CHICAGO – After two weeks and four-straight road matches, the UIC volleyball team (13-6, 4-2 HL) will return home to the Flames Athletic Center this weekend to host Oakland (10-9, 5-2 HL) on Friday (6 p.m. CT) and IUPUI (9-11, 5-2 HL) on Saturday (4 p.m.). Friday's match against the Golden Grizzlies is UIC's annual Dig Pink match, with the first 150 UIC students through the doors receiving pink UIC Volleyball Dig Pink t-shirts.
 
LOOKING BACK
UIC went 1-1 for the second-straight week, after being edged out 3-2 by Northern Kentucky last Friday (Oct. 6) and turning around with a 3-1 win at Wright State on Saturday (Oct. 7). Saturday's win was UIC's fourth Conference win of the season, already tying last year's Horizon League win total.
Senior Kyisha Hunt recorded a career-high 25 kills for the Flames on Saturday against Wright State, in route to notching her highest attack percentage of the season (.525).
 
WHERE WE RANK
UIC is tied for second in the Horizon League rankings alongside Green Bay, just below this weekend's opponents, Oakland and IUPUI, who are tied for first. The Flames are third across the League in hitting percentage, hitting .222 as a team, but are tied for first in the same category amongst Horizon League opponents, hitting .249 in Conference action. UIC ranks second overall in kills, averaging 13.73 per set as a team, and it also ranks third in assists with an average of 12.96 per set. The Flames are also second in the Horizon League in service aces (1.34 per set) and fourth in digs (16.26 per set).   

Junior Ali Witt is fourth in the individual rankings with a .334 hitting percentage, which leads UIC. Also making the hitting percentage ranks is sophomore Sarah Daneliak, owning a .303 hitting percentage through 70 sets of action.

NEW FACES
The UIC roster boasts seven newcomers, all of which are freshmen. The group includes libero Andrea Aviles, outside hitters Alexandra Drosopoulou, Brecken Roe, Kiera James and Manuela Conte, opposite Alexandria Hicks and setter Kaliegh Skopal. Conte is a redshirt freshman after attending Oklahoma in 2016-17, however she did not appear in a match for the Sooners, retaining four seasons of eligibility. Six of the seven newcomers have appeared in a match this season with James as the lone exception.

SETTING FOR SUCCESS
Utilizing two primary setters, UIC ranks third in the Horizon League with 12.96 assists per set this season. The two Flames who spread the ball around, true freshman Kaliegh Skopal and fifth-year senior Nicole Johnson, each rank in the top 10 in the conference in assists. Johnson is eighth with 6.15 assists per set entering the weekend, while Skopal follows in ninth with 5.61.

INGRAM IS IN
UIC head coach Justin Ingram is in his first season at the helm for the Flames. He arrived in Chicago following a very successful five-year stint at Southern Illinois in which he guided the Salukis to 101 victories and the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in 2015. Ingram, the seventh head coach in program history, is a two-time conference Coach of the Year after capturing the award in 2015 at SIU and 2011 at Arkansas State. He graduated from Iowa State in 1995 and received a master's degree from Cal Poly in 1998.
  
CONTE'S CONNECTIONS
Manuela Conte, of Bologna, Italy, has a deep family history in volleyball. Her father, Hugo, is a member of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame after he appeared in the Olympic Games three times for his native Argentina. Hugo was a member of the 1984, 1988 and 2000 contingents and he helped the country capture a bronze medal in volleyball in 1988. Conte's brother, Facundo, competed for Team Argentina at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janiero and he also plays professionally in China.

Conte ranks second on the Flames and eighth in the Horizon League with 3.97 digs per set through UIC's 19 matches. She also leads UIC with 26 service aces this season, ranking her fourth in the Conference with a 0.35 per set average. The freshman also leads the Flames with five double-doubles this season, recording double-digits in both kills and digs in four out of the last five matches.  
 
