The Beloit College volleyball team fell to Knox College 3-0 (25-17, 27-25, 25-23) in the team's Midwest Conference opener in Beloit Saturday afternoon. 

The Prairie Fire tookk an early led and held it through the first set but the second was a different story. A back-and-forth battle was eventually won by Knox but not before the lead changed hands 11 times in the set. As the score would suggest, set three was another battle with six lead changes and 13 tie scores throughout the set. 

The Buccaneers were without outside hitter Amanda Baran, Beloit's second-leading attacker, due to injury. Fellow outside Eva Laun-Smith led the Bucs with a match-high 16 kills in 40 attempts while committing just three attack errors in the contest. Paige Wimbrow captained the offense dishing out 32 assists. 

Defensively, libero Jade Mosquera posted a team-high 15 digs. She was joined in double figures by Courtnie Thomas (12) and Laun-Smith (13). At the net, four Buccaneers tallied blocks including Laun-Smith, Molly Muller, Regina Guehlstorf and Jada Daniel. 

Mosquera and defensively specialist Komachi Naoe added two service aces each in the match. 

The Bucs, now 8-8 on the season, will prepare for an Iowa road trip next weekend. Beloit heads to Mount Vernon Friday to take on Cornell at 7 p.m. followed by a 1 p.m. matchup with Grinnell Saturday.