CHICAGO – The UIC women's volleyball team (16-12, 4-10 HL) will welcome Youngstown State (7-22, 1-14 HL) and Northern Kentucky (16-10, 10-5 HL) to the Flames Athletic Center for a pair of Horizon League rematches this weekend. The Flames will face YSU on Friday at 7 p.m. CT, and NKU on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Last Time Out:
UIC took on Valparaiso and Wright State this past weekend in its final pair of regular-season road duals, falling 3-0 to Valpo on Friday (Nov. 4), before defeating Wright State 3-1 on Saturday (Nov. 5). Four Flames recorded season-high marks in the victory against WSU, including Alyssa Ehrhardt (16 digs), Ali Witt (14 kills), Haley Sullivan (12 digs) and Kaylin Powell (12 kills).
 
Hot Start:
UIC has had an historic start to the 2016 season, and was undefeated heading into the UIC Invitational on Sept. 16. The Flames recorded their best start in program history with their eighth victory, a 3-2 decision over South Florida on Sept. 10. The win set UIC at 8-0 on the season, replacing the 1984 squad's record of seven season-opening wins. The Flames then went on to win two more (at DePaul and at Loyola), matching the longest win streak in program history. The 2016 team was also the first team to put together ten-straight victories in 30 years.
 
Road Warriors:
The 2016 Flames are the first team to take at least 11 road matches in one season since the 1993 squad, who finished the season at 19-13 with 14 road victories as members of the Mid-Continent Conference. The 1984 squad currently owns the record for most road victories with 21, and closed out the season with 30 wins, the most in program history. The Flames added another road victory this past weekend, bringing their total number of road victories this season to 13, making them one win shy of the 1984 squad's mark.  
 
Double Trouble:
Groot has made a name of herself quickly in her first season wearing a Flames jersey by collecting a team-high 17 double-doubles this season. This past weekend against Wright State, Groot notched a match-high 21 kills for her second-highest mark of the season while also adding eight digs on defense. The Irvine, Calif., native owns the top spot on the team in kills with an average of 3.77 per set and owns a hitting percentage of .232 (403k-124e-1202a) on the season. Defensively, the outside hitter also ranks second on the team in digs with 2.50 digs per set and has collected 58 total blocks thus far. The outside hitter is currently tied for 15th in the nation in total attacks (1202), and is also tied for 34th in total kills (403). Elsewhere in the nation, Groot ranks 39th in attacks per set (11.23) and 35th in points (454).
 
Striking Sophomore:
Witt has added her name to the UIC record books with a historic start of her own. The Crystal Lake, Ill., native earned the fifth-highest single-match hitting percentage in program history against UMass Lowell on Sept. 17 at .786 (11k-0e-14a). The mark is the highest of Witt's career and replaces her previously-set career-high mark against USF (Sept. 10), when she hit for a clip of .750 (9k 0e-12e) to tie the seventh-highest hitting percentage in program history. Against Wright State this past weekend, Witt brought in a career-high 14 terminations alongside a match-high .500 hitting percentage (14k-1e-26a). The middle blocker owns the highest hitting percentage on the team at .267 (178k-69e-408a), and has hit .500 or above on eight separate occasions this season and leads the team in total blocks (91).
 
Senior Superlative:
Ehrhardt has had an impressive start to the 2016 season including most valuable player honors at both the Redhawks Invitational and the DePaul Invitational. The Algonquin, Ill., native ranks second on the team in kills, averaging 3.48 per set. Ehrhardt owns an attack percentage of .206 (372k-150e-1076a) on the season and has also collected 238 digs and a team-high 35 service aces thus far. The outside hitter earned a season-high 16 digs against Wright State alongside seven kills and one service ace.

Feeling Great About .408:
As a team, UIC hit .408 on Aug. 27 against New Orleans in the finale of the Redhawks Invitational. The Flames buried an average of 16.7 kills per set against the Privateers, while committing only 2.67 attacking errors per game. The percentage is the sixth-best single-match mark in team history, and the best number since UIC hit .435 against Chicago State on Sept. 8, 1999. Hunt (.643) posted an individual career high against UNO, while Witt led the Flames in victory with a career-high 11 kills.
 
Horizon Hardware:
Groot was named Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week on Oct.24 following her efforts against Oakland. The graduate transfer recorded career high kills (26) and digs (20) against the second-place Golden Grizzlies, in route to her 16th double-double of the season. The outside hitter brought in the game-winning pair of points in the fourth set against Oakland to force the decisive set five, where she went on to secure the final three points to allow UIC to defeat Oakland 3-2.
 
Senior Kara Johnson recorded her first-career Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week award on Sept. 6. The Champaign, Ill., native registered a team-high 44 digs at the JAX Classic and paced the Flames in that category against all three opponents. In her first season wearing the libero jersey, Johnson currently sits sixth across the Horizon League with a team-high 235 total digs and average of 3.73 digs per set. She was also a member of the All-Tournament team at the Redhawks Invitational.  
 
