SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars swept the Bellarmine Knights (19-12, 9-9) in the final game of the 2016 season to send five seniors off on a high note. For the second straight year, the Prairie Stars swept the final weekend, beating both Southern Indiana and Bellarmine to close out the season. After beating the Screaming Eagles in thrilling fashion last night, the Prairie Stars made quick work of the Knights behind 12 kills from Ashley Beaton.

The Prairie Stars had 15 total blocks on the day, their second highest total of the season, behind only an 18 block performance in a five-set win over Wayne State in the first weekend. Leading the blocking attack was sophomore middle, Alyssa Hasler, who tallied seven total blocks --- three solo and four block assists. Alli Splitt added six of her own, splitting three on solo's and assists while Hailey Vitacco, Sarah Bond, and Beaton each had two each. Another senior, Carly Wesolowski, had three digs, two assists, and one ace on the day.

Lexi Hall ended the night with a team-high 17 assists while Tiffany Wentworth added 10 and Kayla Katarzynski cemented herself in UIS with a 13 dig effort, placing her second in the all-time ranks.

UIS ended the season 11-20, 4-14 and surpassed their win total from last season by four and tied their mark in conference play.

In the match today, UIS jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the opening set and then pushed that mark to 11-4 on a kill from Beaton. Bellarmine closed the gap to two at 16-14 but UIS never relinquished the lead and held on for a 25-21 win.

In the second, Bellarmine jumped out early but a 7-1 run gave UIS the lead 13-11 and again would not give up the lead. A late Bellarmine run of four straight points pushed the score to 24-22 but again, Beaton ended the set with a kill to give UIS a 2-0 lead.

The third set was back-and-forth until a 3-0 run from UIS broke it open, closed by a kill from Sarah Bond to make the score 15-10. A 6-1 run from the Prairie Stars pushed the lead to 23-17 and Tiffany Sunderlin closed out the match with a kill to complete the sweep.

UIS won four of its final seven matches of the season, all of which were at home and finished the season having never lost after going up two sets to zero.

The Prairie Stars began the evening recognizing five seniors: Kayla Katarzynski, Hailey Vitacco, Sarah Bond, Carly Wesolowski, and Ashley Beaton.