HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Redshirt sophomore Manuela Conte tallied a career-high 35 digs to tie the individual single-match digs record as the Flames outlasted the Norse 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 16-25, 15-11) on Sunday afternoon. Conte's historic outing marks just the 16th time in program history that a single player has recorded 30-plus digs in a match.

Match Highlights

• Set One: Tied at eight, the Flames took advantage of two Northern Kentucky errors and a Kiera James kill for an 11-8 lead.
• Set One: NKU took over the lead, 17-16, after two kills and a UIC service error. Following a Flames timeout, the Norse came back and took the next two, extending the lead, 19-16.
• Set One: The Flames reclaimed the lead after a 4-1 run that saw a pair of kills from James, 21-20. Another pair of James kills and a block at the hands of Ali Witt and Clara Lamb put the Flames at set point, 24-20.
• Set One: Two UIC errors gave NKU a pair, but Lamb buried a feed from Marija Borcic to end the set, 25-22, in favor of the Flames.
• Set Two: The Norse took an early 13-7 lead, leaving the Flames with work to do. UIC came within three, 17-14, but NKU went on a 6-2 run to once again take a comfortable 23-16 lead.
• Set Two: The Flames once again cut NKU's lead to three after three kills from Paola Santiago, a kill from Tatyana Ndekwe and an Alexandria Hicks/Ndekwe block, 24-21, but the Norse ended the set with a kill, 25-21.
• Set Three: Tied at 13, UIC went on a 6-3 run to take a 19-15 lead. Lamb, Santiago and Ndekwe all tallied kills in the run. Following a Norse timeout, Ndekwe and Santiago blocked an NKU attempt, 20-15, but the Norse tacked on a pair of kills, 20-17.
• Set Three: The Flames responded by taking the next three, 23-17, thanks to two blocks and another James kill. The Norse took three of the next four, 24-20, and a combo block from Witt and Borcic gave UIC the 25-20 set victory.
• Set Four:  NKU built a 14-6 lead to start set four, but the Flames went on a 5-1 streak to cut the Norse's lead in half, 15-11.
• Set Four: The Norse took a timeout and regrouped, taking set four 25-16.
• Set Five: UIC went up 4-1 to start the tiebreaker, and then took eight of the next 11 scored for a 12-4 lead. The Norse threatened, taking the next five, 12-9.
• Set Five: Kills from Santiago and James put the Flames at match point, 14-9, and after a pair of NKU kills, a termination by Borcic put away the Norse for good, 15-11.

Facts & Figures

• Manuela Conte's 35 digs is just the 16th time in program history that a player has recorded at least 30 digs in a single match. She matches Maggie Strus's 35-dig showing on Sept. 15 2012 against Belmont. The last player to record 30-plus digs in a match was Carla Salvato on Sept. 8, 2017, when she dug out 31 against Bradley. 
• Kiera James paced the Flames offense with a career-high 21 kills.
• Paola Santiago also recorded a personal best in kills with 18. The freshman also tallied 14 digs for her sixth double-double this year.
• Marija Borcic handed out a career-high 38 assists, while also recording 12 digs for her eighth double-double. The freshman also blocked a personal-best six.
• Clara Lamb notched eight kills, while Tatyana Ndekwe recorded seven for the offense.
• Salvato dug out 15 for the defense.
• The Flames blocked a team season-high 15 in Sunday's victory. Ndekwe blocked a personal-best eight, while Ali Witt stopped six.
• UIC also recorded 99 digs for a team season high.

Up Next

• The Flames kick off a four-match home stand starting on Friday, Oct.12 against Oakland.