GALESBURG, Ill. — After a five-set win at Rockford University and a sweep of Principia College last week, the Knox College volleyball team could not keep the momentum going as it fell to visiting Blackburn on Tuesday evening at Memorial Gymnasium in straight sets, 25-18, 25-7 and 25-17. The Battlin' Beavers improved to 6-9 on the season while the Prairie Fire dropped to 2-17.
Blackburn never trailed in any of the three sets, though Knox made things interesting in the opening set by closing the gap to two (17-15) at one point on an ace by sophomore Bri Holland. But despite hitting at a .211 clip with 11 kills in that first set, the Prairie Fire were nipped by the Battlin' Beavers, who had a slightly better attack percentage at .237 with 13 kills to fend off Knox.
Nothing seemed to go right for the Fire in the second set as Blackburn jumped out to an 11-1 lead and never let up. The third set threatened to be similar with the visitors tallying the first nine points, but Knox dug down and battled back to within six at 23-17 before succumbing to Blackburn.
- Senior Amelia Gamez and junior Elle Haddon each had five of the Prairie Fire's 18 kills in the match.
- This was the third straight sweep for Blackburn in the series since Knox won three of the first four meetings.
Knox next plays the third of eight straight home matches on Friday evening (Oct. 3) at 7:30 p.m. with the Midwest Conference opener as Illinois College (4-12, 0-0 MWC) invades Memorial Gymnasium. The match will be streamed live with live stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics.
