Grinnell, IA – The Prairie Fire lost a pair of matches on Saturday against Grinnell College and Simpson College in a triangular at Grinnell.

The Pioneers (3-16, 1-1 MWC) denied Knox a win in the Prairie Fire’s first Midwest Conference contest of the 2012 season.  Grinnell, which snapped a 10-match slide, posted set victories of 25-11, 25-20 and 25-22.

Knox (2-16, 0-1 MWC) followed with a loss to Simpson College 3-0: 13-25, 19-25, 9-25. 

The Storm (5-12) came back from down 2-0 to defeat the Pioneers 3-2 in the final match of the afternoon.  Grinnell won two close sets to start the match 28-26 and 25-23 before Simpson took the last three sets 25-19, 25-12, 20-18.

Knox and the Pioneers were tied at 1-1 in the first set when Grinnell scored four straight points to go up 5-1.  The Prairie Fire cut the deficit to 9-6 when Grinnell scored 11 of the next 13 points for a 20-8 lead.  Knox got as close as 20-11 the rest of the set.

The Pioneers owned an 8-6 lead in set two when they went on an 8-3 run for a 16-9 advantage.  The Prairie Fire closed the gap to 22-18 before Grinnell scored three of the next five points to take a two sets to none lead in the match.

The third set featured six ties.  Following a 4-4 deadlock, the Pioneers put together an 8-2 run for a 12-6 lead.  Knox fought back to force a 15-15 tie after a 9-3 run of its own.  Grinnell regained the lead at 22-18, followed by four straight points by the Prairie Fire to notch the score at 22-22.  Unfortunately for Knox, the Pioneers closed out the set and the match by scoring three unanswered points.

Junior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake) led the Prairie Fire with 10 kills and seven digs.  Junior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) added six kills and first-year Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield) had 20 assists and two aces.

Prince and Eisha paced Knox with four kills apiece in the loss to Simpson.  Stachelski contributed 11 assists and six digs.

The Prairie Fire resumes Midwest Conference play at home on October 2 against Illinois College.  The Lady Blues (5-9, 0-1 MWC) saw their two-match win streak snapped at home by Webster University 3-0 on September 27.

Knox’s match against IC at Memorial Gym begins at 7:00 p.m.

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter