CHICAGO (AUG. 31,2023)—The UIC volleyball team returns to Credit Union 1 Arena for the two-day UIC Volleyball Invitational, set to begin Friday morning.

The Flames are coming off a 3-0 finish at The Chicago Classic over the past weekend. After a five-set thrilling victory over St. Thomas, UIC finished the weekend with two match sweeps against Oakland and Lindenwood.

BY THE NUMBERS

•  38 kills from sophomore Ayat Amin led the way for the Flames over the Classic. Her 14 kills against the Tommies doubled her career-high of seven from a season ago.
• Sophomore Francesca Venturini only needed two additional assists to surpass her career-high of 27 against North Dakota State back in Aug. 2022 with 29 assists in the win over St. Thomas.
• Eight different Flames collected service aces over the weekend, totaling 21. Venturini and senior Becca Oldendorf led the way, each with five.
• UIC leads the Missouri Valley Conference with an average of 18.50 points per set in that category. The Flames also lead The Valley in assists per set, with an average of 13.68.

SCOUTING SIUE

• The Cougars finished out the CEFCU Invitational with a 1-2 record. They began with a win against Eastern Michigan, 3-1 but came up short against Bradley (0-3) and IUPUI (2-3).
• Junior middle blocker Priscilla Jones (25) and outside hitter Sydney Hummert (24) lead the Cougars' attack in kills.
• Averaging 4.67 assists per set, junior setter Alyse Drifka ranks 10^th in the Ohio Valley Conference for her efforts in setting up her teammates.

SCOUTING UAB

• The Blazers finished the weekend at their own invitational with a five-set thrilling victory over Florida A&M to start the 2023 season. UAB currently has a 1-2 record.
• Junior outside hitter Asli Celikkol landed 52 kills over the three matches.  Her average of 3.47 kills per set ranks her sixth in the American Athletic Conference.
• Fellow junior Chloe Rodriguez has shown preciseness in her attack, landing 45.8 % of her kills. That is ranked second in the AAC.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN

• The Broncos walked out of their own tournament undefeated, and started the week with a sweep over Michigan in Ann Arbor.
• The Broncos lead the Mid-American Conference in assists per set (12.93). Big contributions came from senior setter Logan Case, who has 172 assists on the season.
• On the attack, the Broncos are led by Anna Calcagno, Maggie King and Keona Salesman, all of whom already have 40-plus kills this season.

UIC INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 1

• Western Michigan vs. UAB, 10 a.m.
• UIC vs. SIUE, Noon.
• Western Michigan vs. SIUE, 5 p.m.
• UIC vs. UAB, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 2

• UIC vs. Western Michigan, 1 p.m.
• SIUE vs. UAB, 3 p.m.

UIC's matches will be streamed on ESPN+. Peter Ferreri will be on the call for Friday's matches and Terry Bonadonna will be calling the match Saturday against Western Michigan. Live stats will be available for the entirety of the two-day event on UICFlames.com
For more information, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_Volleyball and @UICFlames) and Instagram (@uic_volleyball and @uicflames).