Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire couldn't pull out a win in their first home matches of the season on Wednesday.

Knox opened against Augustana College, which entered play with seven wins in eight matches and downed the Prairie Fire 3-0.  MacMurray College followed with a 3-1 victory over Knox in four close sets in the final contest of the day at Memorial Gym.

The Vikings (9-1) won a tight first set 25-20, came out on top 25-18 in the second set, and closed with a 25-12 triumph in the third set against the Prairie Fire.

Knox raced out to a 9-5 lead in the opening set.  Augustana responded with five straight points to take a 10-9 lead before a service error forced a 10-10 tie.  The Vikings reclaimed the lead at 11-10 and held on for a 1-0 advantage in the match.

Augustana started fast in the second set.  The Vikings rattled off six of the first seven points and held their biggest lead at 18-6 before the Prairie Fire made a big run.  Knox closed to within 20-15 before getting outscored 5-3 the rest of the set.

The Vikings pulled away in the third set after the score was knotted up at 11-apiece.  Augustana scored 10 unanswered points to go up 21-11 and secure the win.

First-year Rose Griffin (Maryland Heights, MO, Rosati-Kain) led the Prairie Fire with six kills to go with eight digs.  Junior Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield Central) dished out a team-high 12 assists and recorded eight digs.  Sophomore Holly Bieber (Chicago, IL, Walter Payton College Prep) had a team-high 11 digs while first-year Kyleigh Guthals (Clovis, NM, Clovis) chipped in with nine digs and two aces.

Knox (1-10) took a 1-0 lead in the match against MacMurray by winning the first set 25-23.  The Highlanders (3-3), however, won the match by taking the next three sets: 25-17, 25-22, 25-22.  

Neither team was able to gain much separation in any of the sets.  The Prairie Fire and the Highlanders (3-3) were tied 28 times and the lead changed hands on 16 occasions in the four sets.  Fifteen of the lead changes were in the last three sets.

Griffin led everyone with a season-high 18 kills for Knox.  Stachelski tallied 26 assists to lead all players and served up four aces.  Bieber led the Prairie Fire with 19 digs and Guthals followed with 18 digs and six kills.  Sophomore Madison Pierro (La Jolla, CA, Tri City Christian School) also reached double-figures in digs with 10, junior Jamie Blue (Urbana, IL, University) had six kills, and senior Katie White (Peoria, IL, Notre Dame) recorded four service aces and six digs.

The Prairie Fire are back in action in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) Volleyball Invitational Tournament on Saturday and Sunday in Grinnell, Iowa.

Knox has two matches on Saturday.  The first one is against fellow Midwest Conference member Grinnell College in a non-conference tilt at 2:00.  Macalester College is the Prairie Fire's second opponent on Saturday at 4:00.  Knox meets Carleton College on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. before wrapping up against Luther College at 1:00 p.m.