SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars (21-10, 12-6) suffered a pair of five-set defeats over the weekend, falling to (RV) McKendree (22-7, 16-2) and Missouri-St. Louis (22-7, 12-6). Even so, the Prairie Stars locked up the five-seed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament, which will be played November 17-19 in East Peoria, Illinois at the EastSide Centre. UIS will play the fourth seeded Bellarmine Knights.

MATCH ONE: MCKENDREE 3, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 2
On Friday, the Prairie Stars traveled to Lebanon, Illinois to take on the Bearcats and traded sets, ultimately falling in the fifth. UIS fell in the opening set 25-20 before coming back for a 25-19 win in set two. UIS came back with a third set win 25-22 but fell 25-16 in the fourth. In the decisive fifth set, the Bearcats pulled out a 15-11 victory to seal the win.

Taylor Bauer led the way with 16 total kills while Jailyn Borum added 13 and Alyssa Hasler 10. Borum and Bauer combined for 96 total attacks with Bauer taking 50 swings and Borum 46.

The Prairie Stars had their block going as they totaled 20 on the night, eight more than the Bearcats. Hasler led the way with 10 block assists, while Brianna Bush added nine and Alli Splitt seven.

On top of Borum's 13 kills, she added 25 digs, five shy of Courtney Schutt's team leading 30. Tiffany Wentworth also had a double-double on the night with 48 assists and 10 digs.

MATCH TWO: MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS 3, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 2
Unlike Friday's match against McKendree, UIS came out against UMSL and took the first two sets 25-22 and 25-19. After the 10 minute break between sets two and three, UMSL came out firing, winning the third 25-11 before pulling through a 26-24 win in the fourth. This led to another close fifth set, with UMSL coming out on top 15-13.

In the fourth, UIS held a 23-19 lead but UMSL rallied for five straight points before UIS held off match point on a kill from Wentworth. The Tritons responded with consecutive points to take the set 26-24.

In the fifth, UIS held a 12-10 lead but again, UMSL rallied for four of the final five points to take the match.

Bauer again led the Prairie Stars with 18 kills, this time on 57 total attacks, also adding in four aces. Hasler added 13 kills and Bush 10. Schutt added 32 digs for 62 on the weekend while Wentworth had 53 assists and another 16 digs. Borum tallied nine kills and 24 digs while Ally Vicsik had 10 digs.

GLVC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Prairie Stars will enter their first ever GLVC championship next week as the fifth seed and play fourth seeded Bellarmine at 5:30 PM on Friday, November 17^th. The winner of that match will take on the winner of top-seeded Lewis University and eight-seed Indianapolis.

All matches will be streamed at glvcsn.com and live stats will be available for all contests.