Box Score

Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire battled back from a 2-0 deficit against Iowa Wesleyan College to force a fifth and deciding set before falling 3-2 on Tuesday night at Memorial Gym.

Playing the last non-conference match of the season, Knox dropped the first two sets 14-25 and 21-25 before regrouping.

The Prairie Fire (3-16) raced out to a 7-2 lead in the third set and never looked back, staying alive with a 25-16 win.

Knox rallied against Iowa Wesleyan (9-16) to win the fourth set 26-24 and tie the match at 2-2.

The Tigers appeared on their way to putting the contest away with an 18-13 lead.  The Prairie Fire answered with five straight points – four on serves by senior Kaylie Prince (Westminster, CO, Standley Lake) – to force an 18-18 tie.  Iowa Wesleyan again gained the upper hand by taking a 24-23 lead.  Prince tied the set at 24-24 on a kill off of a serve by the Tigers, the first of three consecutive points that secured the 26-24 win for Knox.

The Prairie Fire built a 6-5 lead in the fifth set when Iowa Wesleyan scored six unanswered points for an 11-6 advantage.  Knox scored two points the rest of the way as the Tigers claimed the set 15-8 and escaped with a 3-2 match victory.

Prince had a team-high 15 kills and added nine digs for the Prairie Fire.  First-year Lauren Metcalf (Corona, CA, Centennial) also had double-figure kills with 13, senior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) added seven kills and 19 digs, sophomore Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield Central) contributed 33 assists, and first-year Madison Pierro (La Jolla, CA, Tri City Christian School) led all players with 20 digs.

Knox welcomes Cornell College for a Midwest Conference match on October 15 at 7:00 p.m.  Live video streaming will be available online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal#/

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