The University of Illinois Springfield volleyball team opened up the GLVC season on Friday night at TRAC with a 3-0 win over Quincy. The Prairie Stars won by scores of 25-22, 26-24, and 25-19.
 
The Prairie Stars won each set in different ways. The first set was back-and-forth with 12 ties and six lead changes. The final tie was at 22-22 and was broken by a kill by Rachel Cobert. Cobert then went back to serve, and the Prairie Stars won two straight points for the win. Alli Splitt had a kill to give UIS set point, and on set point Splitt and Hannah Nicolaisen recorded a block for the 25th point.
 
In the second set, UIS grabbed the lead early and never trailed the rest of the set. Quincy tied the game on a couple of occasions, but could never retake the Prairie Stars. The score was knotted at 24, when Megan Krasowski recorded a kill, and then UIS won after an attack error by the Hawks.
 
In the final set, the Prairie Stars needed a large comeback. The Hawks jumped out to a 12-7 lead, but UIS outscored them 18-7 the rest of the way for the match victory.
 
UIS held Quincy to just .072 hitting on the night. The Prairie Stars defense recorded 12 blocks and 48 digs. Brianna Bush had seven blocks, including two solos, and Splitt had five. Jailyn Borum led the team in digs with 19, and Jenny Rush was in double figures with 11.
 
Offensively, UIS hit .195 for the match, including over .200 in both of the first two sets. Bush finished with a team-high 10 kills, one more than Cobert. Nicolaisen and Splitt had seven kills apiece. Becca Blakeley averaged 12.0 assists a set and finished with 36.
 
UIS improves to 9-4 on the season, and it has won four straight. The Prairie Stars are back in action on Saturday afternoon at TRAC when they host Truman at 3 p.m.