Box Score

The Carthage College women's volleyball team (30-6, 7-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 11th in the Nov. 1 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll and first in the Nov. 3 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional poll, won the CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament championship match on Saturday, Nov. 5 with a 3-2 win over No. 17 Elmhurst College (30-5) at Carthage's Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.  The Lady Reds' winning set scores over the Bluejays were 25-17, 25-21, 22-25, 22-25 and 17-15. 

The tournament championship was the ninth for Carthage since 1990 and its sixth in a row.  The Lady Reds also won the tournament in 1990, 1993, 2003 and 2006-2010.  With the tournament title, Carthage claimed the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.  The field for the 64-team championship, along with the eight regional sites, will be announced by the NCAA on Monday morning, Nov. 7.
 
Carthage defeated Wheaton College (Ill., 22-13, 4-3 CCIW), 3-1, on Friday night, Nov. 4 in the semifinals of the tournament.  The Lady Reds' winning set scores over the Thunder were 25-11, 25-17, 18-25 and 25-20.  No. 17 Elmhurst College (30-4) outlasted Millikin University (26-11), 3-2, in the earlier semifinal contest.  The Bluejays' winning scores were 20-25, 25-18, 26-24, 20-25 and 15-6. 
 
In the win over Elmhurst in the title match, Lauren Dembkowski (Sr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey) led the Lady Reds with 19 kills and a .254 attack percentage, along with four block assists. Michelle Madeja (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) had 18 kills in a school-record 76 attempts, while Cindy Cavanagh (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Aurora-Waubonsie Valley) added 11 kills.  Setter Drewann Pancratz (Sr., Schaumburg, Ill.) averaged 10.60 assists per set.