Box Score-Cornell
Box Score-Grinnell

Mount Vernon, IA – The Prairie Fire lost their last two matches of the fall regular season at Cornell and Grinnell, and now the team prepares for the Midwest Conference Championships next weekend.

Knox opened against Cornell, which won four of the six singles matches and two of three in doubles competition to come away with a 6-3 MWC South win over the Prairie Fire.

Junior Claire Neri (Melrose Park, IL, West Leyden) came back after dropping the second set to win her #4 singles match 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

"You just can't ever give up," Neri said.  "It doesn't matter if you're losing. You have to keep the mindset that there is one more point to play. It was especially important for me to remember this in singles because I had just come off a loss in doubles. The second you give up mentally, you have lost physically."

Sophomore Eden McKissick-Hawley (Prairie Village, KS, Shawnee Mission East) also prevailed for Knox in #5 singles 6-2, 7-5.

Senior Charlotte Garvin (Omaha, NE, Central) took her #1 singles opponent from Cornell to three sets before falling.  Garvin bounced back from a 6-2 loss in the opening set and rallied for a 6-2 win in set two.  She battled until the very end of the 6-4 third set loss.

The Knox #2 doubles team of senior Dana Pierce (Barrington, IL, Barrington) and McKissick-Hawley posted an 8-4 victory.

"There were some challenging dynamics between the two teams which led to line judges on multiple courts," head coach Miriam Skrade said of the match at Cornell. "I felt Knox rose above and focused on tennis. It didn't lead to a team win, but the Knox women put up a valiant fight on all courts."

The Prairie Fire traveled to Grinnell (9-4, 4-1 MWC South), the winner of the last three Midwest Conference championships and eight of the last nine, after playing Cornell (5-10, 2-2 MWC South).

The Pioneers bounced back from their only conference loss of the season earlier in the day against unbeaten Lake Forest College and downed Knox 9-0.

Garvin met a familiar foe in #1 singles, the Pioneers' Shirlene Luk.  Luk, who defeated Garvin in #3 singles in the title match of the 2011 Midwest Conference Championships, downed her rival from Knox in the latest tilt 6-3, 6-3.

"Grinnell has a strong and well coached team," Skrade said. "We were grateful that after a long day they were gracious opponents. I was pleased the Knox players competed with energy and determination even though we knew we would be outmatched. We are doing a better job rallying behind our teammates to keep our spirits up."

Grinnell and Lake Forest will represent the MWC South while St. Norbert College and Carroll University qualified from the MWC North in the team championship on October 18 in Rockford.

The Prairie Fire will compete in the MWC doubles and singles championships on October 19 and 20 at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison.

The Midwest Conference will have more information online at http://www.midwestconference.org/sports/2013/10/1/WTEN_1001131119.aspx?path=wten

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