The Prairie Fire volleyball team has one last chance to pick up a Midwest Conference victory before the league portion of the season ends this weekend.

Knox plays at Ripon College at 1:00 Saturday afternoon after losing in three sets: 25-18, 25-13, 25-13 at Carroll University's Van Male Fieldhouse Friday night.  The loss marked the 11th straight for the Fire, which continues to battle hard each time out but have been unable to snap the skid.  Meanwhile, the win was the Pioneers' fourth in their last five matches.

The Prairie Fire's two big hitters, junior Kelly Ricketts (Galesburg, Illinois) and first-year Kaylie Prince (Westminster, Colorado) combined for 17 of their team's 18 kills.  Ricketts also had an ace, an assist and six digs while Prince had an ace, both a solo and assisted block and eight digs.

Carroll (16-6, 3-3 MWC) had 26 kills, led by Amanda Trieloff's seven.  Heather Kulibert added 12 digs and Samantha Derynda contributed 24 assists and seven digs for the hosts.  Knox (5-17, 0-8 MWC) was hurt by 11 receiving errors to Carroll's four and 13 blocking errors.

Ripon is 12-16 overall and 3-3 in conference play going into Saturday's match against Knox College.  The Red Hawks snapped a two-match losing streak Friday night with a 3-1 victory at home against Grinnell College.  The loss hurt Grinnell's faint chances of a second place finish in the conference.

Prior to Saturday's scheduled matches, Monmouth College sat atop the Midwest Conference standings with a 7-1 record (17-9 overall).  St. Norbert College (19-7 overall) also has just one loss in league play - against Grinnell College October 8 - but at 4-1, the Green Knights have played three fewer matches than the Fighting Scots.  First place could be decided Saturday when SNC hosts Monmouth, although the Knights have three more league matches to play next week: at Carroll (Tuesday) and the last two at home against Lake Forest College and Beloit College.

Lurking behind Monmouth and St. Norbert with two league losses apiece are Lake Forest College (13-14, 5-2 MWC) and Beloit College (14-9, 4-2 MWC), which are in the running for the Midwest Conference Tournament.  Grinnell (4-3), Carroll and Ripon each have three conference losses and will need some help to advance to the conference tourney as one of the top four teams.

After playing at Ripon, Knox College wraps up the season with three matches at the Cardinal Stritch University Tournament October 29 and 30 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.