Galesburg, IL – Lake Forest College punched its ticket to the Midwest Conference Tournament with a win against the Prairie Fire on Saturday at Memorial Gym.

The victory was the second straight for the Foresters (16-9, 7-3 MWC), who won at Monmouth College (18-10, 7-3) on Friday night.  The Fighting Scots join Lake Forest, regular season champion Cornell College, and St. Norbert College in the conference tourney.

The Foresters defeated Knox (2-29, 0-10 MWC) 3-0: 25-8, 25-13, 25-16.  The match was the season finale for the Prairie Fire.

Knox trimmed a 7-2 LFC lead in the first set to 7-4 on a kill by sophomore Becky Duffy (Chicago, IL, Northside Prep) and a Lake Forest attack error.  The Foresters closed with an 18-4 run to go up 1-0 in the match.

LFC held a 4-3 advantage in set two before a 7-2 run gave the visitors an 11-5 cushion.  Lake Forest increased the lead to double-figures at 20-9 and never looked back to take a two sets to nothing lead in the match.

The Foresters and the Prairie Fire were tied at 3-3 in the third set before LFC scored six straight points to go up 9-3.  Knox cut the lead to 9-5, but LFC scored two straight for an 11-5 lead and was never really threatened the rest of the set to complete the 3-0 match victory.

Junior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake) led the Prairie Fire with eight kills, senior Kristin McDonald (Chicago, IL, Regina Dominican) – playing in her final college match -- added five kills and six digs, first-year Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield) had 19 assists and six digs, and junior Emma Dryjanski (Chicago, IL, Morgan Park Academy) led the way with eight kills.

McDonald was recognized, along with her parents, as part of Senior and Parents Day.

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