DECATUR, Ill. – Coming off a sweep of Illinois Wesleyan to move into the CCIW Volleyball Tournament Championship, the Carthage College women's volleyball team, ranked No. 13 in the Nov. 3 AVCA Top 25 Poll, took on the Elmhurst College Bluejays at 2 p.m. at the Griswold Center on the campus of Millikin University.
 
A battle ensued immediately at the start of the match, with no clear leader emerging until the Lady Reds made a six-point run to take the lead 12-8. Elmhurst responded quickly with two points of their own, only to be shown up by a kill from Stefanie Romanowski and two service aces by Karen Chin. Both teams would go point-for-point until the end of the set, with Carthage earning the win 25-21.
 
Emily Heuermann struck first for the Lady Reds in the second set with a kill on a ball from Karen Chin. Carthage would then fall into a bit of a rut as Elmhurst would take the lead 11-7. The Lady Reds were not going to fall silent in this set and responded with an eight-point run to take the lead 15-11. A few points later, Carthage would take another run of three points to make the score 19-13, and then completed another run of four points to increase their lead to 23-14. The Lady Reds would go onto win the second set 25-15 over the Bluejays, expanding their lead in the match to 2-0.
 
Carthage took a 6-1 lead to start the third set, hoping that this would be their final set of this match. A few points later, an attack error by Elmhurst, a kill by Emily Heuermann and three service aces by Bria Hailey would put Carthage up 14-7 over Elmhurst. The Bluejays would respond, but would only be able to come within one point of the Lady Reds with the score at 18-17 in favor of Carthage. The Lady Reds would take control of the remainder of the match and win the set 25-20 on a kill by Emily Heuermann.
 
The third set win would secure Carthage's 3-0 sweep of Elmhurst, earning them the 2015 CCIW Volleyball Tournament Championship title.
 
Karen Chin, Emily Heuermann and Jaime Dickinson were named to the All-Tournament team. Chin was also named MVP of the tournament.
 
As a team, the Lady Reds completed 36 kills, 12 aces, eight blocks, 32 assists, 36 digs and hit .263 in the match against the Bluejays. Bria Hailey recorded 15 points in the match, followed closely by Emily Heuermann at 13.5. Heuermann also made 11 kills in the match, accompanied by Jaime Dickison at 7 and Stephanie Korbakes and Hailey at 5. Bria Hailey recorded a career high eight service aces in the match. Stefanie Romanowski led the team in blocks with five, accompanied by Karen Chin and Heuermann who each earned three blocks, respectively. Chin also completed 28 assists. Luci Krenzke made 10 digs along with Jaime Dickinson who had nine and Chin at eight.
 
By winning the 2015 CCIW Volleyball Tournament, the Lady Reds have earned the CCIW's automatic bid into the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championships with play starting on Friday, Nov. 13^th. Carthage will find out who, when and where they play on Monday, Nov. 9^th at 10 a.m. during the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championships selection show. Tournament and schedule information will be posted to www.carthagesports.com as it becomes available.