HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky closes out the 2016 regular season on the road on Saturday, taking on the Flames of UIC. First serve is slated for 5 p.m ET (4 p.m CT).
 
LEAGUE PROJECTIONS: With one match left for the Norse and two matches left for many of the teams in the Horizon League with Friday and Saturday contests, there are still spots in the Horizon League Championship up for grabs. Cleveland State has already locked the top spot with a 13-2 record in the League and Youngstown State is mathematically out of a berth with a 1-14 record. UIC would also be unable to win a tiebreak situation to earn a spot in the tournament. The Flames sit at 4-10 with two matches to go, while Valpo would be the last team in at 6-9 if the tournament was seeded based on current standings. However, if UIC won out and Valpo lost, with both turning in a final record of 6-10, Valpo would earn the tournament berth because of two wins in the regular season.
  
NKU has locked in the fourth seed in the tournament after Green Bay upset Cleveland State on Wednesday night, while Oakland fell to Valparaiso. Though the Norse are tied for third in the standings with Oakland, the Golden Grizzlies hold the advantage in the tiebreak, which goes to results against the highest ranked opponent after splitting matches in the regular season, as they are the only team between the two to have secured a win over the League's top team. Oakland could overtake Green Bay for the second overall seed with a win on Saturday and a Green Bay loss to Wright State, which would result in the tiebreak going to Oakland because of the two wins that the Golden Grizzlies recorded over the Phoenix in the regular season.
  
There could also be shuffling at the No. 5 and 6 spots, as Valparaiso could overtake Milwaukee if the Panthers go 0-2 in their final two matches. The two teams split in the regular season, so the tiebreak would go to who defeated the highest ranked team in the standings, which would be Valpo with two upsets over Oakland. Finally, Wright State has an outside shot of making the tournament. The Raiders sit at 4-10 and face the top two teams in the League to close out the season, but with a perfect weekend coupled with a loss from Valparaiso, both teams would sit at 6-10 in the final standings. Due to the needed win over Cleveland State to make this scenario possible, Wright State would jump Valpo (after the two teams split in the regular season with the tiebreak going to results against the highest ranked opponent) and earn the final spot in the HL Championship.
 
LAST TIME OUT: NKU locked in the fourth spot in the Horizon League Championship with a 3-1 win over Youngstown State. Up against a team with nothing to lose, as the Penguins were unable to clinch a spot in the League tournament, the Norse lost the first set, 15-25. The team regrouped and knocked out three set wins to sweep the series with YSU. Redshirt-senior libero Lauren Hurley recorded her 1,000th career dig in the opening set, becoming the second Norse to reach the milestone in 2016. Redshirt-senior setter Taylor Snyder also recorded her 1,000th dig earlier in the season, coincidentally against the Penguins.
 
SCOUTING UIC: The Flames started out with one of the hottest season-opening streaks in school history, starting the year out with a 10-match winning streak. However, the team has not had as robust a season against League opponents, tied for seventh in the League with a 4-10 record. Though the Flames could tie Valparaiso for sixth with a pair of wins coupled with a Crusader loss, UIC could not advance to the tournament because of two regular-season losses to Valpo.
  
UIC is led by its outside hitters, with Kelsie Groot leading the League at 3.77 kills per set and Alyssa Ehrhardt posting 3.48 kills per set for fourth in the League. In League action, Groot is even more effective as the only player in the League with more than four kills per set. As a team, UIC ranks in the middle pack of the League in hitting percentage (.217), kills per set (12.84) and service aces (1.06), but ranks near the bottom in blocks per set (2.02) and digs per set (13.84).
  
The series history with UIC dates back to 1980, but had been stagnant since 1981 until it was renewed last season when the Norse joined the Horizon League. NKU is 5-1 all-time against the Flames, with the lone loss coming last season in a 3-1 setback in Regents Hall on Sept. 26. This year, NKU downed UIC as part of the historic seven-match sweep streak with a 25-22, 25-18, 25-19 win at home.