SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—In a disappointing end to their season, the Bellarmine University volleyball team fell in straight sets (21-25, 22-25, 19-25) to the Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match on Saturday afternoon at the "TRAC."
 
The Bellarmine offensive attack was negated by the UIS defense today. The Prairie Stars turned defense into offense with 15 team blocks as the Knights hit just .059.
 
Doing most of the damage at the net for Illinois Springfield was the duo of Alli Splitt and Alyssa Hasler, who each had three solo blocks and combined for seven assisted blocks.
 
Offensively, the host Prairie Stars hit only .182, but that was good enough to record four more kills than Bellarmine (38-34). Ashley Beaton led all hitters with 12 kills on the day.
 
Margaret Horihan paced the Knights with 11 kills with Allie Muha dishing out 28 assists and Jordyn Kuchenbrod posting 15 digs.
 
Bellarmine was attempting to become just the seventh Knights team in school history to reach the 20-win plateau, but fell one win short, ending the season at 19-12 and 8-10 in GLVC play. Illinois Springfield finished the year 11-20, 4-14 GLVC).
 
Today's game was the final appearance for senior Ashley Jefferson, who recorded five kills, three digs, and a solo block today.  The Louisville lefthander totaled 954 kills for her career, which ranks just outside of Bellarmine's top 10 list.
 
Senior Abby Biggs, who played one season at Bellarmine, finishes with 13 matches played and 78 assists. The setter recorded one kill, which came in today's match. Biggs has one year of eligibility remaining, leaving returning next season a possibility depending on her graduate school plans.
 
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