CHICAGO -- UIC closes out early season tournament play and makes its home debut this weekend as the Flames play host to the annual Chicago Cup.

TRAFFIC ADVISORY
• Due to a special event at the Dorin Forum Friday, Sept. 16, several adjacent streets and parking facilities will be closed and may cause significant traffic delays for both drivers and pedestrians. This includes streets around the Flames Athletics Center and UIC's athletic complex.
• For more information, including specifics on street closures, please click here.

FIRST SERVE
• The Flames will open action on Friday against Loyola at 7 p.m. before returning to the Flames Athletic Center on Saturday to take on Northwestern (12 p.m.) and DePaul (7 p.m.). The first two UIC's matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Martina Delucchi picked up the first MVC weekly award in program history this past week as the outside hitter was named the Missouri Valley Player of the Week on Sept. 12.

DELUCCHI COLLECTS MVC HONORS
• Outside hitter Martina Delucchi picked up the first MVC weekly honor in program history on Sept. 12 when she was named the conference Player of the Week.
• Delucchi was instrumental in UIC's upset win over Miami, as the junior nearly tallied a double-double with a match-high 19 kills to go along with nine digs and three aces. The native of La Plata, Argentina followed with her team-leading third double-double of the season against UNC Wilmington, finishing with a match-high 18 kills to go along with 17 digs in a five-set battle, before rounding out the weekend with a team-best 13 kills against UCF.
• Following the weekend of competition, Delucchi leads all MVC players with 4.11 kills per set while her 144 total kills are second-most in the conference.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE U(IC)
• The Flames picked up a big win at the UCF Invitational, upsetting Miami, 3-1, in the opening round of competition.
• The Hurricanes entered the weekend as the first team outside the Top-25 in the latest AVCA national rankings.
• The win marked UIC's first win against a Power 5 opponent since defeating Indiana, 3-2, on Sept. 12, 2014.

NEW HOME
• It was announced on Jan. 26 that UIC would be officially joining the Missouri Valley Conference for the start of the 2022-23 academic year.
• The Flames were 1-of-3 schools to make the move to the MVC prior to the start of the year as Belmont and Murray State join UIC as newcomers to the conference.
• The addition of the three new schools gives the MVC a 12-team league for the first time in conference history.
• The Flames are 1-of-4 schools from the state of Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference, joined alongside Bradley, Illinois State and Southern Illinois.