Box Score

Galesburg, IL – The Prairie started and finished strong in a non-conference victory against Eureka College on Tuesday night at Memorial Gym.

Knox downed the Red Devils 3-1 (25-12, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17) in the final tune-up before beginning the Midwest Conference portion of the schedule.

The Prairie Fire (2-11) scored six of the first seven points in the opening set before expanding the lead to double-digits at 15-5.  The Red Devils never got closer than seven points as Knox closed with five consecutive points.

Eureka (0-7) responded in the second set by racing out to a 5-1 advantage.  Trailing 24-21, the Prairie Fire scored back-to-back points to trim the deficit to one.  The Red Devils scored the next point to hang on and even the match at one set apiece.

Knox strung together big runs in the third and fourth sets to claim the victory.

The Prairie Fire went from trailing 7-6 to an 11-7 lead with a five-point run in the third set.  Eureka closed the gap to 13-12 when Knox used a 12-3 surge to win the set and go up 2-1 in the contest.  The Fire scored eight straight points in the fourth set after falling behind 4-3 for an 11-4 lead they'd never relinquish.  Seven of the points followed serves by senior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake).

Several Knox players provided significant contributions in the team's victory.

First-year Lauren Metcalf (Corona, CA, Centennial) was very dangerous and accurate with her attacks.  She led with 13 kills and a 52 percent hitting percentage to go along with a pair of service aces.  Prince also reached double-figure kills with 10 and added three aces, nine digs and two assisted blocks. 

In addition, sophomore setter Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield Central) had season-highs of 37 assists and six kills as well as a team-best 10 digs.  Senior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) contributed eight kills, two aces, and seven digs.  First-year libero Madison Pierro (La Jolla, CA, Tri City Christian School) also had a solid night, successfully returning 22-of-24 serves and chipping in with three assists, two aces, and nine digs.

The Prairie Fire's first set was highlight by 12 kills and a hitting percentage of 50 percent.  Knox also had 12 kills in the third set and a 44 percent hitting percentage while finishing the match with 11 service aces.

View photos of the match against Eureka and the 2013 season

The Prairie Fire play their first Midwest Conference contest of the season at Illinois College (2-8) on September 24 at 7:00 p.m.   IC will stream the match live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/ic.portal#

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