LEADING OFF 
Loyola Chicago stays local for its final nonconference tournament of the regular season, the Chicago Cup, hosting UIC on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. before taking the Red Line down to DePaul on Friday, Sept. 18 at 12 p.m. 

QUICK HITS 

• Loyola swept its home tournament last weekend, highlighted by back-to-back five-set wins over Southeast Missouri State (Sept. 10) and Bradley (Sept. 15) before capping it off with their first sweep of the season against Alabama A&M (Sept. 12).  
• The Ramblers were led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Leyna Nguyen, who racked up 63 total kills while hitting .373 in the weekend. She had a career-high 27 kills on .447 hitting vs. the Braves and earned Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week for her performances.  
• Junior middle blocker Mallory Bohl had an impressive weekend as well, totaling 17.0 blocks (five solos, 12 assists) and 23 kills. She recorded a career-best nine blocks against SEMO and a season-high 10 kills vs. Bradley.  
• Multiple Ramblers rank in the A10's statistical leaders: Mya Ball second in assists/set (9.57), Nguyen third in kills/set (3.63) and fourth in points/set (4.0), Avary DeBlieck third in blocks/set (1.22) and Bohl is 10th (.97), Sam Falk sixth in digs/set (3.22) and Jae Fitting ninth in service aces/set (.38). 
• Loyola returned nine letterwinners and added seven new faces, including three freshmen (Tenley Davis, Camryn Hughes, Anna Jirmasek) and four transfers (Ball, Bohl, Morgan Jones, Scherer).     
• Amanada Berkley enters her ninth season at the helm of the program, holding a 156-98 (.614) record.  
• The reigning conference champions were picked to finish second in the A10 Preseason Poll, receiving two first place votes.   

SCOUTING REPORT 
UIC opened the season 3-6 overall, most recently capturing back-to-back sweeps against Central Michigan and Western Michigan on their home court at the UIC-DePaul Invitational. The Flames were picked to finish fourth, tied with Belmont, in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Preseason Poll. Sophomore outside hitter Emma Colombari paces the offense with 2.30 kills/set and 86.5 total points. Defensively, sophomore libero Ava Young leads with 109 total digs, averaging 3.30/set. 

DePaul is 6-3 overall to start the year, capturing consecutive sweeps over Central Michigan and Western Michigan in the shared tournament with UIC. The Blue Demons were picked to finish fifth in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll. Returning to the roster is sophomore Kendall Timme, the 2025 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. She led DePaul's offense with 3.29 kills/set and 4.01 points/set in her rookie season, and already has 118 kills and 137.0 points in 2026. Junior Jade Dudley-Epps captains DePaul's net presence behind 1.27 blocks/set while senior Nora Mannion averages a team-best 4.5 digs/set. 

SERIES HISTORY 
In series' that date back to 1982, Loyola holds the advantage in both matchups against UIC (39-35) and DePaul (29-16). The last two meetings between the Ramblers and Flames went to five sets with Loyola falling most recently at UIC.  

The Ramblers are looking for their first win over both opponents since 2024.  

FOLLOW THE ACTION 
Stream Loyola's match against UIC on ESPN+, and find the Ramblers at DePaul on Marquee Sports Network. Live stats are available for all six matches. Follow @RamblersWVB on Instagram and X for in-game updates.