Oct. 17, 2000

Box Score

Milwaukee, Wis. - The UIC volleyball team has found the road to be less than friendly lately and Tuesday night was no different as the Flames fell to the Marquette Golden Eagles in three straight games, 15-8, 15-10, 15-11.

UIC, which has lost three straight and five of its last six matches, will hope to have a better result Thursday night when they return home to the UIC Pavilion for a 7:00 p.m. showdown against Oral Roberts.

Tuesday night, UIC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game one, but it was a short-lived advantage as Marquette rattled off five straight points for a 5-2 lead. The Golden Eagles' then extended their margin to 12-4 before finally claiming game one, 15-8.

In the second frame, the two teams battled to a 7-7 tie before Marquette took control behind four kills from Megan Markowski to go up 13-7. UIC rallied to pull to 13-10, but back-to-back kills by Ann Lopata sealed game two for the Golden Eagles, 15-10.

UIC (13-7) dug itself into a hole early in game three, falling behind 8-2. But the Flames recovered to pull to 13-6 and eventually, 13-10.

Marquette (5-16) got back on track in time, though, and a kill by Markowski ended match at 15-11.

"We're just a little off right now," Head Coach Don August said following the game. "We're working hard and giving the effort - we just need to fight through this. Teams are simply outplaying us right now. Every single part of our game is off and that's very frustrating. The only thing we can do right now is go back to practice tomorrow and get ready for the next match."

Freshman Teaha Shepperd paced the UIC attack with 12 kills and nine digs while Lynn Clarkson added 10 kills and Erica Anderson handed off 40 assists.

Markowski led Marquette, which compiled a .290 attack percentage, with 17 kills while Lopata added a "double-double" with 16 kills and a game-high 18 digs. The Golden Eagles also enjoyed a sizeable edge at the net, posting 13 team blocks to UIC's four.