HUNTING SEASON
Kyisha Hunt has been UIC's most prolific attacker this season. The Kankakee, Ill., native averaged 4.89 kills per set last weekend at Northern Kentucky and Wright State, including a career-high 25 kills on Saturday against the Raiders. The senior leads the squad with 3.68 kills per set, which ranks third in the Horizon League. Hunt is also third on the Flames in hitting percentage, as she's converted at a clip of .273. Hunt was crowned most valuable player at the CEFCU Classic and also represented the Flames on the Cougar Invitational All-Tournament team earlier this season.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
UIC's 2017 roster features four international standouts. Manuela Conte and junior Gaia Gbola are from Italy, coming from Bologna and Ravenna, respectively. Alexandra Drosopulou came to Chicago by way of Thessaloniki, Greece. Andrea Aviles' hometown is San Juan, Puerto Rico.

CLOSER TO HOME
Carla Salvato was named Horizon League Player of the week on Sept. 11 following a stellar performance at the CEFCU Classic. The junior registered a career-high 31 digs on Sept. 8 against Bradley, which was only the 15^th time in program history that a UIC player recorded 30 plus digs in a match. Salvato dug out 10 in the sweep of Murray State (Sept. 9), and closed out the CEFCU Classic with a match-high 28 digs in the finale against Bradley on Sept. 9. The libero earned a spot on the CEFCU Classic's All-Tournament team, averaging 5.75 digs per set in the tournament, and sits fourth in the Horizon League with 4.47 digs per set. Salvato is not just one of the Flames' Chicago natives, but she attended high school right down the street from UIC's urban campus. Salvato attended nearby Saint Ignatius College Prep, which is just west of the Flames Athletic Center. 
 
HAMPTON'S HEROES
Two UIC standouts, junior Alit Witt and redshirt freshman Manuela Conte, were named to the Hampton Inn Invitational All-Tournament Team. Witt averaged 2.42 kills per set while hitting a team-best .323 from her post in the middle. She also added nine blocks in three matches. Perhaps her biggest block of the weekend came as UIC mounted a furious third-set rally in the finale against Duquesne. The Flames trailed the game 17-12 at one point, but led 26-25 when Witt and teammate Kyisha Hunt got together to stuff an attack and complete the sweep.
 
Conte did a bit of everything in what was her first taste of collegiate competition, tallying 4.83 digs per set at the tournament. The Italian dug out a match-high 27 attacks in the season-opening win over Bowling Green and followed that up with 19 more against Xavier in a four-set match. She also finished the Hampton Inn Invitational with 19 kills, four aces, four assists and three blocks.
 
SCOUTING OAKLAND
This weekend's opponents faced off last night in a mid-week match, which ended in a 3-0 sweep of IUPUI in favor of Oakland. The win allowed the Golden Grizzlies to move up into a tie for first in the Horizon League alongside IUPUI, with both teams owning a 5-2 Conference record. Oakland sits just ahead of the Flames on the Horizon League hitting percentage rankings in second, converting at a clip of .224 as a team, and is tied with UIC in the standings against Conference opponents with a .249 percentage. The Golden Grizzlies also lead the League in blocks, averaging 2.61 per set, led by redshirt junior Krysteena Davis who sits at the top of the Conference with an average of 1.46 blocks per set. Last season the Flames went 1-1 against the Golden Grizzlies, as both teams won in five sets on their respective home courts.   

SCOUTING IUPUI
IUPUI was on the other side of last night's 3-0 sweep, dropping only its second Horizon League match of the season thus far. The Jaguar defense has proved itself strong this season, ranking second in the Conference in blocks averaging 2.32 per set. IUPUI also sits third in the League in digs, one spot ahead of the Flames with a 17.00 per set average. In Conference play, the Jaguars are tied for first with Cleveland State in service aces (1.42 per set), while also rounding out the top five in hitting percentage (.227). This season is the Jaguars' first as members of the Horizon League, and Saturday's match will serve as the first meeting between the two teams since 2004.  

LOOKING AHEAD
UIC will be back on the road for a pair of Horizon League rematches, beginning with Cleveland State on Friday, Oct. 20 and finishing at Youngstown State on Saturday, Oct. 21.