GALESBURG, Illinois - The Prairie Fire volleyball team dropped a conference match to Beloit 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

The teams were tied 16-16 late in the first set, but the Buccaneers five of the next six points to take a 21-17 lead. Knox cut the lead to 22-20, but Beloit took the last three points to win the first set 25-20.

The Prairie Fire led the second set 14-12 in the second set, but the Buccaneers reeled off six straight points to take an 18-14 lead. Knox used a 5-0 run of their own to retake the lead 19-18. Beloit turned around and took the last seven points of the set to win 25-19.

The third set was more of the same with a lot of back-and-forth with Knox holding just a 21-20 edge late in the set. The Prairie Fire scored four of the last five points to force a fourth set.

The Buccaneers jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the fourth set before Knox made a comeback to take a 13-12 lead. Beloit came back with a run of their own and held a 19-16 late in the set. The Prairie Fire hung around, but could not get within two points from there on out and the Buccaneers claimed the set and match.

Catessa Duran led Knox with 10 kills and six blocks. Emme Patton racked up 47 digs and Sam Bergeron tallied 31 assists.

"We put ourselves in a hole early and just couldn't quite dig ourselves out of it," said head coach Pat Barry. "We played well at times today, but just had no consistency. We definitely didn't start conference play like we wanted to, but we still have a lot of games and we know we are more talented than what we have been showing."

The Prairie Fire return to action on October 1 as they host Lawrence in a conference match.