Oct. 15, 2015
2015 UIC Statistics
2015 Horizon League Statistics 2015 UIC Prospectus
2015 UIC Record Book
CHICAGO -- UIC seeks to continue its winning ways with a two-match trip thorough the state of Ohio this weekend. The Flames will take on the Youngstown State Penguins on Friday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. CT, before continuing on to Cleveland State for a contest against the Vikings on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 3 p.m. CT.
UIC (10-10, 3-3 Horizon League) has won its last two contests with victories coming in a key conference game against Milwaukee on Oct. 10, and in a nonconference tussle with the Western Illinois Leathernecks on Oct. 13. The squad is seeking its second three-match upswing of the season. The Flames previously went unbeaten in three straight contests at the UIC Invitational on Sept. 4-5.
UIC Match Notes
LAST TIME OUT
UIC won for the second consecutive time Tuesday night when it disposed of Western Illinois in three quick sets. The Flames put forth a balanced attack as four different players secured eight-or-more-kills in the victory. As a team, UIC hit over .300 for only the second time this season, notching a clip of .316 with 44 kills and only 13 errors Tuesday. The victory ended a two-match slide against WIU.
Senior Stephenee Yancy paced all players with 16 kills against the Leathernecks, while Kara Johnson, Alyssa Ehrhardt and Kyisha Hunt each tallied eight. Hunt also led the Flames with four blocks, while libero Bridget Powell chipped in with 14 digs and a pair of service aces.
JOHNSON SETTING THE PACE
Sophomore setter Nicole Johnson currently leads the Horizon League and ranks eighth in the NCAA with 11.58 assists per set. Her 892 total assists also rank her third in the NCAA heading into the weekend. There have been four individual performances with 58 assists in the Horizon League this season, and Johnson has turned in two of them by accomplishing the feat on Sept. 15 vs. Illinois State, and again at Northern Kentucky on Sept. 26; she is the only setter to rattle off that many helpers in only four sets.
Last season, Johnson was selected the 2014 Horizon League Freshman of the Year after ranking sixth with 11.67 assists per set. She was also an All-Horizon League Team selection. Johnson's 1,365 assists in 2014 ranked 14th nationally, and as the eighth highest in a single-season in program history. She led UIC with 26 service aces and contributed seven of UIC's 22 double-doubles. Johnson recorded 55 or more assists in seven matches. She compiled 227 digs with seven double-digit dig efforts.
UIC SWEEPS WEEKLY HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS TO OPEN LEAGUE PLAY
UIC junior middle blocker Casey Harris was named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 28, while senior middle Stephenee Yancy picked up Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week honors. It is the first time ever that a pair of UIC teammates has swept the weekly awards.
Harris led UIC, and the Horizon League, with 1.38 blocks per set over the opening weekend. In the victory at NKU on Sept. 26, she sent down a season-high seven blocks. This is the first weekly honor of her career.
Yancy averaged a league-best 5.75 kills per set at Wright State and Northern Kentucky, while hitting at a clip of .500 (46k-9e-74ta). The senior matched a season high with 26 kills at NKU and she hit a career-best .629 against the Norse. This is the fifth weekly honor of Yancy's career and the first in 2015.
YANCY KEEPS KILLING IT
Senior middle blocker Stephenee Yancy continues to stand out as one of the top offensive threats in both the Horizon League and the NCAA. The Aroma Park, Ill., native leads the conference and ranks 14th in the country with 4.47 kills per set this season. She also ranks second in the league with a .372 hitting percentage. In six HL matches, Yancy has been even sharper; the senior is averaging 4.96 kills per set at a clip of .382.
Yancy has put down 1,321 kills in three-plus collegiate seasons, including 852 as a UIC Flame. She spent her first two seasons at Western Michigan University, where she netted 469 kills for the Broncos.
RARE EHR
In only her second weekend as a member of the Flames, junior Alyssa Ehrhardt made quite the splash at the UIC Invitational (Sept. 4-5). The Algonquin, Ill., native collected tournament MVP honors after averaging 3.6 kills and 2.5 digs per set in UIC's three wins. The transfer also added four aces, four blocks and a pair of assists while hitting at a clip of .338 on the weekend. On Sept. 8, the Horizon League tabbed Ehrhardt as the Offensive Player of the Week for Aug. 31-Sept. 7. She currently ranks fifth in the Horizon League with 0.34 aces per set.
