PEORIA, Ill. (Nov. 4, 2023) – The UIC volleyball team (18-10, 9-6 MVC) continued its winning ways The Flames finish their road trip 2-0 and move to 9-6 in MVC competition
Saturday night as the Flames swept Bradley (9-19, 2-13 MVC) to win their fifth-straight match.

The Flames have swept their opponents three matches in a row and now have ten sweeps this season.

COMMENT FROM HEAD COACH JUSTIN INGRAM
"We started off slow in the first set and we couldn't defend Bradley's attackers in the first set. At the halfway point, our offense began to produce and most importantly, our serve caught fire. In the second and third sets we had wonderful service runs and our tough serving allowed our attackers to have more success."

FIRST SET (25-20, UIC)

• Early kills from seniors Martina Delucchi (La Plata, Argentina/San Cayetano, Zahria Woodard (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) and Mikala Henderson (St. Michael, Minn./ St. Michael Albertville) kept the Flames tied with the Braves at 5-5.
• Tied at six, senior Sohila Wafeek (Cairo, Egypt/Al Gomhorya Language School) tallied the Flames' first ace of the match to give UIC its first lead of the set.
• With UIC trailing, a pair of offensive errors from the Braves, followed by a kill from Henderson and an ace from senior libero Jaclyn Oblena (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) tied the set 16-16.
• Senior Becca Oldendorf (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) collected two of her four kills of the set to push UIC ahead of Bradley 20-17.
• The Flames earned the set victory after freshman Tamara Kisic (Belgrade, Serbia) tallied UIC's fourth ace of the set.

SECOND SET (25-19, UIC)

• Delucchi tallied two early kills to help lead UIC to an early 4-3 lead.
• Up 9-8, Wafeek hit UIC's fifth ace of the night to give the Flames the two-point lead.
• Tied at 14, the Flames found their momentum by going on a 5-0 rally, highlighted by another two kills from Delucchi, a kill from Lorenzo and an ace from sophomore Francesca Venturini (Bergamo, Italy/Liceo Classico Paolo Sarpi)
• A pair of kills from Henderson was soon followed by Delucchi's sixth kill of the set to give UIC the 24-18 advantage.
• Cleo Lorenzo's (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Elite) third kill of the match gave UIC the set victory and a 2-0 lead over the Braves.

THIRD SET (25-13, UIC)

• The Flames set the tone early in the set with a 5-0 rally, led behind a trio of kills from Lorenzo.
• Delucchi became the first on the court to tally double-digit kills when her 10^th kill of the night gave UIC an 8-3 lead.
• A pair of kills from Oldendorf was flanked by Henderson's 10^th kill in the match to increase UIC's lead to 15-7.
• Three aces from Kisic highlighted a late 5-0 rally for UIC (20-8). The Flames finished with a dozen aces, the second-most in a match this season.
• Woodard's seventh kill of the night earned the Flames the match victory.

UP NEXT FOR THE FLAMES
The Flames returns home for the remainder of MVC play, first hosting Northern Iowa (21-6, 15-0 MVC) Friday at 4 p.m. to start UIC's homecoming festivities.
On Saturday, UIC will host Drake (20-7, 13-2 MVC) on Veteran's Day with first serve scheduled for 5 p.m. Members of the military, past or present will be honored and celebrated throughout the match. It will also be Senior Night, where all 10 of the seniors will be honored in a post-match ceremony.
 
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