YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The UIC volleyball team (5-0, 5-0 HL) won its fifth-straight match on Monday to remain undefeated on the young season, sweeping away Youngstown State (2-3, 2-3 HL) in three sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-21) in the series opener. The Flames served up a season-high 10 aces and out-blocked the Penguins 8-1 in route to their third sweep of the season.

Set One Highlights

• Four early aces for the Flames led to a 5-0 run and an advantage for the Flames, 15-9. The Penguins picked up a pair, but a Paola Santiago kill and a pair of YSU errors pushed UIC's lead to six, 18-12.
• Youngstown State put down two kills, which were followed by two miscues, 20-14. A UIC service error made it 20-15, but the Flames took five of the last six to finish out the set, 25-16.
• The final five points featured terminations from Mikala Henderson, Martina Delucchi, Zahria Woodard and Morgan Kull.

Set Two Highlights

• Aces from Kull and Henderson, as well as kills from Santiago, Becca Oldendorf, Henderson and Kull allowed the Flames to double up on the Penguins at the first timeout, 10-5.
• Youngstown State pulled within three, 11-8, but UIC scored the next three consecutively to put the lead at six, 14-8, and force another Penguin timeout.
• Kull and Santiago pushed the advantage to seven, 17-10, but YSU took the next three tallies, 17-13. Another 3-0 streak had the Penguins knocking on the Flames' door, 19-17.
• The Flames answered with a 3-0 streak which culminated in a Kull – Woodard block, 22-17. A pair of UIC miscues handed a pair to YSU, 22-19, before the Flames were able to close out the match with a Santiago – Woodard block and a Jaclyn Oblena service ace, 25-19.

Set Three Highlights

• The Penguins broke a 7-7 tie with four-straight points for an early advantage, 11-7.
• Trailing by two, 13-11, the Flames took three straight to take over the lead, 14-13. YSU returned a kill to tie it at 14, but the Flames took another three unanswered thanks to kills from Alexandria Hicks and Delucchi, 17-14.
• The Penguins responded, tying the match at 18 and again at 19, before committing a pair of errors to put the Flames ahead by two, 21-19, and calling timeout.
• Following the break, Oblena served up her second ace of the day, 22-19, and Santiago ended it, burying the final three feeds for the Flames to hand UIC a 25-21 win in set three.

Facts & Figures

• Paola Santiago was once again at the top of UIC's offense, turning in a team-high 12 kills while also making six digs and four blocks.
• Morgan Kull dished out 24 assists and made five terminations for the offense. She also collected five digs, two blocks and served up a team-high three service aces.
• Zahria Woodard finished with four kills, while Martina Delucchi and Becca Oldendorf finished with three. Woodard also made a team-high five blocks, while Oldendorf stopped three.
• Delucchi shared the team lead in digs with libero Jaclyn Oblena, with both Flames turning in 10 digs.
• The Penguins finished with more kills, 35-31, but the Flames were more efficient, hitting .186 (31k-13e-97) on the match compared to .094 (35k-25e-106a) for the home team.
• Youngstown State finished with more digs, 49-41, as well as assists, 33-29.  

Up Next

• The Flames and Penguins will rematch tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT inside the Beeghly Center.