EAST PEORIA, IL --- The best volleyball season that Illinois Springfield (22-11) has seen since joining the NCAA Division II halted Saturday night when the Prairie Stars fell to #3 Lewis University (30-2) in four sets. The Flyers, ranked third in the AVCA National rankings, took the first two sets 25-23 before UIS battled back in the third for a 25-19 win. However, the Flyers took the fourth set to move on to the GLVC Championship match.

In their first trip to the GLVC tournament since joining the league in 2009, the Prairie Stars upset the fourth-seeded Bellarmine Knights to advance to the semi-finals and take on the top-seeded Flyers. These two teams met earlier in the season in Springfield, where the Flyers were victorious in straight sets.

Tonight however, after ending up on the wrong end of two extremely close sets, the Prairie Stars took the third 25-19, utilizing a 10-2 run to give the Flyers just their fifth dropped set in their last ten matches.

In the opening set, UIS fell behind early 7-2 but rallied to tie the match at eight. The Flyers went on a 6-1 run to take a 15-10 advantage but UIS continued to fight and trailed just 20-18 as the set neared its end. Down to set point 24-20, UIS scored three straight points before Lewis closed it out on a kill from Aly Schneider.

It was reversed in the second set, as UIS jumped out to a 5-1 lead but Lewis scored six of the next eight points to tie the match at seven. The Flyers grabbed a 14-12 lead but UIS rallied for five of the next six to take a 17-15 advantage, and moved that lead to 22-20. However, Lewis closed with four of the final five points to take the second by the identical score of 25-23.

After the Prairie Stars took the third set, Lewis came out and jumped to a 10-5 lead before a 7-2 run pushed it to 17-7. After three straight points for UIS, the Flyers rallied for seven straight and eight of the last nine to close the set and the match.

Alli Splitt led the Prairie Stars with 13 kills against just one error, hitting .444 on the match. Taylor Bauer also eclipsed double-digit kills with seven. Tiffany Wentworth had 42 assists on the night while Jailyn Borum tallied 16 digs and Courtney Schutt 13.

The Prairie Stars end the conference tournament with a 22-11 record, doubling the most wins they have had in a season in the Division II era. They will await their fate for a regional bid, needing to jump into the top-eight in the region.