CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – UIC opened the 2016 season Friday morning with the program's first-ever match against Louisiana Tech, and it was the Flames who rallied from behind to claim victory in the first match of the Redhawks Invitational, 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-27, 27-25, 15-9).
 
A pair of senior outside hitters shouldered the load for the Flames in the first match of the season. Alyssa Ehrhardt registered a career-high 27 kills at a clip of .306 (27k-8e-62a), while adding eight digs, five aces and a pair of blocks. Graduate transfer Kelsie Groot, playing in her first match for the Flames, added 20 kills of her own and 10 digs to notch UIC's first double-double of the season.
 
In need of a win to extend the match, UIC was staring down defeat with a 24-23 deficit late in the fourth game. The Flames started the comeback with a point off a serving error by the Lady Techsters. LA Tech's Nia Myah Johnson and UIC's Ehrhardt traded scores to even the ledger at 25 points apiece before UIC's defense rose to the occasion. Senior Casey Harris and junior Kyisha Hunt paired up for a tandem block to put the Flames ahead, 26-25. Following a Louisiana Tech timeout the team committed an attacking error to hand UIC a 27-25 win of its own, extending the match.
 
In the fifth set, a race to 15 points, UIC held an 8-5 lead as the teams switched sides. On the ensuing rally, UIC's Ali Witt and Hunt paired up for another block to push the cushion to four points. Louisiana Tech clawed to within two, but UIC scored the final four points in consecutive order to claim a 15-9 victory. Groot added two kills down the stretch, while Harris and Nicole Johnson teamed up to block Papach's last-ditch effort to put an exclamation point on the win.
 
"I'm proud of the fight we showed today," said UIC head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley. "Louisiana Tech put us in a lot of uncomfortable situations throughout the match, but we continually found ways to keep our composure and keep fighting.
 
"Alyssa [Ehrhardt] and Kelsie [Groot] really stepped up for us," said Schumacher-Cawley. "Those are two of the senior leaders for this team, and for them to come out the way they did in the first match of the season was important. They refused to give up and the entire team fed off that mentality."
 
Earlier, UIC and Louisiana Tech handed the lead back-and-forth in the first set with the Flames ahead in the latter stages, 18-17, following a kill from Groot and an attacking error by the Lady Techsters. Louisiana Tech responded to score six unanswered points to go ahead 23-18. UIC, which had only eight kills in the stanza, fought off two match points with a kill from Ehrhardt and another error by Louisiana Tech's Angela Papach, but Papach earned a kill to cap the next rally, securing a 25-22 win.
 
The Flames, playing as the home team Friday morning, fell behind in the early stages of the second set, 11-7, before Ehrhardt took over. She started, and ended, a six-point UIC run with kills and also contributed three consecutive service aces to put her team ahead, 13-11. Louisiana Tech would later wrestle the lead back at 18-16, but the Flames had plenty of fight left. The score was knotted at 21 when Ehrhardt buried a pass from Nicole Johnson to grab the advantage for good. Groot sealed a 25-22 set victory with a kill to even the match at 1-1 at the intermission.
 
The Lady Techsters displayed their own relentless spirit in the third game to take a 2-1 lead at the Show Me Center. Another termination from Ehrhardt had UIC ahead late, 24-22, but Louisiana Tech scored three straight points to grab a 25-24 edge. Groot kept the Flames alive with a kill, but a service error and ace from LA Tech's Nia Myah Johnson helped the visitors claim a 27-25 triumph.
 
Senior Kara Johnson, wearing the libero jersey for the first time in her UIC career, was a stalwart along the back line. The Champaign, Ill., native collected a career-high 25 digs, while adding three assists. Nicole Johnson guided the offensive attack with 57 assists, while also notching a team-high six blocks from her setter position. Hunt and Witt also posted five blocks apiece.
 
The Flames have a few hours to rest before returning to the Show Me Center tonight to face Southeast Missouri State. UIC will meet the host Redhawks at 7 p.m.