Box Score
The Carthage College women's volleyball team (28-7, 6-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked ninth in the Nov. 2 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, defeated Illinois Wesleyan University (11-20, 1-6 CCIW), 3-1, on Tuesday, Nov. 2 in a play-in match for the CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament. The Lady Reds, seeded second, collected winning set scores of 25-19, 25-17, 18-25 and 25-12 over the seventh-seeded Titans.
No. 26 Millikin University (28-6, 7-0 CCIW), the top-seeded team in the tournament, got past eighth-seeded North Park University (8-22, 0-7 CCIW), 3-1, on Tuesday. In the other play-in matches, third-seeded Elmhurst College (24-12, 5-2) swept sixth-seeded North Central College (14-21, 2-5), 3-0, and fifth-seeded Wheaton College (Ill., 16-18, 3-4) swept fourth-seeded Augustana College (Ill., 12-20, 4-3), 3-0.
With the win over North Park, Millikin will play host to the Friday-Saturday, Nov. 5-6 CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament. In the first semifinal match on Friday, Nov. 5, Carthage (28-7) will take on the Elmhurst (24-12) at 4:30 p.m., with Wheaton (Ill., 16-18) playing Millikin (28-6) at 7 p.m. The Saturday, Nov. 6 championship match starts at 2 p.m.
After winning the first two sets rather handily, Carthage fell behind, 16-9, in the third set. The Titans upped their lead to nine points, 19-10, before the Lady Reds closed to within four, 20-16. IWU took five of the final seven points for a 25-18 decision. Carthage inched out to an eight-point lead, 12-4, in the fourth-and-final set. The Lady Reds made it an 12-point contest, 21-9, en route to an easy 25-12 win.
Outside hitter Michelle Madeja (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) led the Lady Reds with 14 kills and a .346 attack percentage, while outside hitter Lauren Dembkowski (Jr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey) had 11 kills with a .333 mark. Middle blocker Cindy Cavanagh (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Aurora-Waubonsie Valley) had six kills and six block assists, while right-side player Rachel Swoboda (Sr., De Pere, Wis./Wrightstown) had five kills with five block assists. Setter Drewann Pancratz (Jr., Schaumburg, Ill.) averaged 10.25 assists per set. Gaby Johnson topped the Titans with eight kills.
