CEDAR FALLS, Ia. (Nov. 26, 2024) – The #3 UIC volleyball team (23-10, 13-5 MVC) nearly pushed #1 Northern Iowa (23-7, 18-0) to five sets, before falling in front of a deafening crowd at the McLeod Center in the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship match Tuesday night.
Freshman
Antonie Kelnárová (Prague, Czech Republic) tallied a team-high 16 kills, seven digs and five total blocks. Sophomore
Gabi Peter (Gilbert, Ill./Hampshire) contributed 14 kills, a pair of blocks and a pair of digs. Senior
Kayanna Jones (Normal, Ill./Normal West) collected 11 kills and seven total blocks.
The box score and play-by-play recap in this match against Northern Iowa can be found
here.
COMMENT FROM HEAD COACH JUSTIN INGRAM
This was a very interesting statistical match tonight. Typically attack efficiency is one of the biggest correlators to winning and this proves to be false. During the first set, we had attacked at nearly .500 (to UNI's .300) and still did not win the set. Other situations like service errors or receive errors became magnified. In sets three and four we were in the driver's seat and momentum was carrying us to a fifth set, but we got stuck in a rotation and were not able to side-out. We attacked like a champion all tournament, but tonight wasn't our night. I'm proud of our teams' successes though the season and proud of our ability to compete for the MVC Championship."
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
KELNÁROVÁ AND WOODARD NAMED TO ALL-MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Kelnárová finished a stellar three days of volleyball in Cedar Falls. She collected 51 kills, with a .385 hitting percentage, averaging 4.64 kills per set. She also collected a pair of service aces, eight total blocks and 25 digs.
- Graduate student Zahria Woodard (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River ForesT) closes out her career at UIC with 28 kills, 16 total blocks and three digs over the past three games. She surpassed the 1,000 career kills milestone, and leaves as the UIC blocking assist/total block leader in program history.
FLAMES FACTS
- The Flames finish up the season 23-10, the best mark since joining The Valley in July 2022. It's also the best finish to a season since 1988 (23-17).
- Woodard (290), Kelnárová (257) and Peter (218) are joined by junior Cleo Lorenzo (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Elite) to have 200+ kills this season for the Flames. Lorenzo led the Flames with kills this season with 296.
- Volleyball's runner-up finish is the strongest team finish for UIC since becoming a member of the MVC.
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