CHICAGO – The UIC women's volleyball team topped second-place Oakland, 3-2, (25-22, 19-25, 26-28, 27-25, 15-10) Saturday afternoon in the Flames Athletic Center for their second Horizon League victory of the season.
 
Graduate transfer Kelsie Groot brought in career-highs in both kills (26) and digs (20), in route to recording her 16th double-double of the season. Senior Alyssa Ehrhardt also recorded double-digit kills (24) and digs (11) for her first double-double since Sept. 24 against Valparaiso. Ehrhardt's 24 kills tied her second-highest mark of the season, which she set on Sept. 10 against USF.
 
Redshirt junior Nicole Johnson earned a season-high 59 assists, while also grabbing six digs. Freshman Grace Murphy tallied a season-high 16 digs while donning the libero jersey, and sophomore Gaia Gbola dug out 10, her second-highest mark on the season. Junior Kaylin Powell brought in five blocks for UIC, while Groot, Ali Witt, Johnson, and Casey Harris each blocked three.
 
The first set opened up with a 16-11 lead for Oakland, but the Flames quickly began chipping away at the lead. Ehrhardt grabbed a service ace alongside a kill, while Groot added a kill to put the Flames within two. A UIC service error made it 17-14, but the Flames surged ahead with six-straight points to take the lead, 20-17. The Golden Grizzlies put up resistance, bringing the score to 22-21. Kills from Groot and Witt put UIC within one, and an Oakland service error closed out set one, 25-22.
 
Set two was a back-and-forth battle in the beginning, with six tie scores to open up the frame until Oakland was able to create space with a 22-18 lead. Ehrhardt took a feed from Nicole Johnson to bring the score to 22-19, but three-straight UIC errors gave Oakland game two, 25-19.
 
The Flames led 15-7 at the start of set three, but Oakland responded with six unanswered points to draw within two, 15-13. The two teams traded off on points to bring the score to the 18-17 mark, before UIC brought in three-straight off an Oakland service error and a pair of Ehrhardt kills to make it 21-17. Oakland advanced on two UIC errors and a kill, but UIC gathered another pair to bring the game to 23-20. Both teams registered kills to make it 24-21, followed by three-straight Oakland terminations to tie the set at 24. With the score tied at 26, Oakland's Melissa Deatsch grabbed two straight feeds to secure Oakland's 28-26 victory.
 
UIC held an 18-11 lead to open up the fourth frame, but Oakland fought back, eventually tying the score at 23. The Golden Grizzlies took the lead off a kill from their own Jessica Dood, but Groot responded with a kill to tie it at 24. Oakland took the lead again with another kill, but this time Witt stepped up to even up the match. Needing two to win, Groot took matters into her own hands, killing two in-a-row to force the decisive set five.
 
With the score tied at nine in the final set, the Flames went up by three off of a trio of Oakland errors, 12-9. Oakland recorded its final point on a kill from the hands of Darien Bandel, as Groot once again came up big with three consecutive kills to give UIC a 15-10 set victory and a 3-2 match win.
 
The Flames will continue at home against Milwaukee on Friday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m.