CHICAGO (Oct. 28, 2023) – The UIC volleyball team (16-10, 7-6 MVC) showcased some offensive accuracy with a .333 hitting percentage, completing a match sweep against Belmont (11-16, 5-8 MVC) Saturday night in front of the home crowd at Credit Union 1 Arena.

COMMENT FROM HEAD COACH JUSTIN INGRAM
"I thought at the beginning of the match we were really efficient. The third set was a little bit of a struggle. We made a few errors early and throughout the course of the set. It was a little tighter than we
wanted, but we certainly came through in the end. Zahria Woodard did a tremendous job finishing out the match for us."

COMMENT FROM SENIOR OUTSIDE HITTER ZAHRIA WOODARD
"Today was an important win for us. I thought our team did a good job coming out strong in the first set and that momentum led us into the second set which led us into the third. We were tied a little bit towards the end of the third set, but we brought it all together at the end of the third. Tonight's match was a team effort and the energy on and off the bench was awesome."

FIRST SET (25-11, UIC)

• Tied 3-3 early, UIC jumped out to a 7-3 lead behind a 4-0 that included UIC's first ace of the match from sophomore Francesca Venturini (Bergamo, Italy/Liceo Classico Paolo Sarpi).
• Senior Becca Oldendorf (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) caught Belmont's libero off balanced with a kill to keep UIC ahead (13-6).
• A kill from Zahria Woodard (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) extended UIC's lead to ten, as the Flames led late 20-10.
• The Flames earned their first set victory on 4-0 rally highlighted by a block from freshman Za'Niya Boyles (Columbia, S.C./Gray Collegiate Academy), a kill Mikala Henderson (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael Albertville) and a solo block by Woodard.

SECOND SET (25-18, UIC)

• The Flames maintained momentum early in the second set, going on a 4-0 run. Freshman Tamara Kisic (Belgrade, Serbia) hit an ace during the early run.
• Up 16-13, senior Martina Delucchi (La Plata, Argentina/San Cayetano) collected her second kill of the set to increase the Flames lead to four.  
• The Flames finished off a 3-0 rally and earned their 20^th point of the set behind a block from Henderson and Oldendorf.
• Kisic's second ace of the set earned the Flames the set victory and gave UIC the 2-0 lead in the match.

THIRD SET (25-23, UIC)

• After both teams traded points early in the set, the Flames took the 8-5 lead behind kills from Henderson and Oldendorf. Senior libero Jaclyn Oblena (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) followed up those kills with the Flames' sixth and final ace of the night.
• Delucchi's team-leading 11^th kill of the night kept the Flames ahead midway through the set (16-11).
• Sophomore Cleo Lorenzo's (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Elite) fourth kill of the match ended a 4-1 rally from Belmont. UIC remained with the two-point lead (22-20).
• The Bruins scored three unanswered point late in the set to take the 23-22 lead. Woodard responded with back-to-back kills to put UIC back up by one. On the next play, the senior joined Kisic on a block to secure the match victory for the Flames.

UP NEXT FOR THE FLAMES
The Flames hit the road for the final time in the regular season when they travel to Illinois State (11-14, 9-4 MVC) Friday and Bradley (9-17, 2-11 MVC) Saturday. First serve for both matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. Each match will be available to stream on ESPN+ and live stats will be available at UICFlames.com.

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