SUPERIOR, Wis. — The Knox College volleyball team got off to slow starts in each of its first two matches at the Stinger Classic, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Superior, then played both Augsburg College and the University of Wisconsin-Stout close after the first set but ultimately came up short in straight sets, 25-12, 25-19, 25-22 and 25-8, 25-23, 25-23, respectively.

After the Prairie Fire (0-14) struggled to find some offensive consistency in the opening set with Augsburg, they began to string together some points and kept things much closer in the second set. Although they fell behind in the third, 13-6, the Fire clawed their way back to within two at 18-16, capped by a kill by junior Elle Haddon. A kill late in the set by sophomore Maria Jabor Jahn, followed by another point off her serve had Knox back within two at 24-22, but the Auggies ended any hopes of a miraculous comeback by putting away the final point to take the match.

Nothing seemed to go right in the first set with Wisconsin-Stout, and the Prairie Fire were happy to put it behind them. The team's attack percentage improved as each set played out, while its defense also improved with the Blue Devils' efficiency getting worse. But after scoring the first point in the second set, Knox could not quite ever take the lead, even when it tallied three points in a row to close within 24-23.

In the third set, the Fire held the lead all the way up until 12-9, when UW-Stout rattled off five straight points. Knox gradually whittled away at the deficit, tying the score at 22 apiece on four straight points thanks to kills by Jabor Jahn and Haddon, along with an ace by Jabor Jahn. That would be as close as the Prairie Fire got, however, with the Blue Devils putting away a kill for another two-point win and the sweep.

• Jabor Jahn paced Knox against Augsburg with six kills and three blocks while Haddon added four kills.
• Sophomore Zoe Thunhurst led the Prairie Fire in both assists (7) and digs (9) versus the Auggies, and first-year Cilia Conley served up a pair of aces.
• Against UW-Stout, Jabor Jahn posted her third match this season with double-digit kills (11) and her second-best attack percentage (.300).
• Senior Sam Black provided 19 digs against the Blue Devils, and Thunhurst narrowly missed out on a double-double with 11 assists and nine digs.

Knox will finish up at the Stinger Classic on Saturday with matches against Concordia Moorhead at 10 a.m. followed by a showdown with the College of St. Scholastica at noon.