HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The UIC women's volleyball team (12-6, 3-2 HL) battled with Horizon League-foe Northern Kentucky (7-7, 3-2 HL) on Friday evening, taking a tough 3-2 (17-25, 25-17, 15-25, 25-21, 17-19) loss after a marathon tiebreaker set ended in favor of the Norse.
Sarah Daneliak and Alexandra Drospoulou each recorded 12 kills for UIC's offense, a career-high mark for both.
Kyisha Hunt brought in a match-high 19 kills for the Flames, while
Manuela Conte and
Ali Witt registered 14 and 7 kills, respectively.
Libero
Carla Salvato was at the top of the Flames defense, digging out 23, as Conte added 21 digs on the defensive side.
Nicole Johnson notched 16 digs alongside her 29 assists, and Drosopoulou earned 13 digs, just one dig shy of her career-best.
Facing a 14-6 hole to start set one, UIC came up with five unanswered points to close the gap, 14-11, but the Norse took four of the next five to recreate space, 18-12. The Flames were unable to fight back, as Northern Kentucky took set one, 25-17.
The Flames found their groove in set two, pulling out to an 8-4 lead early. UIC sustained the lead, 19-14, as NKU grabbed a pair of points from their offense to come within three, 19-16. But that was the closest the home team would get, as the Flames went on take six of the next seven thanks to kills from Witt and Drosopoulou, as well as a handful of Norse errors to end game with the same score as game one, 25-17, this time in favor of UIC.
Game three started as a close match, but quickly fell into the hands of the Norse. Tied at 13, NKU put up a crooked number, rallying off eight in-a-row, 21-13. The Flames were only able to put in two more off a Norse error and a kill from Witt before NKU ran away with it, 25-15.
UIC trailed to start the fourth frame, 13-9, but were able to bring the set to a 15-15 tie. The teams traded on points until the Flames strung together a trio of points off of a Norse error, a kill from Drosopoulou and an ace from Daneliak, 20-17. Following a NKU timeout, the Norse chipped in three to come within one, 21-20. An error on the home team combined with a Conte kill to make it 23-20, and NKU was able to put in one more before another Norse error and hit from Conte gave it to the Flames 25-21.
The final set held most of the dramatics, with eight tied scores and six extra points to determine a winner. UIC owned an 11-8 lead, when the Norse took advantage of a pair of UIC errors and a successful attack to tie it at 11. Hunt was responsible for three of the next four points to put the Flames up 14-12, but NKU's offense responded once again to even it out. Needing two to win, the Norse were finally able to secure the win with a pair of kills, 19-17.
UIC will wrap up its four-game road series tomorrow at Wright State, with the first serve set to get underway at 3 p.m. CT.
