Volleyball: Streaks’ postseason run ends in semifinals
LaSalle-Peru pulled out a win in a gritty first set before cruising in the second and defeating Galesburg 2-0 on Oct. 28 to advance to the finals of the Class 3A Galesburg Regional.
The No. 2-seeded Cavaliers will face No. 6 Geneseo, which defeated Metamora in three sets, on Oct. 30.
The No. 9-seeded Silver Streaks carried momentum from their upset of Streator the night before into the first set against the Cavaliers. Leads went back and forth before LaSalle-Peru pulled ahead late. Galesburg rallied to tie the score at 24 and force an extended set.
LaSalle-Peru scored the next two points to take the set 26-24, then dominated the second 25-10.
“We knew LaSalle-Peru was going to come in just swinging away,” head coach Nicole Kisler said. “We, of course, scouted them and figured that out early, but we really played tough that first set.
“This is the team that I know, and that I know they’ve grown to be, and I’m really proud of them for that. They dug themselves back out and got it really close, down to two points. We’ve done that all season, but coming out that second set was hard, and they just couldn’t get it back and couldn’t control the ball enough.”
Graduating senior Sophia Kisler said she was proud of how her team performed in its postseason run.
“Coming in as a lower seed than both of the teams we played, I think we surprised them,” she said. “We really put it to them yesterday, and we really put it to them in the first set today. They got a little nervous there — you could tell.”
Nicole Kisler said she’s proud of how the team has developed during the season.
“At the start of the season, we would fold,” she said. “We would basically almost look like that first half of the second set right there. They just wouldn’t be able to dig themselves back out, but what we’ve seen through the season is that they’ve put more together, they’re controlling the ball better, and they’re able to dig themselves out of it a few points and come back.”
Sophia Kisler said last year her mother took over as head coach just a week before the season started and didn’t have much time to prepare. This season, she said, was different.
“We had a lot more time to prep with this group of girls,” she said. “We worked hard over the summer to get our skills up, speed up our offense, and make our defense better. I felt like we really showed that throughout the season.
“Honestly, maybe our record wasn’t the best, but we really fought with those new skills. From last year to this year, it’s like night and day, so I was really proud by the end of how far we’d come.”
Galesburg finished the 2024 season with an overall record of 14-20 and 3-11 in the Western Big 6 Conference. The Streaks finished the 2025 season 15-21 overall and 3-11 in the conference.
Cross country: Peterson qualifies for nationals
Carl Sandburg College men’s cross-country runner Andrew Peterson qualified to compete in the NJCAA Division II Championships with his seventh-place finish at the Region 4 Championships on Oct. 25 at Settler’s Hill Golf Course in Geneva.
Peterson, coming off a runner-up showing at the Arrowhead Conference Championships, crossed the line in the 8-kilometer race in 29 minutes, 9.82 seconds. The top 15 runners earned spots on the All-Region 4 team and automatically qualified for nationals.
Peterson will compete at the national meet Nov. 8 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Women’s soccer: Nuño’s late goal lifts Prairie Fire
Sophomore Natalia Nuño scored her first goal of the season and second of her career, breaking a scoreless tie with 6:23 to play, to lift the Knox College women’s soccer team to a 1-0 road victory over Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, on a cold and damp afternoon Oct. 28.
The win was the first for the Prairie Fire (4-9-3, 1-4-2 Midwest Conference) since Sept. 17 and snapped a 27-game winless streak in league play dating back to 2022. The Rams fell to 2-14 overall and 0-7 in the conference.
“Today’s conditions were less than ideal, but the team embraced it,” head coach Annie Gerdes said. “I am very proud of how the team responded in the second half and was able to find a way to get the W.”
The last Prairie Fire win in a Midwest Conference game was a 2-0 victory over Monmouth College on Oct. 4, 2022.
Knox will conclude its 2025 season Nov. 1 when it hosts conference foe Grinnell College (5-7-4, 2-3-2 MWC) on Jorge Prats Field at noon.
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025
• Carl Sandburg soccer at Region IV tournament, 2 p.m.
• Carl Sandburg volleyball vs. Black Hawk College, 6 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025
• Carl Sandburg women’s basketball vs. Monmouth, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 31, 2025
• Knox College volleyball at Grinnell College, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025
• Knox cross country at Midwest Conference Championships, 10 a.m.
• Knox women’s soccer vs. Grinnell College, noon
• Sandburg men’s soccer vs. Triton or Moraine Valley, Region IV quarterfinal, noon
• Knox football vs. Cornell College, 1 p.m.
• Knox volleyball at Cornell College, 1 p.m.
• Knox men’s soccer vs. Grinnell College, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025
• Carl Sandburg women’s basketball vs. Culver-Stockton JV, 1 p.m.
• Carl Sandburg men’s basketball vs. Culver-Stockton JV, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025
• Carl Sandburg women’s basketball vs. Southeastern Community College, 5:30 p.m.
