GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire fought and clawed their way through five sets in a 3-2 loss to Illinois College in the Midwest Conference opener for both teams Tuesday night at Memorial Gym.

Knox and IC played through 28 tie scores and 12 lead changes before the dust settled in an extremely tight match.

The Prairie Fire started strong by taking the first game 25-23.  Knox scored the first four points before the Lady Blues trimmed the deficit to 4-2.  The hosts still led 7-5 when IC rolled off four in a row for a 9-7 advantage.  Trailing 17-15 later in the set, the Prairie Fire outscored Illinois College 10-6 the rest of the way – punctuated first-year Rose Griffin (Maryland Heights, MO, Rosati-Kain) putting down a kill for the game point.

The second set alone featured 13 ties and six lead changes as IC outscored Knox 29-27 to even the match, 1-1.  The Prairie Fire led by three as late as 20-17, and held their last lead at 27-26.  IC scored three unanswered points to take the set.

Illinois College (4-9, 1-0 MWC) grabbed a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 25-23 win in the third set.  The Lady Blues led 18-12 when Knox scored three unanswered on kills by junior Jamie Blue (Urbana, IL, University) and senior Katie White (Peoria, IL, Notre Dame) that were sandwiched between an attack error by IC to pull within three at 18-15.  Following two straight points by IC for a five point cushion, the Prairie Fire came back to tie the score, 21-21.  Knox had a chance to take the lead with Blue serving, but an attack error allowed Illinois College to reclaim the lead and ultimately hang on.

The Prairie Fire played one of their best sets of the season with a dominating 25-13 win in the fourth to even the match at two games apiece and force a tiebreaking fifth set.  Knox scored six of the first nine points and built the biggest lead of the night for either team at 19-8.  The Lady Blues were unable to get any closer than eight points the remainder of the set.

Knox (2-18, 0-1 MWC) fell behind 8-2 in the tiebreaker and rallied to get back into contention.  Sophomore Nicole Heckman (Chicago, IL, Chicago Latin) had a pair of kills as part of a 5-1 run by the Prairie Fire to inch closer at 9-7.  Following back-to-back points by Illinois College, Knox scored three straight: a kill by Griffin, an attack error by IC, and a kill by first-year Kyleigh Guthals (Clovis, NM, Clovis) to whittle the deficit down to one, 11-10.  The Prairie Fire took a 15-14 lead on a service ace by Guthals, but an error on her next serve tied the set for the third time.  The Lady Blues then scored three consecutive points to win the set, as well as the match, 3-2.

Griffin had a season-high 21 kills for Knox and her 19 digs matched a season-best.  White also reached double-figure kills with 10, and she added three blocks.  Junior Casey Stachelski (Joliet, IL, Plainfield Central) led everyone with 41 assists while also contributing 11 digs and three service aces.  Guthals chipped in with seven kills, 14 digs, and three service aces, and Heckman recorded seven kills and three blocks.  Sophomore Holly Bieber (Chicago, IL, Walter Payton College Prep) tallied a season-best 34 digs for the Prairie Fire as well.

Griffin is the Midwest Conference leader in total kills with 203 and she ranks fifth with an average of 2.86 kills per set.  Stachelski is fifth in MWC with an average of 6.66 assists per set and Guthals leads the conference in service aces with 27.  She's fifth overall in the league with an average of 0.38 aces per set.

Knox travels to Wisconsin for its next two Midwest Conference matches before returning home to play twice during Homecoming Week.

The Prairie Fire visit Lawrence University on Friday for a match that starts at 7:00 p.m.  The Vikings (5-12, 1-0 MWC) defeated Carroll University in their only league match to date at home on September 24.  Knox has a quick turnaround with a match at St. Norbert College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Green Knights (6-12) begin the MWC portion of their schedule on Friday night against Monmouth College.  The Knox matches at Lawrence and St. Norbert will be streamed live online and will be available by going to http://portal.stretchinternet.com/knox/

The Prairie Fire are back in Memorial Gym on Friday, October 10 against Beloit College at 7:00 p.m. and host Lake Forest College on Saturday, October 11 at 11:30 a.m.