AVCA First-Team All-American Rachel Swoboda
The Carthage College women’s volleyball team (0-0, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) , ranked seventh in the pre-season American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, opens its 2009 season by traveling to the Sept. 4-5 Pomona-Pitzer College "Pacific Coast Classic" in Claremont, Calif. On Sept. 4, Carthage takes on California-Santa Cruz at 2 p.m. (all times PST) and Pomona-Pitzer at 6:30 p.m. On Sept. 5, the Lady Reds face No. 3 the University of La Verne at 10 a.m. and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College at 12:15 p.m.
The 2008 team (32-4, 7-0 CCIW) fell one win short of a trip to the national championship. The Lady Reds, ranked 10th in the Nov. 11 Bison/American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, lost the title match at the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Midwest Regional Championship, 3-2, to No. 7 Wisconsin-Oshkosh (40-2) at Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Kolf Sports Center in Oshkosh, Wis. The top-seeded Titans outlasted the second-seeded Lady Reds, 25-23, 25-19, 16-25, 20-25 and 15-10. Carthage made its fourth-straight NCAA appearance in 2008.
Carthage returns 12-of-14 letterwinners and six-of-seven starters, including AVCA first-team All-American right-side player Rachel Swoboda (Jr., De Pere, Wis./Wrightstown, .287 attack percentage, 2.81 kills per game and 1.13 blocks per game) AVCA second-team All-American libero Katie Lundgren (Sr., Long Grove, Ill./Lincolnshire-Stevenson. 5.1 digs per game) and AVCA honorable mention All-American setter Drewann Pancratz (So., Schaumburg, Ill., 6.81 assists per game).