The top NCAA season for the University of Illinois Springfield volleyball program came to an end on Thursday afternoon in Springfield, Mo. The Prairie Stars fell in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament by a 3-1 score to Rockhurst. UIS lost by scores of 25-22, 25-20, 20-25, and 25-22.
 
UIS put itself in a hole after being unable to finish strong in the first two sets. In the opener, the Prairie Stars led 19-17, but Rockhurst scored five points off its serve the rest of the set for a three-point victory. The second set mostly saw the two teams trade sideouts throughout the game. The Prairie Stars were within two at 20-18, but the Hawks scored five of the final seven points.
 
UIS turned to its defense to stay alive in the third set. The Prairie Stars held Rockhurst under .100 hitting in the third game, and the Hawks had just 10 kills. UIS went on a 7-1 run midway through the set for a 16-11 lead, and it had another run late to close it out.
 
The fourth and final set saw Rockhurst never trail after jumping out to a 5-1 lead. Rockhurst led by six at 21-15, when it looked like UIS would make another comeback like it has all season long. The Prairie Stars got within one at both 21-20 and 23-22. After that though, Rockhurst went to its star player, Karli Reichert, who had back-to-back kills to end the match.
 
Rockhurst finished the game hitting .201, compared to .180 for the Prairie Stars. Most of the other statistics were fairly even as kills, digs, and blocks were all within three of each other. One of the big edges that Rockhurst had was in service reception, as it had a 70 percent sideout percentage in the three sets that it won.
 
Alli Splitt and Taylor Bauer each had 13 kills to lead the Prairie Stars. Rachel Cobert added nine, and Brianna Bush and Alyssa Hasler had eight apiece. Tiffany Wentworth had 47 assists and seven kills. Defensively, Bush had a team-high six blocks, one more than Cobert and Splitt. Jailyn Borum had 35 digs, followed by Wentworth with 20, Cobert with 15, and Jenny Rush with 10.
 
Four Prairie Stars players saw their careers end in Springfield, Mo. Hasler finished her four-year career with 1,010 kills and 602 blocks. Wentworth's final assists total was 3,188, and she went over the 1,000-dig mark in this game. Bauer collected 697 kills, 242 digs, and 114 blocks in her two years at UIS. Isabela Fonseca had 76 career digs in 32 matches, including 40 this year as a defensive specialist during the season. This year's senior class sparked a program that had never won more than 11 matches at the NCAA level, and led it to 65 victories over the last four years, including 47 the last two seasons.
 
UIS ends its 2018 season with a 25-8 record. The 25 victories were the most since the program moved to the NCAA level. Among the many achievements for this year's team included winning its first GLVC Championship and making its first appearance in the national tournament.