CHICAGO – The UIC volleyball team (4-3) will head down to sunny Florida this weekend for the UCF Challenge. The Flames will begin the tournament with Wofford College on Friday, Sept. 7 at 12 p.m. CT and host UCF at 7 p.m. CT before finishing with Florida International on Saturday, Sept. 8 at 12 p.m. All matches will be played inside The Venue at UCF.  

LOOKING BACK
UIC was handed a 3-0 loss to fellow city school Chicago State on Tuesday. The Flames were held to a mere .074 hitting percentage as a squad, their lowest of the season thus far. Clara Lamb led on the offensive side with nine kills, while Manuela Conte paced the Flames in digs with 10 in the loss.

OFFENSIVE FRONT
The Flames utilize a balanced attack with five players netting 40+ kills, and an additional two members with more than 30. Freshman Paola Santiago leads the way, averaging 2.20 terminations per set. Alexandria Hicks kills an average of 2.00 per set, while Ali Witt averages 1.85. Witt is the Flames' most efficient attacker, owning a .333 attack percentage, good for third-highest amongst Horizon League players.  

BLOCK PARTY
The Flames are out blocking opponents by a margin of 60.5-53.0, and averages 2.33 blocks per set compared to a 2.04 average by its opponents. Tatyana Ndekwe leads the presence at the net, averaging 1.23 rejections per set to place fifth in Horizon League ranks. Alexandria Hicks and Ali Witt also provide a large presence up front for the Flames, each averaging 0.88 blocks per set.

FRESH FACES
UIC welcomes 12 newcomers to the 2018 squad, 10 of which are freshman. New to the Flames are junior transfers Tatyana Ndekwe (Hutchison) and Courtney Rutledge (Louisiana Tech). Sierra Bolen, Marija Borcic, Hailey Duncan, Paola Santiago, Michelle Glover, Clara Lamb, Lauren Musante, Velina Minkova, Francesca Wagoner and Emily Kelly make up the team's 10 freshmen. The newcomers are also seeing a lot of court time, as Ndekwe, Musante, Borcic, Santiago, Lamb and Minkova have appeared in every match thus far.  

SENIORITY
The Flames look to its two seniors to anchor the 2018 squad in Carla Salvato and Ali Witt. Salvato, a local talent coming out of neighboring Saint Ignatius College Prep, led the squad from the libero position in all 30 matches last season. The senior was the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 11, 2017 following a career-high 31-dig performance against Bradley at the CEFCU Classic. Her 31 digs was just the 15th time in program history that a UIC player tallied 30 plus digs in a match.

Witt hails from suburban Crystal Lake, Ill., and has been a strong offensive presence for the Flames the past two seasons. She led the squad last season with 104 blocks, while also averaging 1.87 kills per set on the offensive side. The middle blocker owns two of UIC's top 10 single-match attack percentages all-time, recording the ninth highest in UIC history last season (.727) and the fifth highest in her sophomore year (.786). The senior was named MVP of the UIC Invitational after leading the Flames to a perfect 3-0 appearance.  The senior averaged 2.00 kills per set, registering a .469 attack percentage (18k-3e-32a) while registering a mere three errors across all three matches.

KEY RETURNERS
In addition to its two seniors, UIC returns four players from the 2017 roster. Sophomore Alexandria Hicks and redshirt sophomore Manuela Conte are both entering their second year in a Flames jersey after both earning a spot on the Horizon League All-Freshman Team last season. Sophomore Alexandra Drosopoulou is also returning this season after gathering 198 kills, 246 digs and 27 service aces in 26 appearances last season.

SCOUTING WOFFORD COLLEGE
The Terriers had a 3-1 showing Aug. 30-31 at Georgia Tech's Hyatt Regency Tournament. Wofford defeated Tulane, Alabama State and South Alabama, but was unable to come up with a win against the hosts. The Terriers hit .189 as a team and average 13.0 kills per set. Junior Catie Cronister leads the Wofford offense, owning an average of 3.08 kills per set. Senior Taylor Gill anchors the defense, averaging 6.08 digs per set, and Colleen Reilly leads the way at the net with a 1.31 blocks per set average.

SCOUTING UCF
UCF went 1-2 last weekend at the Bulby Invitational, defeating No. 10 Southern California, but falling to Louisville and No. 4 Florida. The Knights look to freshman McKenna Melville for both an offensive and defensive presence, averaging 4.48 kills per set and 3.57 digs per set. Libero Jordan Pingel leads UCF in digs with a 4.48 per set average. Anne-Marie Watson and Kathryn Wesolich both average 0.81 blocks per set to lead the Knights.

SCOUTING FIU
The Panthers are on a three-match win streak and have won five of their first six after opening the season with their own FIU Kickoff and Panther Fest tournaments. Senior Margherita Bianchin averages 3.72 terminations per frame to lead the Panthers on offense, while redshirt junior Lina Bernier averages 4.76 digs to pace the defense. Redshirt junior Chelsea Hudson leads the Panthers' block party, owning an average of 1.04 rejections per set.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Flames will face off with Northwestern, Loyola and DePaul in the Chicago Cup, starting on Friday, Sept. 14.