GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire volleyball team dropped a four-set match to Grinnell on Tuesday night.
 
Knox (4-13, 0-3 MWC) played close with the Pioneers in the first set. After falling behind 7-1 in the early going, the Prairie Fire stormed back to take an 11-8 lead. After some back and forth, Grinnell took a 17-15 lead and was able to eke out a 25-22 victory.
 
The second set remained close early as well, but Grinnell pulled away after a 13-13 tie to take a 19-13 lead. Knox would only score one more point in the set and fell 14-25.
 
The third set was more of the same with the teams tied at eight apiece. Grinnell pulled ahead 16-13, but the Prairie Fire scored six straight to take the 19-16 advantage. Knox held on to take the set 25-21.
 
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the fourth set, but the Prairie Fire scored a pair to bring the score to within four. Grinnell went on a 5-0 run to retake control and Knox could not quite get the push to make a comeback. The Pioneers held on for a 25-19 win.
 
Marissa Akers led the Prairie Fire with 12 kills for a .417 hitting percentage. Mady Ferris continues to play defense with another 27 digs and still leads the conference in digs per set (6.74). Katie Anderson added 25 assists and Autumn Schneider and Maddie Byrne each racked up nine kills. Schneider picked up a pair of block assists as well.
 
"It's tough for the team to take another loss in conference, but I am excited that we accomplished our goal of winning a conference set, along with other accomplishments," said Byrne. "This game was a great foundation for our team to be successful as we're on the road this weekend."
 
Knox travels to Lawrence on October 5 and St. Norbert on October 6 for a two game conference road swing.