17 kills on a .448 attack percentage were too much to overcome. The Huskies only had eight kills in the fourth set but used six blocks and three aces to secure the match win.

UIC makes a trip to Pennsylvania this weekend (Sept. 19-20) to compete in Penn State's Alumni Classic. Penn State head coach Russ Rose will welcome UIC head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley and three other Penn State alumni to campus for the tournament.

The other head coaches participating include Nadia Edwards (DePaul), Kate Price (Eastern Illinois) and Julie Torbett (Eastern Carolina). No. 3 Penn State won its sixth NCAA National Championship last season with a 3-1 win over Wisconsin.