JACKSONVILLE, Illinois—The Prairie Fire volleyball team split a weekend series at the Illinois College Tournament to begin the season.
 
Knox (2-2) dropped games against MacMurray and Iowa Wesleyan and defeated Greenville and Blackburn in an opening weekend slate against four St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) teams.
 
On Friday nigh, Knox jumped out to an early lead against MacMurray by winning the first two sets, but the Highlanders won the final three sets to take a 3-2 victory. The Prairie Fire won the first two sets against Greenville as well before the Panthers won the third set. Knox won the final set to take the match 3-1.
 
On Saturday, the Prairie Fire fell in straight sets to Iowa Wesleyan in the first match of the day.  Knox rebounded from an early 30-28 first set loss to Blackburn to win the next three sets and walk away with a 3-1 victory.
 
"For our first tournament of the season, I am super excited with my team," said junior captain Sherry Mei. "We worked really hard during two-a-days and seeing it all come together makes me look forward to the coming tournaments and games. We have such a young team and this weekend we really showed others that our defense and offense can only get better."
 
First-year Katie Anderson led the team with 38 kills on the weekend, followed closely by Maddie Byrne (36) and Kaitlyn Haase (31). First-year Kylie Wolf racked up 105 assists for the tournament and Mady Ferris picked up where she left off last year with 112 digs. Marissa Akers picked up five total blocks. Anderson also racked up 17 service aces and earned All-Tournament Team honors for the impressive start to her career.
 
"The energy, enthusiasm, and hustle was some of the most impressive I have seen since taking over the program in 2015," said head coach Ashley McDonough. "We played incredible team defense and I am really happy with where we are at."
 
The Prairie Fire return to action on September 4 when they travel to Rockford.