GALESBURG, Ill. — The Knox College volleyball team was unable to build upon its victory over Beloit on Saturday as the Prairie Fire fell in a midweek, non-conference match at home to the Webster University Gorloks on Tuesday night at Memorial Gymnasium in straight sets, 25-17, 25-9, 25-18. Junior Elle Haddon led Knox (3-20) with seven kills while Webster (6-13) hit at a .330 clip as a team.
In the opening set, Knox exchanged points with the Gorloks for the first eight serves before the visitors ran off four straight. After a Webster service error, four more went against the Prairie Fire and they never got closer than five points the rest of the set.
Knox had a similar experience early in the second set with the score knotted at seven, but the Gorloks strung together 10 straight points and quickly finished off the frame for a 2-0 lead.
But the Prairie Fire did not simply lay down as they battled early and held a 10-9 lead. Even when Webster took seven of the next eight points, Knox clawed its way back within one at 19-18 with the help of consecutive aces from sophomore Madelyn Dittrich. The energy it took to close the gap took its toll, however, with the Gorloks taking the next six points to finish the match.
- Haddon had seven of the 20 Prairie Fire kills, while Lauren Harms piled up 10 of the 45 for Webster.
- Senior libero Zoe Pav paced Knox with nine digs and sophomore setter Bri Holland had seven assists.
Next up for Knox, currently tied for fourth in the Midwest Conference with a 1-1 league record, is a conference weekend to close out the home slate, beginning with Lawrence University (16-10, 1-2 MWC) on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. match the following day against Ripon (7-14, 1-2 MWC). The matches will be streamed live with live stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics.
