CHICAGO – The UIC volleyball team (7-3) will head south to Edwardsville, Ill. this weekend for its final tournament of the season, the Cougar Invite, hosted by SIUE. The Flames are slated to battle Montana on Friday, Sept. 15 at 3:30 p.m. CT before finishing off the Invite with Seattle (1 p.m.) and host SIUE (6 p.m.). Live video for Saturday's finale against SIUE can be found here.

LOOKING BACK
The Flames extended their win streak to five on Wednesday evening in the Flames Athletic Center with a 3-0 sweep of South Dakota State. UIC rallied its second-highest team attack percentage of the season in its fourth sweep of the season.

Senior Kyisha Hunt continues to shine offensively, paving the way for the sweep against the Jackrabbits. Hunt gathered a team-high 13 kills while hitting .296 on the night.

Junior Carla Salvato kept the defense strong once again, recording a match-best 13 digs for the Flames. Freshman Kaliegh Skopal dug out 10 in addition to her 24 assits, while Manuela Conte contributed a well-rounded effort with eight kills and seven digs.

CARLA SALVATO NAMED HL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Salvato was named Horizon League Player of the week on Monday following a stellar performance in last weekend's CEFCU Classic. The junior registered a career-high 31 digs on Friday (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 Saturday. The libero earned a spot on the CEFCU Classic's All-Tournament team, averaging 5.75 digs per set in the tournament, and sits second the Horizon League with 4.87 digs per set. Salvato is not only 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. 

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 12.85 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. Skopal is eighth with 5.90 assists per set entering the weekend, while Johnson is ninth with 5.72.

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 seventh in the Horizon League with 4.21 digs per set through UIC's 10 matches. She's also ranks second on the team with 12 service aces after posting a career-high four against Chicago State Sunday (Sept. 10).
 
HUNTING SEASON
Kyisha Hunt has been UIC's most prolific attacker this season. The Kankakee, Ill., native leads the squad with 3.56 kills per set, which ranks fourth in the Horizon League. Hunt is also third on the Flames in hitting percentage as she's converted at a clip of .280, while leading UIC with 139 kills overall. Hunt was crowned most valuable player at the CEFCU Classic this past weekend, averaging 3.50 kills per set.

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.
 
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 over the weekend. In her first taste of collegiate competition, Conte tallied 4.83 digs per set, which ranked fourth in the Horizon League over the weekend. 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 weekend with 19 kills, four aces, four assists and three blocks.
 
SCOUTING MONTANA
The Grizzlies are off to their best 10-match start since 2005 with a 5-5 record thus far. This past weekend, Montana went 2-2 at the Drake Tournament, boasting wins against SEMO (3-2) and Nebraska-Omaha (3-0), while falling to San Jose State (3-0) and host Drake (3-1). Junior Mykaela Hammer was named to the all-tournament team for the Grizzlies, averaging 3.33 kills per set offensively and 2.53 digs for the defense.  

SCOUTING SEATTLE
Seattle is 3-7 on the season, coming off a 3-1 win against Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday. Sophomore Katarina Marinkovic was named to the preseason All-WAC team and leads the Redhawks averaging 3.97 kills per set. Setter Shae Harris ranks second in the Western Athletic Conference with a 9.92 assists per set, and recently set a program record for most assists in a single match with 62.  

SCOUTING SIUE
Host SIUE is off to its best start in the Division I era with a 7-2 record thus far. The Cougars are hot off the Scenic City Showdown this past weekend, where they went 2-1, closing out the tournament with a pair of 3-0 sweeps versus Georgia State and Jackson State. Senior Taylor Joens was awarded Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week following her performance at the Scenic City Showdown, where she put together 40 kills and hit at a clip of .369 across the Cougars' three matches.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Cougar Invite will serve as the Flames' final trio of matches before Horizon League play begins. UIC will open conference competition at home against Youngstown state on Sept. 22 and Cleveland State on Sept. 23.
Youngstown State live video
Cleveland State live video