SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars (2-2) ended the Inaugural Capital Classic by outlasting Wayne State (3-1) in a five-set thriller, coming back for the win after falling behind two sets to none. Tiffany Sunderlin put the cap on the comeback win with the final kill of the night, putting an exclamation point on the win over the previously undefeated Warriors. This comes after Illinois Springfield came forced a fifth set earlier in the day against West Alabama, only to be bested in the fifth set.

GAME ONE: WEST ALABAMA 3, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 2
UIS fell in the first two sets by identical scores of 25-22 before taking the third set 25-16 in dominating fashion. In the fourth set, the Prairie Stars edged out a 25-21 victory to force a decisive fifth set after trailing 2-0.

Unfortunately, UIS couldn't close the deal, falling 16-14 after holding a 14-13 lead.  UIS tallied 66 kills on the game, good for an attack percentage of .250, but were unable to get the key points at the end of the game.

Freshman, Alli Split, had a game high 21 kills in the loss while Sunderlin had 15 and Alyssa Hasler added 12. Lexi Hall added 37 assists in the match, giving her over 1,000 for her career. Hall currently sits with 1,034 assists after the first four games of the season.

GAME TWO: ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 3, WAYNE STATE 2
After cruising through the first three games of the tournament and first two sets of the match, Wayne State seemed to be heading to an undefeated start to their season. However, the Prairie Stars battled back to take the third set 25-23 before taking a 25-20 victory in the fourth set. UIS jumped out to a 7-1 lead before Wayne State cut it to 20-19 after rattling off ten consecutive points. UIS took five of the next six points though to force the fifth set.

In that set, UIS took an 8-5 lead before four straight Warrior points gave them their first lead. The Warriors took a 14-12 lead and had two chances to close out the game but a service error followed by an ace from Courtney Schutt tied this up at 14. Up 15-14, Wayne State made another service error before UIS rattled off two straight points for the win.
Sunderlin led the way with 12 kills while Splitt and Schutt each tallied ten. Hall notched 20 more assists while freshman Julia O'Malley added 12.

The Prairie Stars will head to the Southwest Baptist Invitation next week with games starting on September 9^th. They return home on September 16^th when they open the conference season against Truman State.