GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Carthage College women's volleyball team (21-5, 2-1 CCIW), ranked No. 11 in the Oct. 11th AVCA Top 25 Poll, traveled to Grand Raps, Mich. on Friday, October 16th to participate in the 2015 Calvin Midwest Invitational at the Van Noord Arena. The Lady Reds headed into the tournament after an exciting 3-1 win over Augustana College (Ill.) on Tuesday, Oct. 13th.
 
The Lady Reds would first face the No. 13 Hope College Flying Dutch (16-5) at Noon, EDT. The Flying Dutch would score the first two points of the match before a kill by Stephanie Korbakes would put the Lady Reds on the board. Carthage then committed an error on an attack, followed by kills from Korbakes and Stefanie Romanowski to tie the score 3-3. Hope would score the next two points before a service error put the Lady Reds back in control of the ball. The Flying Dutch then went on a four-point run and forced the Lady Reds to take a time out. Coming out of the timeout, Jaime Dickinson would make a kill on a ball from Karen Chin to make the score 5-9. Unfortunately, the Lady Reds would not be able to overtake the Flying Dutch in the first set, and would lose 18-25.
 
After Hope scored the first few points of the second set, the Lady Reds were able to come back and tie the score 5-5 thanks to two kills by Stefanie Romanowski and two errors by the Flying Dutch. Following a kill by Hope's Courtney Van Houzen, Stephanie Korbakes completed a kill tie tied the game, 6-6. Unfortunately for Carthage, Hope would take the upper hand in the set and would win 25-17, setting the score at 2-0 in favor of the Flying Dutch.
 
A powerful kill by Emily Heuermann on a ball from Karen Chin would earn the Lady Reds the first point of the third set. However, two errors by Carthage would put Hope on top again. A kill by Stefanie Romanowski would tie the game at 2-2. A few back-and-forth points occurred and Carthage was able to tie the game again at 5-5 thanks to a bad set by Hope. Carthage would tie the game three more times at score of 6-6, 8-8, and 9-9 before the Flying Dutch would take control of the game. Hope would win the set 25-20 and win the match 3-0 over the Lady Reds (18-25, 17-25, 20-25).
 
As a team, Carthage made 35 kills, three aces, 35 assists, 38 digs and hit .167 again the Flying Dutch. Stephanie Korbakes led Carthage with nine kills in the match, accompanied by Emily Heuremann's seven kills and Stefanie Romanowki's six kills. Karen Chin recorded two aces, 29 assists and 12 digs in the match. Stephanie Korbakes, Emily Heuermann and Romanowski each earned two blocks.
 
Carthage showed their tenacity and skill in their second match of the day against the Alma College Scots (9-14) in the 5 p.m., EDT match. Carthage took an early 2-0 lead on a Scot attack error and a kill by Emily Heuermann. Shortly after, the Scots would tie the game at 3-3 on a kill by Sasha Laykova. Kills by Stephanie Korbakes and Jaime Dickinson would put Carthage on a four-point run to take the lead 7-4, forcing an Alma timeout. Following the time out and a kill by the Scots, the Lady Reds went on a six-point run generated by kills from Rachel Mickey, Rachael Kisten and Karen Chin, taking the lead 14-4. Carthage would continue to hold the lead and would win the set 25-14.
 
The Scots struck first in the first set on a kill by Hannah Guilford. Two errors by the scots, a service ace by Karen Chin and two kills by Romanowski would give the Lady Reds at 5-1 lead over Alma. The Lady Reds kept the lead for most of the set. That is, until the Scot fought their way out of the hole and tied the game at 20-20. Carthage saw that their lead was about to crawl away from them and decided to kick it into high gear. Jaime Dickinson earned a kill on a ball from Karen Chin which gave the Lady Reds the 21-20 lead. Alma's Maggie Miller responded with a kill to tie the game 21-21. A kill by Emily Heuermann and an attack error by the Scots gave Carthage the 23-21 lead, and that was all they would need in order to hang on and secure the set. The Lady Reds won the second set 25-22 and extended their lead in the match to 2-0.
 
The third set started more competitive than before as the Scots made a last chance effort to stay alive in the match. Both teams went point-for-point with each other until the Lady Reds were able to take the 5-3 lead on a kill by Jaime Dickinson and a service ace by Rachael Kisten. Carthage would hold the lead until a pair of kills by Alma's Kendall Sells would tie the game 9-9. Emily Heuermann responded for the Lady Reds with a kill and a service ace to take the lead 11-9. The Lady Reds would possess the lead for the rest of the set, winning the set 25-21, and completing the 3-0 sweep of the Scots (25=14, 25-22, 25-21).  
 
Carthage earned 45 kills, eight aces, two blocks, 42 assists, 31 digs and hit .379 as a team in their sweep of Alma College. Emily Heuermann led the Lady Reds to victory, completing 12 kills, three aces and 11 digs. Jaime Dickinson added 12 digs and Karen Chin recorded 36 assists. Luci Krenzke also made three assists and eight digs in the match.
 
The Lady Reds will continue to compete in the Midwest Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 17th on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. Carthage will take on No. 7 Wittenberg University (15-1) in a Noon, EDT match and will face Bluffton University (14-7) in a 4 p.m., EDT match.