CHICAGO, Ill. (Sept. 4, 2015)-Stephenee Yancy had a match-high nine kills and hit for a match-high .368 hitting percentage and Morgan Mereday added nine kills for a .333 hitting percentage to lead the University of Illinois at Chicago to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-9) victory over Morgan State on Friday evening in the UIC Invitational at the Flames Athletic Center. The match was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Kyisha Hunt added seven kills and Alyssa Ehrhardt tallied a match-high 14 digs to lead the Flames. Bridget Powell finished with 13 digs and Nicole Johnson had a match-high 34 assists for the Flames, who improved to 3-2 on the season.

Morgan State (0-5) was led by Haley McClure, who totaled a team-high nine kills and added eight digs. Arianna Hayden recorded eight kills and had six digs. Keana Browne finished with seven kills and had a match-high four blocks, while Carmen Fernandez collected 20 assists. Samantha Prescott had a match-high 14 digs.

UIC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set and Morgan State responded with a 5-0 spurt. A kill by Browne evened the score at 16 all, but the Flames used a 4-0 run to take a 20-16 lead. A 5-1 run by the Lady Bears tied the match at 21. However, the hosts would score the final four points for the 25-21 win.

In Set 2 UIC broke an 8-8 score with a 7-0 to take a 15-8 lead. The Lady Bears made several mini runs and eventually took a 21-20 lead on an error by the Flames. The Lady Bears would even the score at 23-23 on a service error by UIC, but the Flames would close out the set by scoring the next two points for the win.

The third and final set was all UIC. The Flames scored the first three points, then put together a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 12-2. After Morgan State pulled within 12-4, the Flames would use another 9-2 spurt to increase their lead to 23-6. UIC would close out the set and match with an ace for the 25-9 victory. The nine points scored was a season low for Morgan State.

The Lady Bears return to action on Saturday with two non-conference matches against Chicago State at 10 a.m., followed by Central Connecticut State at 1 p.m.