Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire volleyball team lost a Midwest Conference match on Tuesday night against Illinois College.

Knox (2-17, 0-2 MWC), playing its first league match at home in front of an enthusiastic crowd on hand for a "Purple Out" event as part of “Stoke the Fire” Spirit Week, lost 3-0: 12-25, 22-25, 22-25.

The first set belonged to the Lady Blues.  After the Prairie Fired tied it at 1-1, the only tie of the set, IC rolled off four straight points for a 5-1 lead.  Knox cut the deficit to three points on two occasions early on (5-2 and 6-3), but Illinois College responded with five unanswered points to go up 11-3 and was never threatened.

The second match featured seven ties.  IC built a 7-4 lead on four straight points when the Prairie Fire answered with five in a row to go up 9-7.  Knox took its biggest lead at 14-10, but the Lady Blues scored six straight points and nine of the next 11 for a 19-16 advantage.  The Fire got as close as 23-22 on a kill by junior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake), but a pair of kills by IC that followed ended the set.

The third set was also close with seven ties until Knox built a 12-9 lead.  The turning point was, with the Prairie Fire up 14-10, seven straight scores by Illinois College that gave the hosts a 17-14 advantage.  Knox fought back and tied the set at 17-17, but IC outscored the hosts 8-5 the rest of the way to take the set and win the match.

Prince had 11 kills and eight digs to lead the Prairie Fire.  Sophomore Becky Duffy (Chicago, IL, Northside Prep) added nine kills and first-year Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield) paced Knox with 25 assists.

Brittney Burgess had 13 kills and 11 digs for Illinois College (6-9, 1-1 MWC).  Kayla Birdsell led all players with 20 digs and Maurissa Moulton contributed 29 assists.

Knox heads to St. Louis, Missouri to play in the Bears Classic Tournament at Wash U on Friday and Saturday.  The Prairie Fire meets Monmouth College on Friday at 3:00 p.m. and host Wash U. at 5:15 p.m.  Knox plays two more matches on Saturday against Westminster College at 10:00 a.m. and Central College (IA) at 12:15 p.m.

The match between the Prairie Fire and Wash U. will be streamed live at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wustl.portal#

The Prairie Fire resumes Midwest Conference play on October 9 at Cornell College at 7:00 p.m.

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