Box Score

The Prairie Fire has not let up as the team seeks its first win of the season.

Sometimes plagued by slow starts this season, that wasn't the case in Saturday's Midwest Conference match against visiting Ripon College.  The Red Hawks (5-18, 1-3 MWC) came out on top 3-0, but earned every point.

The Prairie Fire (0-20, 0-6 MWC) stayed with Ripon in all three sets but couldn't string together a big run to put the Red Hawks away and extend the match.  Ripon posted set victories of 25-22, 25-16, 25-21.

The Prairie Fire was trying to beat Ripon for the first time since the 2003 season.

Senior Kelly Ricketts (Galesburg, Illinois) and sophomore Kaylie Prince (Westminster, Colorado) each had team-highs of eight kills and seven digs for the Fire.  First-year hitter Katie White (Peoria, Illinois) added a season high seven kills and contributed a pair of solo blocks.

Other key contributors were junior Kristin McDonald (Chicago, Illinois) with a team-high 12 assists and sophomore Nina Mack (Algonquin, Illinois) with 12.  Senior Lisa Blagg (Winthrop Harbor, Illinois) had a match-high 15 digs.

Ripon was led by Karlye Wehner's 13 kills.  Kristy Oglesby led everyone with 23 assists while Lisa Aguilar and Brianne Milroy had 13 digs apiece.

The Prairie Fire plays its third straight match at home on October 13 against Monmouth College at 7:00 p.m.

The Fighting Scots (8-10, 5-1 MWC) trail St. Norbert College (17-5, 4-0 MWC) in the league standings after the Green Knights defeated the Scots 3-0 Saturday in Monmouth.

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