CHICAGO – The UIC volleyball team (14-6, 3-3 HL) begins its longest homestand of the season this weekend, as it welcomes Northern Kentucky (10-8, 3-3 HL) and IUPUI (6-13, 2-4 HL) to the Flames Athletic Center. The Flames will face off with the Norse on Friday, Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. CT before wrapping up the weekend against the Jaguars on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames had an exciting weekend, sweeping Wright State 3-0 at home and grabbing a 3-1 win over Cleveland State on the road. UIC's sweep of Wright State snapped a 16-match winning streak for the Raiders, which had been the nation's longest active streak. Sophomore Velina Minkova held down the defense for the Flames, averaging 6.29 digs per set on the weekend to earn the first Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week accolade of her career, while Brookah Palmer picked up her second and third double-doubles of the season.  

MONSTER BLOCK
The Flames have had a huge presence at the net this season, tallying 190 total blocks as a squad to rank ninth in the nation. UIC averages 2.61 blocks per set as a team, a mark which leads the Horizon League and ranks 24th in the nation. The Flames' big hands have stopped ten or more on 11 occasions, with three of those occasions coming in at 14 or more, and they have out-blocked their opponents in 15 of their 20 matches.   

STRONG IN THE MIDDLE
UIC's primary middle blockers, Michelle Glover and Tatyana Ndekwe, have given the Flames great strength up at the net both offensively and defensively. Glover is averaging 2.25 kills per set, while Ndekwe averages 1.47 kills per set, and the pair also makes up UIC's two most efficient attackers, hitting .282 and .224, respectively.

Glover leads the Horizon League and ranks eighth in the nation in total blocks, racking up 98 stops this season, 10 more than any other player around the League. Her 1.34 blocks per set also leads the conference and comes in at 22nd nationwide. Offensively, Glover's .282 hitting puts her at sixth in the conference.

LET ME ASSIST YOU
UIC's 12.58 assists per set comes in at second in the Horizon League and 41st in the nation, thanks in large part to setters Marija Borcic and Lauren Musante. Both Borcic and Musante rank in the conference's top ten in assists, coming in at fifth and ninth, respectively. Both setters also contribute on the defensive end as well, as Borcic averages 2.19 digs per set and Musante averages 1.98 per set. The tandem leads the squad in double-doubles, owning four apiece.

NEW TO THE SQUAD
The Flames brought on board only one newcomer for the 2019 season, Texas A&M transfer Brookah Palmer. Prior to her time in College Station, Palmer spent a season with the University of Houston, where she led the American Athletic Conference and ranked 40th in the nation with 4.15 kills per set. Palmer also led the AAC in both total points (582) and points per set (4.77) in 2015, earning All-American Athletic Conference First Team honors as well as AVCA All-Southeast Region Honorable Mention. As a Flame, Palmer is averaging 2.64 kills per set, 1.61 digs per set and she owns the second-most service aces on the squad with 14. The redshirt senior finished with a pair of double-doubles last weekend, bringing in 14 kills and 10 digs against Wright State and 11 kills and 12 digs at Cleveland State.

WHERE WE RANK
After three weeks of conference action, the Flames sit in a three-way tie for fourth place in the League with a 3-3 record. Also in that tie is Northern Kentucky, as well as Oakland. UIC's offense is averaging 13.68 kills per set, a mark which ranks second in the Horizon League. As a squad, the Flames are hitting .202, putting them at fifth in the conference. Defensively, UIC leads the League in total blocks as well as blocks per set, amassing 190 as a squad to rank ninth in the nation, while it also ranks fifth in the conference in digs with an average of 16.71 per set.

PAOLA'S POWER
Sophomore Paola Santiago has been an anchor for the UIC offense, averaging 2.38 kills per set. The sophomore earned the title of Most Valuable Player at the Chippewa Invitational after averaging 3.09 kills per set, 1.91 digs per set and recording four service aces in the tournament. Santiago also makes a statement for the defense, averaging 2.26 digs per set, good for second most on the team. The San Juan, Puerto Rico native owns two double-doubles on the season, one at Idaho (17 kills, 22 digs) and another versus Chicago State (14 kills, 13 digs).

