Box Score

Ripon, WI – The Prairie Fire played three close sets on the road against Ripon College but couldn't get over the hump in a 3-0 Midwest Conference loss on Friday night.

Ripon entered the match tied for second place in the conference standings after posting wins in three of the last four matches.  The Red Hawks (12-12, 4-1 MWC) remain in the thick of the MWC race, but Knox didn't make it easy for them.

The Prairie Fire fought through several ties to take a 15-13 lead in the first set.  Ripon, after calling a timeout, regained the lead at 16-15.  Knox and Ripon were tied five more times, the last deadlock at 21-21, when the Red Hawks scored four straight to win the set 25-21.

Ripon and the Prairie Fire were tied at 14-14, the fifth of the second set, before the Red Hawks used an 8-0 run for a 22-14 lead.  Knox (3-18, 1-5) closed the gap to four points on two occasions but couldn't draw any closer in a 19-25 loss.

The Prairie Fire came back from trailing 6-2 in the third set to take a 9-8 lead.  Ripon answered with five straight for a 13-9 advantage.  The Prairie Fire were able to whittle the Red Hawk lead down to 15-13.  Ripon pulled away with another 5-0 run and won the set 25-18.

Senior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake) led Knox with seven kills and added five digs for Knox.  Junior Katie White (Peoria, IL, Notre Dame) contributed five kills and a .400 hitting percentage, senior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) had four kills and five digs, sophomore Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield Central) dished out 21 assists to go along with three kills and three digs, and first-year Madison Pierro (La Jolla, CA, Tri City Christian School) scooped a team-high eight digs for the Fire.

Knox plays again Saturday afternoon at Carroll University at 1:00.  The Pioneers (14-10, 4-1 MWC) defeated Monmouth College (8-12, 3-3 MWC) 3-0 in a conference match on Friday night.

The match at Carroll will be streamed live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/carroll.portal#

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