The University of Illinois Springfield volleyball team opened the Kamille Jones era in grand fashion on Friday at the Tampa Classic. The Prairie Stars overcame a 2-0 deficit and earned a regional victory over Ashland in the opening match of the event. UIS continued to show a lot of fight in its second match of the day, but it fell to No. 5 Tampa in straight sets.
 
The Prairie Stars gave Jones her first UIS victory with a 23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, and 15-13 victory over Ashland. UIS not only overcame being down two sets, but it was also trailing late in the deciding game.
 
UIS started strong in both opening sets, but Ashland made late runs to grab an early lead in the match. The Prairie Stars turned the tables in sets three and four as they were the stronger team down the stretch, which forced the fifth set.
 
The Prairie Stars jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the final game, but the Eagles responded with a 13-7 run to get within two points of the win. UIS's offense took over though with three straight kills, with two from Brianna Bush and one by Angela Denney. An unforced error by Ashland on match point gave UIS the victory.
 
UIS hit .184 for the match, compared to .129 for Ashland. In the final three sets, the Prairie Stars had a .194 hitting percentage, while the Eagles had a .061 mark. Ashland had eight more kills, but also made 13 more attack errors.
 
The Prairie Stars had three players in double-figure kills, led by Hannah Nicolaisen with 11 kills and a .350 hitting percentage. Bush and Denney both finished with 10 kills apiece. Becca Blakeley had 36 assists and two service aces. Amanda McConnell led the team with 19 digs, followed by Denney with 11 and Haley Allen with 10. Bush had a hand in seven of the team's blocks.
 
Just a few hours later, UIS had to take the court again against the No. 5 team in NCAA Division II. The Prairie Stars fell to Tampa by scores of 25-15, 25-20, and 26-24.
 
Tampa was playing its first match of the day against the Prairie Stars, and it showed early on as the home team won the first two sets. UIS found its footing though in set three and took the Spartans down to the wire. The Prairie Stars led 23-21, and had one set point, but Tampa scored four of the final five points to close out the match.
 
Denney had a team-high eight kills, and also had eight digs. Nicolaisen finished with seven kills and had a team-high 8.5 points. Regan Trueblood led the team with 10 assists, and McConnell had a team-best nine digs. Nicolaisen and Blakeley each had three blocks.
 
UIS continues the Tampa Classic on Saturday with matches against No. 17 Northwest Missouri and Augustana.