Rochester, Mich. – Despite several strong comebacks, the UIC women's volleyball team dropped a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 18-25, 29-27, 9-15) decision on Friday evening in Oakland's Athletic Center O'rena.

Freshman Grace Murphy shined in her first match donning the libero jersey, collecting a career-high 15 digs. Junior Kaylin Powell registered a season-high nine kills, while also adding three block assists. Graduate transfer Kelsie Groot led the Flames offense with 18 kills and also brought in 11 digs for her 14th double-double of the season. Senior Alyssa Ehrhardt gathered 14 terminations and dug out eight.

After several back and forth leads to start the first set, the Flames were able to pull out to an 18-13 lead. Oakland retaliated with four unanswered points to draw within one, 18-17. UIC held a 22-19 lead late, but six-straight terminations from Oakland allowed the Golden Grizzlies to take the first set, 25-22.

The Flames were staring down an 18-11 deficit in set two, but an eight-point resurgence put the Flames up 19-18 for their first lead since the 9-8 mark. Oakland came back with two points of its own, but UIC came back with another two points off an Oakland error and an Ehrhardt termination to set the score at 21-20. Oakland's Sammy Condon registered the tying point, but Ehrhardt came through with two kills alongside an Oakland error to put the Flames at game point, 24-21. Oakland's Melissa Deatsch made it 24-22, but Condon committed an attack error to close out the second set by the same score as the first, this time in UIC's favor.

UIC fell into a 9-2 hole to start the third, but went on an 11-6 run that featured kills from Ehrhardt, Groot and Powell to bring the score to 15-13. The Golden Grizzlies responded with a 9-2 run of their own to come within one point of victory, 24-15. A kill from sophomore Ali Witt alongside a pair of Oakland errors gave UIC three more before Deatsch put away the final point to give the Golden Grizzlies a 2-1 lead.

The Flames were in need of another comeback in set four, facing a 19-14 hole. UIC responded with five straight to tie the match at 19 all, and the two teams traded off points to tie the score again at 23. Oakland's Darien Bandel registered a kill for Oakland, but Groot responded with a kill of her own for another tie. The two teams once again went back and forth to bring the score to 25 apiece, when Groot buried a feed from Nicole Johnson to bring UIC one point away from the win. The Golden Grizzlies registered two points off a kill and a Flames error to take the lead back, but UIC completed the comeback with three points without a response to bring the match to a tie.

With a 6-5 lead to start off the decisive set, the Flames were unable to put a stop to a four point Oakland streak. UIC was able to draw within one off an Ehrhardt termination and an Oakland error, 10-9, but the Golden Grizzlies put up six straight to take the match 3-2.   

UIC will now head to Cleveland State for an afternoon match tomorrow at 3 p.m. CT in the Woodling Gymnasium.