The University of Illinois Springfield volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Friday afternoon in East Peoria, Ill. in the first-round of the GLVC Tournament. The seventh-seed Prairie Stars fell to second-seed Lewis by scores of 25-9, 25-17, 19-25, 29-27.
 
Lewis, ranked 13th in NCAA Division II, won the first two sets, but the Prairie Stars got their defense going in the third, which put a scare into the top-ranked team in the region. The Flyers led 16-12 in the third set, but a kill by Jailyn Borum, gave UIS the serve, with Borum serving. By the time she finished serving, UIS had a 24-19 lead as the Prairie Stars went on a 12-0. UIS had five blocks in that stretch, forced two other hitting errors, and had three kills, including two from Megan Krasowski.
 
In the fourth set, UIS had another big run, with a 10-1 spurt giving it a 21-14 run. The Prairie Stars eventually had set point at 24-18, but Lewis rolled off six straight points to tie the game. After a series of sideouts, Lewis got its first match point on a block to go up 28-27, and then a kill completed the match.
 
UIS hit .077 for the match, compared to a .168 mark for Lewis. Lewis finished with 21 more kills in the match, and also had five more service aces and 10 more digs.
 
Borum started the match at libero, but switched to hitter after the first set. She finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 24 digs. Krasowski and Alli Splitt both had seven kills, and Brianna Bush and Hannah Nicolaisen had six kills apiece. Becca Blakeley had 31 assists, and Jenny Rush had two service aces.
 
Defensively, Rush had 20 digs, followed by Blakeley with 19, and Rachel Cobert with 13. Splitt had nine blocks in the match to lead the team in that category, and she also finished with a team-high 12.5 points.
 
UIS ends the season with a 19-14 overall record.