JOHNSON ON PACE FOR 1,000 KILLS/1,000 DIGS
Junior outside hitter Kara Johnson has recorded 869 kills and 672 digs at UIC. She needs 131 kills and 328 digs over the next two seasons to become the 10th player in program history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. The last UIC player to join the 1,000 kills/1,000 digs club was Katarina Nedeljikovic in 2008 (1,381k/1,150d).
YANCY STARS WITH USA VOLLEYBALL
Stephenee Yancy made a good impression on her U.S. CNT (Collegiate National Team) Red squad by registering 14 points over two matches in late June. She trained and competed with USA Volleyball in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships.
Yancy was one of 36 athletes who began training with USA Volleyball in New Orleans. The CNT program was considered a second tryout for the U.S. Women's National Team.
POWELL POWERS UIC DEFENSE
Purdue transfer Bridget Powell (5-foot-6 defensive specialist) was also added to the roster in the offseason. Powell was a nationally-ranked libero at Mother McAuley High School. She appeared in six matches in 2013 at Purdue and made good on 98 percent of her serve reception chances. She saw action in the Boilermakers' NCAA First Round match against Central Arkansas. At UIC, she's registered a team-high 271 digs and ranks eighth in the Horizon League with 3.52 per set entering the weekend. Against Abilene Christian on Sept. 19, Powell dug out a career-best 20 attacks.
FIVE FRESHMEN JOIN THE FLAMES
Seventh-year head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley brought in five freshmen in Carla Salvato (5-foot-5 libero), Haley Sullivan (5-foot-3 libero), Ali Witt (6-foot-0 middle blocker), Macy Geyer (5-foot-11 setter) and Morgan Mereday (6-foot-0 outside hitter). Four of the five - Salvato, Sullivan, Witt and Mereday - have seen on-court action already this season.
Salvato was an All-conference pick at St. Ignatius College Prep and collected 600 digs. Sullivan was a three-year starter at Lemont High School and compiled 924 digs. Witt was a two-year starter at Prairie Ridge High School and a Sun-Times' Preseason Top 50 selection.
Geyer was a four-year starter for Hononegah Community and a three-time All-NIC-10 selection. Mereday was selected second-team All-State in 2014 and put down 263 kills at Hunterdon Central.
COACH CLOSES IN ON MILESTONE
UIC head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley is closing in on a milestone in her seventh season at the helm. She owns 95 career victories entering the weekend at YSU and CSU, and is seeking to become only the third head coach in program history to reach the century mark. Don August, who led the Flames from 1981-2003 is the program's all-time leader in victories with 421, while Mary Kapsalis is second with 132.
SCOUTING THE PENGUINS
The Penguins are coming off a rare midweek Horizon League matchup where they downed Wright State on the road, 3-0. The victory helped improve Youngstown State to 8-13 on the season and 2-4 in Horizon League play; it also snapped a three-match skid.
YSU averages 12.12 kills per set with a team hitting percentage of .186 on the season. Sophomore Sam Brown is one of four Penguins to average at least two kills per set, as she leads the pack with 2.46. She has not played, however, since Oct. 2. Freshman Sarah Varcolla is also in that group as she averages 2.00 kills per set. Varcolla is also dangerous from the service line, where she leads the Horizon League with 0.39 aces per set.
Defensively, the Penguins boast one of the top liberos in the conference in Nikki Thompson. The senior ranks third in the Horizon League with 4.74 digs per set. As a team, Youngstown State averages 15.29 digs per set and opponents are hitting .220 against it with 13.2 kills per set.
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
Cleveland State began Horizon League play with five consecutive wins before falling in five sets to conference newcomer Northern Kentucky on the road Tuesday night. The Vikings have won 16 of their first 20 matches this season and eight of their last nine.
The Vikings are the Horizon League's most efficient team on the attack. CSU owns a hitting percentage of .261, good for 29th in the nation. Both Alexis Middlebrooks (3rd, .322) and Christina Toth (8th, .292) rank in the conference's top 10 in that category. Toth also ranks fourth in the HL with 4.04 kills per set., while Grace Kauth is fifth with 3.51 kills per frame. The team's 1,078 kills this season rank ninth among all NCAA squads.
Cleveland State also excels on the defensive side of the net. The squad leads the Horizon League with 2.33 blocks per set. Middlebrooks leads the charge with a league-best 1.14 blocks per set with teammate Aaliyah Slappy adding 0.89 blocks per set to rank sixth in the conference.
