Box Score

Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire couldn't slow down St. Norbert College, the winner of five consecutive Midwest Conference matches.

The Green Knights (12-14, 6-2 MWC) defeated Knox 3-0 on Friday night at Memorial Gym.  St. Norbert posted straight set wins of 25-7, 25-12, 25-15.

The Prairie Fire (3-20, 1-7 MWC) were hurt by St. Norbert runs in the in first two sets and fell behind 2-0 in the match.  The third set was much closer until late.

The Green Knights scored 11 straight points in the opening set following a 3-3 tie for a 14-3 lead.  Knox was unable to get any closer than nine points at 14-5.

The Prairie Fire trailed 8-5 in the second set and trimmed the SNC lead to one at 8-7 on back-to-back kills by senior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington).  The Green Knights followed with an 8-1 spurt and extended their advantage to 16-8.  Knox scored the next point on a St. Norbert service error to make the score 16-9, but the hosts couldn't muster a run and reduce the deficit even more.

Knox took a 6-5 lead in the third set on a kill by senior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake).  The Knights used another run, this one a 9-2 burst, to pull ahead 14-8.  Junior Katie White (Peoria, IL, Notre Dame), first-year Lauren Metcalf (Corona, CA, Centennial), and Eisha had kills to help the Prairie Fire score five of the next eight points to cut the St. Norbert lead to 17-13.  The visitors responded with four unanswered points to essentially put the set out of reach.

Metcalf put down six kills and recorded a hitting percentage of .429 for Knox.  Eisha also had six kills and added eight digs while sophomore Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield Central) led the Fire with 16 assists along with six digs.  First-year Madison Pierro (La Jolla, CA, Tri City Christian School) led all players with 11 digs and Prince contributed nine digs and three kills.

Meanwhile, the Green Knights moved up to third place in the Midwest Conference standings, overtaking Ripon College, after the Red Hawks fell 3-0 on the road against league leader Cornell College on Friday night.

Knox returns to the court on Saturday at 1:00 for a Midwest Conference match against Lawrence University.  The Vikings (9-16, 4-5 MWC) have lost two straight after falling 3-1 (17-25, 16-25, 26-24, 14-25) at Monmouth College on Friday evening.

All Prairie Fire home volleyball matches are streamed live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal#/

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