Knox College Prairie Fire

CHICAGO, ILL. - Knox hit the road to open the volleyball season in the Concordia-Chicago Invite, taking on Concordia and Buena Vista, and despite losing both matches the Prairie Fire showed signs of promise in their debut.

Game 1 - Concordia-Chicago

The first set of three went back-and-forth a majority of the set, but a 4-1 run in the late stages gave Concordia the edge over the Prairie Fire.

Set two was a doozy, ending in a 30-28 score. Knox held a five point lead late in the set, but the Cougars didn't give up as they eventually tied the set at 25 a piece. 

Tied at 28, Zoe Thunhurst tallied one of her 12 kills of the match, giving Knox an edge before they took advantage of an attacking error to take the set and tie the match at 1-1.

The Cougars ran away with the last two sets on their way to 3-1 win over the Prairie Fire in the opener to the 2026 campaign.

Thunhurst also picked up 15 digs in the match, outpacing Anaya President with 13. Bri Holland claimed 18 assists throughout the four-set match.

Game 2 - Buena Vista

In search of their first win of the season, Knox ran into the Beavers who were looking to do the same thing. Knox struggled to get things rolling on the offensive end as Buena Vista outscored them 25-10, 25-12, and 25-18 to take the match in three sets.

President did her thing, preventing kills, notching 18 digs on top of her 13 from match one.

Thunhust, De'Mya Robinson, and Maria Jabor John lead the team in kills per set with 3.00, 2.00, and 1.86, respectively after the first day of action.

President, Thunhurst, and Lynn Hoang looked strong defensively with 4.43, 3.75, and 2.00 digs per set, respectively.

The Prairie Fire will look to build on today and get in the win column tomorrow as they take on Benedictine at 11:00 a.m. and Blackburn at 1:00 p.m.