CHICAGO – The UIC volleyball team (16-9, 7-5 HL) will play its final pair of regular season home matches this weekend, as they welcome Wright State (9-16, 3-9 HL) and Northern Kentucky (10-11, 6-6 HL) to the Flames Athletic Center. The Flames will collide with Wright State on Friday at 6 p.m. CT before wrapping up the weekend with the Norse of Northern Kentucky on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Saturday will serve as senior day, as the Flames will honor seniors Kyisha Hunt and Nicole Johnson for their contributions to UIC at the conclusion of the NKU match.

LOOKING BACK
The Flames notched a pair of hard-fought wins this past weekend, taking back-to-back 3-2 wins against Horizon League foes Green Bay and Milwaukee. UIC's 3-2 victory was their first against the Phoenix since 2014, while the win against Milwaukee on Sunday allowed the Flames to complete the regular season sweep of the Panthers.

Sunday's victory was packed with action, as the Flames tallied a season-high 15.5 team blocks while ensuring their highest conference win total since 2014. Sarah Daneliak paved the way for the team record with a career-high 11 total blocks. Kyisha Hunt matched her career-high 25 kills, while Ali Witt hit at a clip of .727, the ninth-highest individual single-match attack percentage in Division I history.

WHERE WE RANK
Last weekend's success bumped the Flames up to fourth place in the Horizon League standings, behind a three-way-tie for first between Cleveland State, Oakland and IUPUI, all of which own a 9-3 League record heading into this weekend. Green Bay mirrors the Flames' 7-5 conference record, while Northern Kentucky wraps up the top six with a 6-6 Horizon League record.
UIC is fourth in the League in both kills (13.41 per set) and assists (12.78 per set), and sits fifth as a team in both hitting percentage (.209) and digs (15.80 per set). Additionally, the Flames are second in the conference in service aces, averaging 1.32 per set, just behind Youngstown State's 1.35 per set average.

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 fourth in the Horizon League with 12.78 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 6.26 assists per set entering the weekend, while Skopal follows in ninth with 5.41. Johnson currently ranks second on the all-time career assists list, tabbing 4,502 career assists during her time in a Flames jersey. The senior is 138 assists shy from breaking the record of 4,640 set by former Flame Katie Kozak.

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 ninth in the Horizon League with 3.80 digs per set through 92 sets of action. She also leads UIC with 29 service aces this season, ranking her fourth in the conference with a 0.32 per set average. The freshman also leads the Flames with seven double-doubles this season, including her most recent double-digit kill and double-digit dig performance on Friday (Oct. 27) against Green Bay.

HUNTING SEASON
Kyisha Hunt has been UIC's most prolific attacker this season. The Kankakee, Ill., native averaged 3.40 kills per set last weekend against Green Bay and Milwaukee, including a career-high matching 25 kill performance against Milwaukee. The senior leads the squad with 3.72 kills per set, which ranks third in the Horizon League, and has recorded 20 plus kill efforts five times this season. Hunt also owns the third-highest hitting percentage on the Flames, as she's converted at a clip of .257. 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 mtch. 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 seventh in the Horizon League with 4.32 digs per set this season. 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 WRIGHT STATE
The Raiders are riding a five-match skid after falling 3-1 to first-place Oakland on Saturday (Oct. 28). Wright State is eighth overall in the Horizon League standings heading into the last two weeks of the regular season. The Raiders own a team average of 15.80 digs per set and 2.08 blocks per set, ranking them third and fourth in the League, respectively. Wright State is also sixth in both assists (12.09 per set) and service aces (1.12 per set), and is seventh in both hitting percentage (.183) and kills (12.80 per set). WSU senior Jessie Thornton leads the conference in digs with a per set average of 4.99, while teammate Megan Hopkins comes in sixth in the blocks standings with an average of 1.04 per set. The last meeting between the Flames and the Raiders ended in favor of UIC, 3-1.

SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Northern Kentucky is hot off a 3-0 sweep of Youngstown State on Saturday (Oct. 28). Freshman Kaelin Gentile tied the single-match hitting percentage record in the Division I-era with a clip of .750 in the match, tabbing 15 kills on 20 attempts. The Norse are sixth in the Horizon League with a 6-6 conference record, on the tails of the tie for fourth between UIC and Green Bay. NKU leads the League in digs, averaging 17.93 per set. Elsewhere in the Horizon League, the Norse are third as a team in service aces (1.21 per set) and sixth in kills (12.84 per set). Junior Haley Libs is fourth individually in the kills rankings, averaging 3.49 terminations per set. Setter Shelby Olson is also fourth in the conference, but in the assists category, averaging 10.67 assists per set. Earlier this season against Northern Kentucky, the Norse outlasted the Flames in a close battle, 3-2, on their home court.

LOOKING AHEAD
UIC will close out the regular season on the road next weekend by taking on two of the Horizon League's top contenders. The Flames are slated to face Oakland on Friday, Oct. 10 and IUPUI on Saturday, Oct. 11.