CHICAGO – The UIC women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 17-25, 21-25) decision to fellow Horizon League-member Green Bay Friday evening in the Flames Athletic Center.

Graduate Transfer Kelsie Groot was a mere one kill away from her season-high 20 kills, and hit at a clip of .298 (19k-5e-47a). Junior Kyisha Hunt contributed 14 kills, while senior Alyssa Ehrhardt recorded a hitting percentage of .333 (11k-3e-24a).

Senior Kara Johnson dug out 16 for the Flames defense, while Ehrhardt, Groot and Gaia Gbola each added six digs as well.

The first set was well matched, with neither team leading by more than two through the entire set. With the score tied at 22, Hunt took a feed from Nicole Johnson to give the Flames a one point edge. Green Bay struck back with a kill of their own to tie, and a UIC error switched the lead in their favor. The Flames called a time out and came back with another kill by Hunt to once again bring the game to a tie, 24 all. A kill by Green Bay's Megan Powers and another UIC error put Green Bay up 1-0.

The Flames owned the second set, and with the score set at 20-19, two straight kills from Groot and a Phoenix attack error gave UIC some breathing room (23-19). Green Bay grabbed two more points off a kill and a service ace, but Groot came back to seal the deal, 25-21 to tie the match at one apiece.

UIC was unable to keep up with Green Bay through the third set, as the Flames found themselves in a 7-1 hole early on. The Phoenix led by as many as seven, and eventually took the set 25-17.

Facing a 23-19 hole late in the fourth set, the Flames needed a spark to avoid elimination. A termination from Ali Witt put UIC within three, but another attack from Powers put the Phoenix one point away from victory. Hunt brought in one final kill before Powers took it away to give Green Bay the 3-1 win.

The Flames will head north to take on Milwaukee tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. CT in the Klotsche Center. Live stats for the match can be found on the UIC schedule page.