BALANCED ATTACK
UIC's offense utilizes a balanced attack to spread the ball around to several strong attackers. The Flames have five players averaging at least two kills per set in Paola Santiago (2.38 per set), Kiera James (2.31 per set), Michelle Glover (2.25 per set), Alexandria Hicks (2.33 per set) and Brookah Palmer (2.64 per set). Together they make up 77 percent of UIC's kills, as each attacker owns over well over 100 successful attacks on the season. On Saturday at Cleveland State, UIC's balanced attack was on full display, as Alexandria Hicks, Kiera James, Brookah Palmer and Tatyana Ndekwe all finished with double-digit kill efforts.

FRESH FACES ON STAFF
UIC welcomed a pair of new assistants to its staff for the 2019 season, adding Lauren Van Orden on staff in March and Katie Weidner in June. Van Orden joins the Flames after spending four years (2014-17) as an assistant with city-foe Loyola, guiding the Ramblers to a 20-win season back in 2015. Van Orden boasts an incredibly successful collegiate career that started with two years at San Diego State and capped off with a 2011 national championship in her senior season at UCLA. During her two years as a Bruin, Van Orden led the team to a 52-15 record, making 61 starts as the team's setter and captain.

Weidner came to Chicago following stints with the Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport as well as the Israel Volleyball Federation. As a player, Weidner started her collegiate career at New Hampshire University, earning a spot on the 2003 America East All-Rookie Team before transferring to Marquette University. With the Golden Eagles, Weidner was a two-time Academic All-Big East Team honoree (2006-07) ranking seventh in career assists (2,308) and second in single-match assists (85).

WELCOME BACK
UIC returns 14 of its 17 members from the 2018 squad, including Horizon League Freshman of the Year Kiera James and fellow All-League First Team and All-Freshman Team-member Paola Santiago, who both made a splash in their first seasons as Flames. Also back in the lineup is redshirt junior Manuela Conte, after finishing last year with the second most digs in UIC's single-season history (516) and ranking second in the Horizon League in service aces (0.35 per set).

FLAMES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
UIC's roster boasts four international players, more than any of their Horizon League counterparts. Junior Alexandra Drosopoulou hails from Thessaloniki, Greece, sophomore setter Marija Borcic calls Uzice Serbia home, redshirt junior Manuela Conte is from Bologna, Italy, while sophomore Velina Minkova is native to Sofia, Bulgaria.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Northern Kentucky owns an identical 3-3 mark against Horizon League opponents so far after a 3-2 loss to Oakland and a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee last weekend. The Norse support a well-rounded team that ranks in the top four in every statistical category across the League, coming in first in service aces (1.55 per set), third in hitting percentage (.221), assists (12.55 per set) and digs (17.30 per set) and fourth in kills (13.39 per set) and blocks (2.36 per set). The Norse's Abby Kanakry is hitting .301 as their most efficient attacker, while Laura Crawford puts down the most kills, averaging 3.03 per set. On the defensive side, Ashton Terrill leads the squad in digs per set, averaging 4.72 to rank fourth in the Horizon League.

IUPUI is looking to snap a four-match losing streak after taking losses to Wright State (3-0), Northern Kentucky (3-0), Youngstown State (3-2) and Green Bay (3-2) over the last two weeks. The Jags are looking to improve offensively, as they rank ninth in the Horizon League in hitting percentage (.128), assists (10.20 per set), and kills (10.97 per set). Defensively, the Jags keep their opponents to 11.03 assists per set and 11.99 kills per set, which ranks second and fourth in the conference, respectively. Individually, Mckayla Wright leads the Jags' offense, averaging 3.00 kills per set, while Rachel Hickey handles the defense with an average of 4.37. Both rank seventh in the League in their respective categories. Up at the net, Haley Hoffman averages 1.31 blocks per set to come in at second in the League, just one spot behind The Flames' own Michelle Glover.