KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College women's volleyball team (23-7, 3-2 CCIW), ranked No. 13 in the Oct. 20th AVCA Top 25 Poll, took on the Titans of Illinois Wesleyan University (19-7, 4-2 CCIW) on Friday, Oct. 23^rd at Tarble Arena.
 
The score remained tight throughout the beginning of the match until an error by the Lady Reds and a service ace by the Titan's Mary Rankin gave IWU the momentum to take the lead 8-6. The Titans would go on a six-point run before Emily Heuermann would respond with a kill for the Lady Reds, making the score 7-12.
 
With Luci Krenzke serving, the Lady Reds would regain momentum in the game and force an IWU timeout with the score at 14-16 in thanks to kills by Bria Hailey, Jaime Dickinson and Stephanie Korbakes. The Lady Reds would eventually tie the game 19-19 on a kill by Heuermann. Unfortunately, the Lady Reds would not be able to take the lead and would lose the first set 21-25.
 
Stephanie Romanowski would make the first kill in the second set and earn the Lady Reds a 1-0 lead.  A point-for-point battle would ensue until Carthage would go on a four-point run to take the lead 7-3 with Blaire Barnett serving. Carthage would then lose one point to the Titans before a kill by Karen Chin would put the Lady Reds back in control of the game. Carthage would go on to score three more points to take the lead 10-4. The Lady Reds would hang on to the lead and take the set 25-17 to tie the match 1-1.
 
The third match started with more intensity than the previous two as Carthage would take the lead 6-3 over the Titans.  The Lady Reds would remain in control of the match and force a Titans timeout with the score at 13-8. The Titans would tie the game at 19 apiece on a kill by Maisy Bowden. Karen Chin would respond with a kill for the Lady Reds, taking the lead once again 20-19. The Titans would tie the score two more times before taking the lead 22-21 over the Lady Reds. IWU would win the set 25-23 and take the lead 2-1.
 
The Lady Reds would earn the first point of the fourth set off of an attack error by the Titans. With Karen Chin serving, Carthage would start a three-point run to take the opening lead. After Kayleigh Block earned a point for IWU, Stephanie Korbakes responded for the Lady Reds with a kill of her own on a ball from Karen Chin. Emily Heuermann would then complete a service ace to put Carthage up 5-1. Carthage would hold the lead for the entirety of the match and win the set 25-22, tying the match 2-2 and forcing a fifth set.
 
The Titans would score the first point of the fifth set on a kill by Rachel Burkman. Emily Heuermann would respond quickly with a kill for the Lady Reds on a ball from Karen Chin. Carthage would then take the lead 2-1 on a kill from Jaime Dickinson before the Titans would tie it up at two apiece. The match would continue with a point-for-point battle until the Titans would take an 8-6 lead on a kill by Rachel Burkman and an error by Carthage. Unfortunately, the Lady Reds would be unable to hold and and would lose the fifth match 11-15 and would lose the match 2-3 (21-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 11-15).
 
Carthage made 66 kills, three aces, seven blocks, 62 assists, 72 digs and hit .257 in the five-set match. In comparison, the Titans completed 63 kills, three aces, six blocks 56 assists, 76 digs and hit .247.
 
Jaime Dickinson led the Lady Reds in kills with 15, followed by Stephanie Korbakes with 14 and Emily Heuermann with 13. Stefanie Romanowski earned five blocks in the match along with Karen Chin's 51 assists. Luci Krenzke led the Lady Reds in digs with 18, followed by Chin's 17 and Heuermann's 14, respectively.
 
The Lady Reds will host their final regular season home match of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 27^th at 7 p.m. against the Thunder of Wheaton College (Ill.) at Tarble Arena. It will also be senior night for the Lady Reds as Carthage will recognize the outstanding efforts and accomplishments of Karen Chin, Bria Hailey and Emily Heuermann.