Box Score
The Carthage College women's volleyball team (25-4, 7-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked ninth in the Oct. 27 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll and third in the Oct. 28 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional poll, closed out its regular-season CCIW schedule on Wednesday, Oct. 28 with a 3-2 decision over Millikin University (18-15, 2-5 CCIW) at the Griswold Center in Decatur, Ill. Carthage's winning set scores were 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 16-25 and 15-11. The Lady Reds, who had already clinched at least a share of the conference title, claimed its fifth-consecutive outright championship with the win over the Big Blue. For Carthage, the 2009 CCIW championship is the eighth in school history, second only to nine titles won by Elmhurst College. Carthage won conference titles in 1990, 1993, a co-championship with Elmhurst in 2004 and outright titles in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
With the win over Millikin, Carthage also extended its CCIW record to 44-straight regular-season conference victories going back to 2003. Right-side player Rachel Swoboda (Jr., De Pere, Wis./Wrightstown) collected a team-high 16 kills and hit .232, while outside hitter Lauren Dembkowski (So., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey) had 12 kills.
On Friday-Saturday, Oct. 30-31, the Lady conclude their regular-season non-conference schedule by playing in the Wisconsin-Whitewater Tournament III at the Williams Center in Whitewater, Wis. On Friday, Oct. 30, Carthage plays St. Ambrose University at 3 p.m. and No. 6 Wisconsin-Whitewater at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Oct. 31, the Lady Reds take on No. 29 Simpson College at 10 a.m. and Wisconsin-Platteville at Noon.
Carthage will be the top-seeded team in next week's CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament, and the Lady Reds will play host to eighth-seeded North Park University in a tournament play-in match on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at the Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis., beginning at 7 p.m. In the three other play-in matches, second-seeded North Central College plays host to seventh-seeded Augustana College (Ill.), third-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University entertains sixth-seeded Millikin University, and fourth-seeded Elmhurst College plays host to fifth-seeded Wheaton College (Ill.). The highest-remaining seed after the Nov. 3 play-in matches, plays host to the four-team CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 6-7.
