UIS Volleyball fell 3-1 to Southwest Baptist on Saturday at TRAC. The Prairie Stars won the second set 28-26 after moving from a 7-5 deficit to a 10-8 lead, but dropped the other sets 12-25, 12-25 and 17-25. 

The Prairie Stars opened the first set with a Madi Siefken kill from Marley Christy and a Kendall Johnson service ace, taking a 2-0 lead. Southwest Baptist moved in front soon after and stretched the margin despite Illinois Springfield kills from Maddie Mendelblatt, Johnson and Alyssa Gray. Southwest Baptist seized the momentum and took the set 25-12.

Illinois Springfield won the second set in extra points, answering Southwest Baptist's 25-24 edge and taking the final two points after a 26-26 tie. Johnson kept the Prairie Stars level with a kill at 25-25, and Khadijah Blue served the closing ace from 27-26. Earlier, Illinois Springfield had responded to a 7-5 deficit to move ahead 10-8.

The teams were tied at 3-3 after kills from Siefken and Johnson helped UIS match the early pace in set three. The Prairie Stars could not recover after Southwest Baptist separated in the middle and later moved from 17-9 to 21-9 with four straight points. Johnson finished with four kills in the set for the Prairie Stars, but Southwest Baptist closed it out 25-12.

Illinois Springfield's biggest push came after falling behind 10-4, as it won seven of the next eight rallies to tie the fourth set at 11-11. Emma Frazier served through four straight Prairie Stars points in that stretch, with Johnson adding a kill from Kaitlyn Taylor. Southwest Baptist pulled back ahead from there and took the set, 25-17.

Johnson led the Prairie Stars with 15 kills, 17 digs and 16.5 points. Gray added 10 kills while hitting .258 and collected eight digs. Christy finished with 12 assists, 14 digs and one service ace. Frazier recorded 14 digs and served two aces.

"We were much more competitive this afternoon and did a better job adjusting as the match went on," said head coach Laura Ulrich. "We found our rhythm in the second set and showed a lot of resilience in the fourth when we started to close the gap. We just couldn't string together enough plays at the end to complete the comeback, but I was pleased with the way our team continued to fight."

At the match, UIS recognized the newest class inducted into the Prairie Stars Hall of Fame, including Alyssa Hasler, an Illinois Springfield volleyball standout from 2015-18.

UIS will go to Hammond, Ind. for the Midwest Regional Crossover next weekend. The tournament matchups will be announced early in the week.