MACOMB, ILL. (Sept. 6, 2024) – The UIC volleyball team (4-1, 0-0 MVC) opened the Western Illinois' Leatherneck Classic with a four-set victory over Purdue-Fort Wayne (3-1, 0-0 Horizon) before falling short early Friday evening to South Dakota State (5-0, 0-0 Summit) in three sets.
The Flames were led to victory over the Mastodons behind sophomore
Tamara Kisic's (Belgrade, Serbia) 13-kill and graduate student
Zahria Woodard (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) 12-kill performances. Junior
Francesca Venturini (Bergamo, Italy/ Liceo Classico Paolo Sarpi) had a team-leading 27 assists and two service aces.
The full box score and play-by-play recap against Purdue-Fort Wayne can be found
here.
Later that day, Woodard followed up with a nine-kill, two-block showing against the Jackrabbits. Junior
Cleo Lorenzo (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Elite) also tallied nine kills and six digs in the defeat.
The full box score and play-by-play recap against South Dakota State can be found
here.
COMMENT FROM HEAD COACH JUSTIN INGRAM
"We did a nice job against Purdue Fort Wayne, holding their outside hitter to two percent efficiency on her attack this morning. That combined with our team attack at 38 % made for a favorable outcome. South Dakota State is a tall and physical team. We ran into many different obstacles throughout the course of the match. Their blocking caused problems and resulted in us being uncharacteristically high in error. 32 free points (errors) from our attack are too many gifts to give a good opponent. We will need to be more efficient in tomorrow's match against Western Illinois."
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
vs. Purdue-Fort Wayne
vs. South Dakota State
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
- Kisic has tallied 44 kills in the first five matches of the 2024 season, already surpassing her freshman season-long total of 18 kills a year ago.
- Woodard remains the leader in kills for UIC with 65 in the season, averaging 3.10 kills per set in 21 sets played during the 2024 season.
- UIC extends their win streak against Purdue-Fort Wayne to six matches, dating back to Aug. 2015.
- Sophomore libero Hannah Howard (Toledo, Ohio/ Eastern Michigan/ Saint Ursula Academy) has collected 10+ digs in four matches for the Flames this season, including a season-high 21 digs in the Flames win against the Mastodons.
UP NEXT
The Flames return to Western Hall tomorrow at 3 p.m. (CT) to face off against Western Illinois (1-2, 0-0 OVC) to finish out the weekend. Live stats will be available for fans at
UICFlames.com.
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Fans are strongly encouraged to support NIL opportunities for UIC scholar-athletes through contributions to
The Chicago Collective.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
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UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (
@UIC_Volleyball and
@UICFlames) and Instagram (
@uic_volleyball and
@uicflames).
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