The Carthage College women's volleyball team, ranked seventh in the pre-season American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, opens its 2010 season at Friday-Saturday, Sept. 3-4 Wisconsin-Eau Claire “Labor Day Classic.” The Lady Reds will take on the No. 13 and host-Blugolds, No. 28 the College of St. Benedict, Concordia College (Moorhead) and Northwestern College.
Carthage returns 11-of-16 letterwinners and five-of-seven starters in 2010. AVCA second-team All-American libero Katie Lundgren and middle blocker Amanda Matusky (Hickory Hills, Ill./Palos Hills-Stagg) graduated, but the Lady Reds return AVCA first-team All-American outside hitter Michelle Madeja, AVCA honorable mention right-side player Rachel Swoboda, AVCA honorable mention All-Central Region setter Drewann Pancratz and honorable mention All-CCIW outside hitter Lauren Dembkowski.
Other returnees include middle blocker Cindy Cavanagh (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Aurora-Waubonsie Valley, .224 attack percentage, 1.79 kills per set, 0.79 blocks per set), middle blocker Jordan Burkholder (Jr., Rockford, Ill./Christian Life, .275 attack percentage, 1.56 kills per set, 1.10 blocks per set) and defensive specialist Amanda Durkin (Sr., Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley, 2.66 digs per set).
Leading newcomers include outside hitter Ashley Greenwood (Fr., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North, All-Southwest Suburban Conference and all-area) and outside hitter Angelica Walinski (Fr., Skokie, Ill./Niles North, three-time All-Central Suburban League honoree).
Carthage plays in six tournaments in 2010, including the Sept. 3-4 Wisconsin-Eau Claire “Labor Day Classic,” the Sept. 10-11 Washington University “National Invitational,” the Sept. 18-19 DePauw University Tournament, the Sept. 24-25 Wisconsin-Whitewater Tournament II, the Oct. 22-23 Wisconsin-La Crosse Tournament and the Oct. 29-30 Carthage Tournament. The Lady Reds have a re-match with defending-national-champion Washington (Mo.) on Sept. 10 at the Washington (Mo.) “National Invitational.”
Defending-national-champion Washington University (Mo.) was ranked first in the 2010 pre-season American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, followed by national-runner-up Juniata College second, Emory University third, Hope College fourth, Colorado College fifth, Wisconsin-Oshkosh sixth, Carthage College seventh, the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) eighth, Calvin College ninth, Ohio Northern University 10th, Wittenberg University 11th, Trinity University 12th, Wisconsin-Eau Claire 13th, Wisconsin-Whitewater 14th and Christopher Newport University ranked 15th. CCIW-member North Central College was ranked 33rd in the national poll.
For the third year in a row, the 2009 Carthage team (33-6, 7-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) fell one win short of a trip to the national championship. The Lady Reds, ranked eighth in the final, regular-season American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, lost the title match at the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Central Regional Championship, 3-0, to No. 4 Washington University (Mo.) at the Washington Field House in St. Louis, Mo. The Bears' winning set scores over the Lady Reds were 26-24, 25-23 and 25-12. Carthage made its fifth-consecutive NCAA regional appearance.
“The first set was like a prize fight,” said Carthage coach Leanne Ulmer. “We throw a punch, and they throw a punch. It came down to a couple of points at the end. I give Washington all the credit, because they made some great plays when they needed to. We didn't make the plays at the end like we needed to. The second set was more of the same. We had our chances to put that second set away, particularly at 22-20, but we just didn't get it done. We just needed one big play to win either of the first two sets. The third set was different. Washington kept the pressure on us, and I think we lost some of our confidence. We could have been up, 2-0, but we were down, 0-2. It's frustrating to keep getting to this point in the tournament and not getting past it. It's heartbreaking for the kids, but hopefully we can get back here and take that next step.”
Carthage advanced to the regional-championship match with a 3-0 sweep of No. 22 Nebraska Wesleyan University (18-12) in the semifinals. The Lady Reds' winning set scores over the Prairie Wolves were 25-13, 28-26 and 25-19. No. 4 Washington (Mo., 30-4) defeated No. 30 St. Mary's University (Minn., 22-10), 3-1, in the other semifinal on Nov. 13, with the Bears winning, 25-21, 24-26, 25-18 and 25-22.
Carthage opened play in the 62-team NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship with a 3-0 sweep of Simpson College (21-14) in the quarterfinal. In the other quarterfinal contests, No. 22 Nebraska Wesleyan University (18-11) defeated Wisconsin-Platteville (22-15), 3-1,; No. 30 St. Mary's University (Minn., 22-9) defeated Thomas More College (28-11), 3-1; and top-seeded and No. 4 Washington (Mo., 29-4) swept Webster University (20-13), 3-0. Nebraska Wesleyan's winning set scores over Wisconsin-Platteville were 25-17, 20-25, 26-24 and 25-21. St. Mary's winning scores over Thomas More were 23-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 27-25. Washington's winning set scores over Webster were 25-17, 25-14 and 25-23.
Three Carthage players were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America team. Outside hitter Michelle Madeja (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley, .214 attack percentage, 3.73 kills per set was named first-team All-American, libero Katie Lundgren (graduated-senior, Long Grove, Ill./Lincolnshire-Stevenson, 5.95 digs-per-set mark) second-team, and right-side player Rachel Swoboda (Sr., De Pere, Wis./Wrightstown, .244, 2.12 kills per set, 0.88 blocks per set) earned honorable mention honors.
Four Carthage players were named to the AVCA All-Midwest Region team. Outside hitter Michelle Madeja, libero Katie Lundgren and right-side player Rachel Swoboda were named first-team all-regional, while setter Drewann Pancratz (Jr., Schaumburg, Ill., .289, 9.28 assists per set) was named honorable mention all-region.
Carthage won the CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament with a 3-0 sweep over No. 28 North Central College at Carthage's Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The Lady Reds' winning set scores over the Cardinals were 25-15, 25-14 and 25-12. Carthage advanced to the championship match with a 3-0 sweep of Elmhurst College). The Lady Reds' winning set scores over the Bluejays were 25-13, 25-19 and 25-21. North Central defeated Millikin University), 3-1, in the other semifinal match. Carthage swept North Park University), 3-0, in a tournament play-in match, also at the Tarble Arena. The top-seeded Lady Reds' winning scores over the eighth-seeded Vikings were 25-10, 25-12 and 25-7. In the three other play-in matches, second-seeded North Central defeated seventh-seeded Augustana College (Ill.), 3-1;,sixth-seeded Millikin upended third-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University, 3-1, and fourth-seeded Elmhurst knocked off fifth-seeded Wheaton College (Ill.), 3-0.
With its 7-0 conference finish, Carthage extended its CCIW record to 44-straight regular-season conference victories. 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.
Five Carthage starters were named to the 2009 All-CCIW team. Lundgren was named CCIW “Women's Volleyball Player of the Year” and first-team All-CCIW for the second-straight year. Joining her on the first team were Madeja and Swoboda on the first team, Pancratz on the second-team and outside hitter Lauren Dembkowski (Jr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey, .219, 2.98 kills per set, 0.32 service aces) honorable mention. Carthage coach Leanne Ulmer (258-74, .777 winning percentage, 9 years, 12th among active NCAA Division III coaches thru 2008),
