Grinnell Box ScoreCornell Box ScoreGALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire suffered their first Midwest Conference losses of the season against defending league champion Grinnell College and Cornell College on Saturday at the Merdian Tennis Courts.
Knox (1-5, 1-2 MWC), playing two of the best teams in the conference, dropped both matches 9-0. Grinnell and Cornell have a combined 10 wins already, including a perfect 4-0 mark in MWC matches.
The Prairie Fire won 11 games in singles play against the Pioneers, including four by first-year
Lauren Sparks (Salem, OR, South Salem) in the #6 slot and three by first-year
Taytem Chapman (Lincoln, NE, Lincoln East) in the #1 position.
Chapman and sophomore
Eden McKissick-Hawley (Prairie Village, KS, Shawnee Mission East) took three games against Grinnell's #1 doubles team of Shirlene Luk – the defending MWC #1 singles champion –and Virginia Purcell.
Knox and Cornell squared off in the second match of the day for both teams. The Prairie Fire won four total games against the much-improved Rams, who finished last season with a 6-14 overall record and a 3-2 mark in league matches.
Knox looks to get back in the win column on Saturday, September 20 at Judson University in Elgin at 11:00 a.m. and Dominican University in River Forest at 3:00 p.m.
