GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Carthage College women's volleyball team took on the Regals of Cal Lutheran in the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship semifinals on the campus of Calvin College. The Lady Reds earned a spot in the semifinals by sweeping Randolph-Macon College 3-0 on Thursday, November 19th.
 
After exchanging points early in the first set, Cal Lutheran jumped on the Lady Reds inability to put their shots down and took a 14-8 lead.  The Regals extended the lead late in the set to 22-14 when senior Karen Chin took over serving for Carthage.  Chin would rally the Lady Reds back to within two at 22-20 before a Cal Lutheran kill would take the ball away from Chin.  CLU would take the first set 25-21, hitting .326 to Carthage's .275.
 
The Lady Reds tied it up at 1-1 following a dramatic 27-25 second set win.  Stephanie Korbakes led Carthage back in the second set with a team-high seven kills in the set, while Chin added 11 assists to give her 23 through the two sets.  With the Lady Reds leading 22-20, Cal Lutheran would go on a 3-0 run out of their second timeout to take a 23-22 lead.  Eventually facing set point, the Lady Reds would score the next two to setup a set point of their own.  After the Regals tied it 25-all, a kill by Korbakes and CLU's eighth attack error of the set gave the Lady Reds the match's equalizer.
 
The third set would see the Lady Reds have one of their best hitting sets of the weekend as Carthage converted 20 kills against only three attacking errors for a hitting percentage of .386.  Karen Chin would add 15 more assists in the set and Luci Krenzke's nine digs in the set was a game-high.  After trailing by one early most of the set, Carthage took an 8-7 lead which they wouldn't relinquish, taking the third set 25-21. 
 
In the fourth set, Carthage jumped-out to an 11-7 lead and hold the four-point edge until Cal Lutheran was able to go on a 4-0 run and tie the set at 15-15.  Tied later at 18-18, the Regals used a 3-0 run to go up 21-18 and never looked back, taking the set 25-22. 
 
Thanks to a kill by Stefanie Romanowski and two attack errors by the Regals, the Lady Reds were able to take a 3-2 lead to start the set. Shortly after, Cal Lutheran would take a four-point run to lead 7-4 over Carthage. The Lady Reds would not be able to recover from the deficit and would lose a heartbreaking fifth set 15-11.
 
As a team, the Lady Reds completed 66 kills, four aces, 14 blocks, 86 digs, 63 assists and hit .231. Stephanie Korbakes led the team in kills with 20, accompanied by Emily Heuermann with 15. Luci Krenzke made 24 digs, along with Heuermann who had 19 and Korbakes who had 14. Stefanie Romanowski connected on six blocks and Karen Chin completed 50 assists.
 
To highlight the year, the Lady Reds were CCIW Co-Champions, CCIW Tournament Champions, and the NCAA Division III Grand Rapids Regional Champions. Carthage will graduate three seniors this year: Karen Chin, Bria Hailey and Emily Heuermann. Chin was named an AVCA First-Team All American, MVP of the NCAA Grand Rapids Regional and CCIW Player-of-the-Year. Heuermann was named an AVCA Third-Team All-American and to the first-team of the Grand Rapids Regional All-Tournament Team and the CCIW All-Conference Team. Hailey was named third-team all-conference in the CCIW and was named to the 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District™ Women's Volleyball Team for District Six.  
 
This marks the end of the road for the Lady Reds this season, who finish the season 35-8, 5-2 in the CCIW. Carthage will now return to Kenosha, Wis. to prepare for the 2016 season in hopes to return back to the Division III Women's Volleyball Championships in 2016.