The Carthage College women's volleyball team (22-2, 4-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin), ranked 20th in the Oct. 14 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, defeated CCIW-opponent and No. 8 Elmhurst College (25-5, 2-2 CCIW), 3-1, on Friday, Oct. 17 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.  The Lady Reds' winning set scores over the Bluejays were 25-17, 25-23, 26-28 and 25-17.  Carthage remains in first place in the league with three matches to play.

Carthage opened up a 10-point lead, 20-10, in the opening set and its lead was never less than seven points after that, en route to a 25-17 decision.  "I thought the mach would be a dog fight," said Carthage coach Leanne Ulmer, but our serving was great the first set, and I think we got Elmhurst out of its system"  The Bluejays gave the Lady Reds a battle in the second set, tied things at 5-5 and trailed by a one, 12-11, before Carthage opened up a six-point lead, 18-12.  Elmhurst battled back to 20-18 and 24-23, before Carthage won the set by two, 25-23.  "I called a couple of late timeouts in the second set and told our girls to stay aggressive and adjust," said Ulmer.  "When you play a team as good as Elmhurst, you have to go full pedal to the metal."
 
The third set, won by the Bluejays by a 28-26 margin, was nip-and-tuck, with neither team enjoying more than a three-point advantage.  "We lost a little momentum in the third set," admitted Ulmer.  Clearly not wanting to play a fifth set, the Lady Reds stormed out to a 9-0 lead in the fourth-and-final set.  Elmhurst got no closer than five points, 14-9, and Carthage went on to win by eight, 25-17.  "Elmhurst is a really strong offensive team," said Ulmer, "and even a nine-point lead against them isn't safe.  We had to work to extend the lead.  We played a great match, and I thought the key was keeping their setter off the net.  Our backcourt has played great year, our passing was very good tonight.  It was a total team win, and that's how we've done it all year.  This team believes in each other and knows they're going to win."
 
Emily Heuermann (Jr. Washington, Ill.) led the Carthage attack with a match-high 22 kills and a .409 attack percentage, while Rachel Fields (Sr., Chicago, Ill./Oak Park-Fenwick) added 11 kills.  Hanna Cahoon (Sr., Watertown, Wis.) collected 20 digs and setter Karen Chin (Jr., Mundelein, Ill.) had 45 assists. Sam Szarmach led Elmhurst with 14 kills.

The Lady Reds play host to CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 18-7, 2-2 CCIW) on Tuesday, Oct. 21 in a 7 p.m. match at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.