The Prairie Fire faced teams ranked in the top 25 at the Wartburg College Invitational, hosted by Wartburg September 9-10 in Waverly, Iowa. Knox lost all four matches, but hung with the tough competition.
#21 St. Olaf College 3, Prairie Fire 0 (September 9)
St. Olaf won the match 25-14, 25-9, 25-18.
The Prairie Fire led 7-6 in the first set before St. Olaf answered with three straight points to go up 9-7 and never trailed again. Knox chipped away at the Oles' 15-10 lead, cutting it to 18-14, before St. Olaf scored seven straight points to take the set and win the next two.
Sophomore Kaylie Prince (Westminster, Colorado) led Knox with nine kills to go along with five digs. Senior Lisa Blagg (Winthrop Harbor, Illinois) added 13 assists, a service ace, and a block assist. Senior Kelly Ricketts (Galesburg, Illinois) tallied seven kills, six digs and two block assists while junior Kristin McDonald had four kills, four assists, and a team-high seven digs. First-year hitter Katie White (Peoria, Illinois) assisted on three blocks for the Fire.
St. Olaf improved its record to 4-1 with the win.
#15 Concordia College - Moorhead (MN) 3, Prairie Fire 0 (September 9)
Concordia, the highest ranked team in the field, defeated the Prairie Fire 25-11, 25-17, 25-8.
Ricketts recorded eight kills, four digs, and one block against the Cobbers. Prince added five kills and six digs while Blagg had a team-high eight assists.
Concordia moved to 6-1 on the season.
Nebraska Wesleyan University 3, Prairie Fire 0 (September 10)
Nebraska Wesleyan posted set victories of 25-9, 25-15, 25-9.
The Prairie Wolves had 33 kills in the match to 14 for the Prairie Fire. McDonald led Knox with four, followed by Prince, Ricketts and White with three apiece.
Blagg had a team-high 11 assists and two service aces. Ricketts added 10 digs and Prince had eight.
The win improved Nebraska Wesleyan's record to 4-3.
#24 Wartburg College 3, Prairie Fire 0 (September 10)
Wartburg, the third ranked team the Prairie Fire played in the tournament, won 25-16, 25-9, 25-15.
Blagg had a match-high 18 assists and added six digs against the Knights. Ricketts and McDonald put down seven kills apiece while White and Prince had four each. Junior Brittany Wisniewski (Park Ridge, Illinois) had a team-high 10 digs, followed by Prince with eight, McDonald with six, and Ricketts five.
The Prairie Fire climbed to within 18-15 in the first set before Wartburg scored seven of the next eight points to put it away. The Knights won the third match in similar fashion -- outscoring Knox 10-1 after holding on to a 15-14 advantage.
Wartburg improved its record to 7-2 with the victory.
The Prairie Fire, after nine consecutive matches on the road, plays at home for the first time this season September 17 at 1:00 p.m. against Iowa Wesleyan. Knox played its first match of the 2011 campaign at Iowa Wesleyan and lost 3-0.
The Tigers own a 2-7 record going into their match September 13 at home against Viterbo University.
The Tigers own a 2-7 record going into their match September 13 at home against Viterbo University.
photo above courtesy of Laura Mack
