Box Score The Carthage College women's volleyball team (24-14, 5-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) just missed a trip to the title match of the CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament on Friday, Nov. 8 with a 3-2 loss in the semifinals to Millikin University (27-10, 6-1 CCIW) at Elmhurst College's R.A. Faganel Hall in Elmhurst, Ill. The Big Blue's winning set scores over the Lady Reds were 25-19, 25-27, 21-25, 25-23 and 17-15. Millikin was seeded second in the tournament and Carthage third.

In the other semifinal contest on Friday, Nov. 8, top-seeded, CCIW-champion and No. 5 Elmhurst (34-4, 7-0) swept fourth-seeded Wheaton College (Ill., 24-12, 4-3), 3-0, with winning scores of 25-19, 25-14 and 25-22. Elmhurst (35-4) defeated Millikin (27-11), 3-1, in the Saturday, Nov. 9 tournament title match to earn the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. The Bluejays' winning set scores over the Big Blue were 25-19, 25-11, 21-25 and 25-18.

Millikin won the first set after falling behind, 6-2, in the early going. The Big Blue recovered to out-score the Lady Reds, 15-4, and take a 17-10 lead. Carthage got within two points, 19-17, before Millikin took six of the final eight points for a 25-19 decision. Carthage had a three-point lead in the second set,17-14, before it turned close and stayed close. Neither team had more than one-point lead until the Lady Reds broke a 25-25 tie with the final two points for a 27-25 win.

Carthage jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the third set. Millikin pulled to within two, 18-16, but the Big Blue never got any closer than three points the rest of the way, as the Lady Reds won by four, 25-21. The Lady Reds had a 23-21 lead erased in the fourth set, as the Big Blue took the final four points for a 25-23 win. In the fifth-and-final set, Carthage opened a quick, 6-2 lead. The Lady Reds had match-point at 14-11, 14-12 and 14-13 before Millikin tied things up at 14-14. The Big Blue had match-point at 15-14, but Carthage tied it, 15-15, before Millikin won the last two points to take the set, 17-15.

Audrey Krajec topped the Big Blue with an astounding 30 kills in 73 attempts for a .247 attack percentage, along with a block solo and four block assists. Jade Becker added 13 kills, and setter Emily Mihalkanin averaged 12.4 assists per set.

For Carthage, Emily Heuermann (So., Washington, Ill.) and Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger had 16 kills each, with Heuermann hitting .324 and Staudinger .286. Stefanie Romanowski (Fr., Kenosha, Wis./Bradford) added 10 kills with a .444 attack percentage, along with a block solo and four block assists. Rachel Fields (Jr., Chicago, Ill./Oak Park-Fenwick) also had 10 kills. Setter Karen Chin (So., Mundelein, Ill.) averaged 10.2 assists per set, and Hanna Cahoon (Jr., Watertown, Wis.) collected a match-high 26 digs. Cahoon was named to the all-tournament team.