CHICAGO – UIC will begin the 2016 volleyball season in earnest on Friday, August 26, with a pair of matches on the docket at the Redhawks Invitational in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Flames will wrap up the two-day tussle with a late-morning match on Saturday, August 27.
 
The squad, which features 10 returning letterwinners, will hit the floor for the first time Friday at 10 a.m. against Louisiana Tech. After battling the Lady Techsters in the season opener, UIC will return to the Show Me Center at 7 p.m. to square off against the hosts from Southeast Missouri State. The Flames conclude the tournament at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 27, when they will be pitted against the Privateers of New Orleans.
 
Among UIC's 10 returning letterwinners are seniors Anouska Best, Alyssa Ehrhardt, Casey Harris and Kara Johnson, and redshirt junior setter Nicole Johnson. With the graduation of two-time Horizon League Offensive Player of the Year Stephanee Yancy, Ehrhardt is the top returning attacker for the Flames. The Algonquin, Ill., native averaged 2.62 kills per set a year ago while leading the team with 38 aces from the service line. Setter Nicole Johnson ranked second in the Horizon League with 1,311 assists a year ago as she was one of only two players in the conference to eclipse 1,300 helpers.
 
In addition to the 10 returning letterwinners, and four returning starters, UIC's lineup is poised to get a boost from a slew of talented newcomers. After playing three seasons at Miami [Fla.], Kelsie Groot has arrived in Chicago to finish her collegiate eligibility with the Flames as a graduate student. The Irvine, Calif., native helped the Hurricanes reach the NCAA Tournament every year that she was in Coral Gables, Fla. As a redshirt junior in 2015, Groot led the team with 11 double-doubles and she ranked second among the 'Canes with 323 kills and 267 digs.
 
Kaylin Powell, a 6-foot-3 middle blocker from Chicago, joins the Flames as a junior after playing two seasons at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla. Powell helped the Saints win 52 matches in her two seasons and she was named the Mid-Florida Conference Freshman of the Year and an All-Conference selection in 2014. Another transfer student, Gaia Gbola, spent one year at Blinn College in Texas after matriculating from her hometown of Ravenna, Italy. In her home country, Gbola played for four years with highly-regarded Libertas Volley Forlì.
 
About Louisiana Tech
The Lady Techsters, under the guidance of head coach Adriano de Souza, finished 10-20 overall in 2015 with a mark of 3-13 in Conference USA. Redshirt junior Marta Monne returns after leading the team in points (280.0) and kills per set (3.07) a year ago. Libero Alejandra Aviles returns as well after ranking fourth in C-USA with 4.41 digs per set, and eighth with 0.3 service aces per stanza.
 
Friday's match will be the first-ever meeting between UIC and Louisiana Tech.
 
About SEMO
The Redhawks return nine players from the 2015 team which posted an overall record of 10-20, and an Ohio Valley Conference record of 6-10. SEMO figures to be led by junior Nzingha Clarke, who earned All-OVC honors as a sophomore after averaging 2.63 per set at a team-high clip of .323. Clarke also averaged more than one block per set as the only Redhawk to play in all 115 of the team's frames a year ago.
 
When SEMO meets the Flames on Friday night at the Show Me Center, it will for only the second time ever. UIC claimed a five-set victory in the first meeting on Sept. 10, 2011, in Evansville, Ind., behind 28 kills from Kelsey Safranek and 65 assists and 17 digs from sophomore captain MaryKate Imrie.
 
About New Orleans
New Orleans is coming off a strong season that featured a 13-win turnaround from the previous year. The 2015 edition of the Privateers finished 19-16 overall and a program-best 7-9 in the Southland Conference. Sophomore Blessing Dunn was named to the 2016 Preseason All-Southland Conference team after contributing a team-high 3.17 points per set in 2015. She made 26 starts as a true freshman and she was named the Louisiana Freshman of the Year.
 
The Privateers and Flames have met one other time on the volleyball court, but it was before any current member of the team was even born. UIC took down New Orleans, 3-0, in Chicago on September 2, 1992. The oldest player on the Flames in 2016 is Kelsie Groot, who was born two years later in 1994.
 
Live stats are available for all three matches of the Redhawks Invitational. Links are available on the UIC schedule page.