CHICAGO – The UIC volleyball team (20-10, 9-7 HL) will make its second trip to Dayton, Ohio in as many weeks to compete in the Horizon League Volleyball Tournament, hosted by Wright State. UIC has received the fifth seed and will square off with No. 4 Northern Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 22 at 5 p.m. CT in the quarterfinals.

Green Bay has received the third seed and will face No. 6 Oakland on Friday prior to UIC and Northern Kentucky's match. The highest remaining seed out of those two matches will face No. 2 Milwaukee on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 5 p.m. CT, while the lowest remaining seed will pair up with top-seeded Wright State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames closed out the regular season with a pair of losses against two of the League's top teams, falling 3-2 to Green Bay and 3-0 to Milwaukee. The Flames fought off an 0-2 hole against the Phoenix, coming back to take the next two sets, but Green Bay took the tiebreaker in extras, 17-15.

MONSTER BLOCK
The Flames have had a huge presence at the net this season, tallying 281 total blocks as a squad to rank 12th in the nation. UIC averages 2.49 blocks per set as a team, a mark which leads the Horizon League and ranks 37th in the nation. The Flames' big hands have stopped ten or more on 15 occasions, with four of those occasions coming in at 14 or more, and they have out-blocked their opponents in 22 of their 30 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 2.30 kills per set, while Ndekwe averages 1.57 kills per set, and the pair also makes up UIC's two most efficient attackers, hitting .301 and .237, respectively.

Glover leads the Horizon League and ranks 11th in the nation in total blocks, racking up 143 stops this season, 22 more than any other player around the League. Glover's .301 hitting ranks third in the League, as she is one of just three players hitting over .300.

Ndekwe is coming off a hot weekend, leading the Flames in kills against both Green Bay and Milwaukee. The senior posted a career-high 15 kills against the Phoenix and also tacked on seven blocks, marking her 10th showing of five or more blocks. 

LET ME ASSIST YOU
UIC's ranks fifth in the League in assists, handing out an average of 12.16 helpers per set. Setters Marija Borcic and Lauren Musante both rank in the conference's top ten in assists, coming in at sixth and tenth, respectively. Both setters also contribute on the defensive end as well, averaging over two digs per set apiece. The tandem leads the squad in double-doubles, owning seven apiece after Borcic's 28 assists and 12 digs on Thursday (Nov. 14) at Green Bay.  

HICKS TRICKS
Junior Alexandria Hicks has become a big impact player for the Flames this season, averaging 2.19 kills per set. Hicks has brought in double-digit kill efforts on nine occasions this year, and is hitting an efficient .206 on the season. The junior has also made contributions on defense, averaging 0.74 blocks per set. Hicks also gets the job done in the classroom, as she named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team for the first time in her career on Tuesday (Nov. 19).   

PAOLA'S POWER
Sophomore Paola Santiago has been an anchor for the UIC offense, averaging 2.11 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 2.34 digs per set, good for third most on the team. The San Juan, Puerto Rico native owns the third most double-doubles on the squad with five, most recently tallying 16 kills and 10 digs on Nov. 10 against Cleveland State.

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 2.45 kills per set, 1.73 digs per set and she owns the third-most service aces on the squad with 16. The redshirt senior has three double-doubles on the season, at Idaho (23 kills, 10 digs), vs. Wright State (14 kills, 10 digs) and at Cleveland State (11 kills, 12 digs). 

WHERE WE RANK
UIC's offense ranks fourth in the Horizon League in kills, averaging 13.31 terminations per set. It also ranks fifth in the conference with an average of 12.16 assists per set, and sixth in the League with a .195 hitting percentage. Defensively, UIC is at the top of the League in blocks, averaging 2.49 stops per game. It also keeps its opponents to .179 hitting, good for fourth-lowest in the conference.  
 
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 (2.11 per set), Kiera James (2.26 per set), Michelle Glover (2.30 per set), Alexandria Hicks (2.19 per set) and Brookah Palmer (2.45 per set). Together they make up 76 percent of UIC's kills, as each attacker owns over 200 successful attacks on the season.

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 finished the regular season 16-12 overall with an identical 9-7 mark in Horizon League matches. The Norse are riding a five-match win streak, dating back to their 3-0 sweep over UIC on Nov. 2. NKU last faced Cleveland State and Youngstown State, taking down the Vikings 3-1 before outlasting the Penguins 3-2. The Flames and Norse split the regular season's matchups, with each team winning on their own court.

As for the rest of the tournament participants, No. 2 seed Milwaukee boasts the strongest offense, leading the League in hitting percentage (.242), assists (13.43 per set) and kills (14.33 per set). The Panthers have also served up the most aces, averaging 1.54 per set. Wright State has the lead on defense with a comfortable lead in digs, averaging almost two more digs per set than any other squad at 19.69 per frame. The Raiders also hold their opponents to the lowest hitting percentage (.138), and sit right behind the Flames in blocks per set (2.47 per set).

Green Bay hits at a .206 clip to rank fourth in the League and is followed by Oakland hitting .197 as a squad. Green Bay finished the regular season third in assists (12.44 per set), kills (13.32 per set) and digs (17.47 per set), while Oakland finished sixth in those same categories, averaging 12.08 assists per set, 12.77 kills per set and 16.89 digs per set.