Ehrhardt was named the Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29, following a sensational effort at the Redhawks Invitational. The Algonquin, Ill., native averaged 4.42 kills, 2.25 digs and 0.67 aces per set for the Flames in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Among her weekend highlights include a career-best 27 kills, while hitting .306, in the season opener against LA Tech, and her first double-double of the season behind 16 kills and 15 digs in the nightcap against SEMO. This was Ehrhardt's second weekly honor from the Horizon League (Sept. 8, 2015).
 
More Fantastic Flames:
Groot represented the Flames on the UIC Invitational All-Tournament team Sept. 16-17, registering a team-high 29 kills on the weekend to average 2.90 kills per set. The Irvine, Calif., native also brought in 24 digs and four total blocks through 10 sets.
 
Ehrhardt grabbed the most valuable player title at the DePaul Invitational Sept. 9-10, where she collected 53 kills to average 3.79 kills per set. The outside hitter also registered 22 digs and seven service aces. Ehrhardt led the Flames in kills in two of the three matches, including a tournament-high 24 in UIC's match against South Florida. Witt joined Ehrhardt on the All-Tournament team, hitting at a clip of .487 while committing only two errors across the weekend's 14 sets.
 
Earlier this season, Groot was named the most valuable player of the JAX Classic on Sept. 3. Hunt and Ehrhardt were also named to the All-Tournament team for their performances. Both Groot and Ehrhardt closed out the tournament with 40 kills to average 3.64 per set. Groot hit .305 on the weekend, and .371 for the Flames' final two victories on Sept. 3. Ehrhardt led UIC with five service aces, while also averaging 3.36 digs per set. Hunt averaged 3.55 kills per set and recorded four blocks on the weekend.
 
Ehrhardt and Johnson were joined on the Redhawks Invitational All-Tournament Team by Groot. The Irvine, Calif., native delivered double-doubles in UIC's first two matches, while falling one kill and two digs shy in the sweep over New Orleans in the finale. She averaged 3.58 kills and 2.58 digs during the tournament. Johnson donned the libero jersey for the first time in her collegiate career against Louisiana Tech, and she posted a career-high 25 digs in the match. The Champaign, Ill., native averaged 3.67 digs per set in her first weekend at the position.
 
Where We Rank:
Across the Horizon League, UIC ranks fourth as a team in hitting percentage (.217), kills (12.84 per set) and assists (12.08 per set). Individually, Groot owns the top spot in the Conference in kills with an average of 3.77 per set, while Ehrhardt sits fourth with 3.48 per set. Ehrhardt is also second in the League in service aces (0.33 per set). Powell also makes the Horizon League ranks as the runner-up in the blocks category, averaging 1.20 per set. Additionally, UIC setter Nicole Johnson ranks fourth in the Horizon League in assists with 10.61 per set and Johnson (Kara) ranks eighth in digs with an average of 3.23 per set.
 
Congrats, Coach:
UIC head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley  reached a milestone with the team's win over New Orleans to close out the Redhawks Invitational on Aug. 27. The Chicago native entered the season with 97 career victories and the triumph over the Privateers marked win No. 100. Schumacher-Cawley, who now owns 113 victories, ranks third all-time in victories by a UIC head volleyball coach behind 23-year bench boss Don August, and the first head coach in program history, Mary Kapsalis.
 
About Youngstown State
The Flames will look to duplicate their performance against the Penguins earlier this season, when they swept YSU 3-0 on its own turf.  YSU currently sits beneath UIC in the Horizon League rankings, and is coming off a 3-1 loss to Northern Kentucky on Wednesday (Nov. 9). As a team, the Penguins are second in the Horizon League in service aces with 1.50 per set, and are also fifth in the Conference as a team in blocks, averaging 2.27 per set. Individually, YSU's Sam Brown is third in the League in service aces (0.31 per set) followed by teammates Val Jeffrey and Aleah Hughes in a tie for fifth (0.30 per set). Lori Vanbeek and Sarah Varcolla tie for sixth in the Conference in blocks (1.08 per set), and Vanbeek also makes the Horizon League hitting percentage rankings in eighth with a clip of .277.

About Northern Kentucky
NKU is tied for third overall in the Horizon League heading into the last weekend of the regular season after defeating YSU 3-1 Wednesday night (Nov. 9). The Norse are second as a team in kills (13.22 per set) and assists (12.35 per set) amongst Horizon League opponents, while also ranking third in service aces (1.36 per set) and digs (15.04 per set). NKU setter Taylor Snyder leads the League in assists with 10.79 per set, and teammate Lauren Hurley sits second in the league in digs (4.90 per set). Keely Creamer is fifth on both the hitting percentage (.313) and kills (3.30) list, while Haley Libs ranks seventh in service aces with 0.30 per set.