CHICAGO – The UIC volleyball team (2-0) will continue its season-opening homestand, welcoming another Horizon League newcomer to Chicago in Robert Morris (0-2). The two teams will square off on Monday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. CT before wrapping up the two-match series on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. Both matches will be played inside the Flames Athletic Center and will be broadcast on ESPN+.

LOOKING BACK
UIC kicked off its season with a 2-0 series sweep over Horizon League newbie Purdue Fort Wayne. The Flames downed the Mastodons 3-1 in Monday's (Jan. 25) opener before closing out the series with a 3-0 sweep on Tuesday (Jan. 26).

In Monday's 3-1 win, the Flames hit .400 (68k-10e-145a) as a squad and had four players record double-digit kill efforts in Paola Santiago (15), Zahria Woodard (14), Becca Oldendorf (13) and Mikala Henderson (12). On Tuesday, the Flames fought to come back and win in sets one and two before soundly taking down the visitors in set three to complete the 3-0 sweep.

WHERE WE RANK
UIC's offense leads the Horizon League in hitting percentage (.315), assists (14.29 per set) and kills (16.00 per set). On the defensive side, the Flames come in at third in the conference in both blocks (2.14 per set) and digs (17.86 per set). Freshmen Zahria Woodard, Mikala Henderson and Becca Oldendorf all rank in the League's top ten in hitting percentage. Woodard leads the way in second, hitting at a clip of .488, while Henerson ranks seventh, hitting .364. Oldendorf comes in at No. 10, hitting .333 on the season so far. Setter Morgan Kull leads the League in assists, handing out an average of 12.43 per set. In kills, junior Paola Santiago sits third in the League, averaging 3.43 terminations per set, while Henderson (3.14 per set) and Woodard (3.14 per set) follow in seventh and eighth, respectively.

PAOLA'S POWER
Junior Paola Santiago picked up one of the first Horizon League Volleyball Player of the Week awards of the season on Thursday (Jan. 28) after a standout performance in UIC's season-opening series against Purdue Fort Wayne. The junior averaged 3.43 kills per set, 3.71 digs per set and 1.00 blocks per set across the two games and recorded her first double-double of the season in Monday's victory with 15 kills and 10 digs.

BACK IN THE LINEUP
Back in the lineup for the Flames this season is junior Michelle Glover, who led the squad with 265 kills and 145 blocks in 2019 to earn a spot on the Horizon League First Team. Also returning for the Flames this season is senior Alexandria Hicks, who averaged 2.20 kills per set and 0.72 blocks per set for the Flames in 2019.
Junior Paola Santiago will also be returning for the Flames after averaging 2.10 kills per set and 2.35 digs per set with five double-doubles in 2019. On the defensive side, junior Velina Minkova is back in the lineup after serving as the Flames' primary libero in 2019 with a team-high 4.03 digs per set.

NEW ADDITIONS
UIC's roster has 13 new additions, 12 of which are true freshman. Mikala Henderson, Taylor O'Malley, Jaclyn Oblena, Martina Delucchi, Sohila Wafeek, Zahria Woodard, Liza Garrido, Becca Oldendorf, Jackie Yau, Abigail Sunga, Amelia Sunga and America Galvan will all be kicking off their collegiate careers with the Flames while senior Morgan Kull joins UIC after three seasons at Auburn.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
The Flames' roster boasts lots of talent from around the world, with five of its players hailing from outside of the United States. Senior Alexandra Drosopoulou is native of Thessaloniki, Greece, while fellow upper classman Velina Minkova hails from Sofia, Bulgaria. Freshmen Martina Delucchi (La Plata) and Liza Garrido (Cordoba) both made their way to Chicago from Argentina, while newcomer Sohila Wafeek calls Cairo, Egypt, home.

LOCAL TALENT
In addition to its international talents, the Flames also have several players on the roster local to Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Freshman Jackie Yau is a Chicago native, while fellow freshmen Taylor O'Malley (Naperville, Ill.), Zahria Woodard (Oak Park, Ill.), Jaclyn Oblena (Orland Park, Ill.) and Becca Oldendorf (Lockport, Ill.) are all suburban natives. Juniors Michelle Glover (Wheaton, Ill) and Francesca Wagoner (Lisle, Ill.), as well as senior transfer Morgan Kull (St. Charles, Ill.) all hail from the western suburbs.

FAN ATTENDANCE
At this time, UIC will not host fans for home matches at the Flames Athletic Center due to current public health regulations. Flames fans can watch UIC volleyball matches on the ESPN family of networks, as in past years.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
Horizon League newcomer Robert Morris is 0-2 after a pair of losses to Oakland last week. The Colonials were edged out by the Golden Grizzlies 3-2 on Monday before taking a 3-0 loss in the rematch on Tuesday. Abby Ryan leads the Colonials with an average of 2.88 kills per set, while Whitney Brown paces the team in digs with 4.12 per set. Skylar Clements, Emma Brown and Alyssa Hudak share the blocking duties, as each is averaging 0.62 per set.