GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire volleyball team dropped a close five-set match on Wednesday night to Iowa Wesleyan.
 
Knox fell behind 7-2 early in the first set, but stormed back to take a 12-10 lead. It was all Prairie Fire from there as they held on for a 25-17 victory in set number one.
 
Knox took a 5-0 lead in the second set, but the Tigers hung around and made their move when they took a 12-10 lead midway through the set. Iowa Wesleyan took command from there finishing out the set 25-15 to even the match at one set apiece.
 
The Tigers scored the first seven points in the third set, but Knox quickly rebounded to knot the score up at 11-11. The Prairie Fire kept the momentum with an 8-1 run to take a 19-12 lead. Iowa Wesleyan mounted an unsuccessful comeback and Knox held on for a 25-21 win.
 
The Prairie Fire held an early 4-0 advantage in the fourth set, but the Tigers fought back and took a 10-8 lead. Knox rallied back to take a 15-13 lead, but Iowa Wesleyan scored 10 of the next 11 points to take a commanding 23-16 lead. The Prairie Fire's attempted comeback fell just short as they lost the set 20-25.
 
The Tigers jumped out to a 9-3 lead early in the final set, but Knox failed to give in and brought the score to just a two-point deficit at 11-13. Iowa Wesleyan held on for the slim 15-12 advantage to earn the set and the match.
 
Mady Ferris has stepped up her game in the last week with 120 digs in her last three matches to bring her already impressive digs per set to 7.02 after 43 digs tonight. She also eclipsed the single-season digs record of 602 as she now has 611 digs on the season. Marissa Akers hit for a .357 percentage on 12 kills. Autumn Schneider racked up an impressive 18 kills and Kylie Wolf tallied 48 assists. Kaitlyn Haase and Katie Anderson each added 10 kills.
 
"Mady has had an impressive year," said head coach Ashley McDonough. "She just broke a single-season school record and we still have four games left. Marissa had another great game and we stayed in the fight until the end."

Volleyball returns home on October 19 to battle Ripon for senior night.