The Carthage College women's volleyball team (7-1), ranked fourth in the Sept. 8 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, won both matches of their on Sept. 12 at the "Baden Invitational" on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.).
To start off the day the Lady Reds took on Buena Vista University (5-4) at 10 a.m. Carthage faced a highly competitive team in the Beavers during the first set, but were able to come out with a win. From there, Carthage took total control of the game winning the next two sets, securing the match with a score of 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-12).
As a team, Carthage hit .416 and recorded 39 kills, eight aces, six blocks, 36 assists and 31 digs in the match. In comparison, Buena vista hit .143, earned 26 kills, five aces, one block, 25 assists and 26 digs.
Jaime Dickinson and
Emily Heuermann had nine and eight kills in the match, respectively.
Rachael Kisten picked up three blocks along with
Karen Chin's 34 earned assists. Carthage also drew a high number of digs in the match, with Dickinson recording nine and
Luci Krenzke recording eight.
The Lady Reds faced a more challenging, yet still manageable opponent in the 2 p.m. match against Whitworth University (6-3). Carthage took the first set, but didn't fare as well in the second set at Whitworth won the set. The Lady Reds came back in a dominating fashion in the third and fourth sets, earning them the 3-1 win over Whitworth (25-23, 17-25, 25-16, 25-18).
The Lady Reds hit .172 in comparison to Whitworth's .087 hitting percentage. Carthage earned 48 kills, 5 aces, 11 blocks, 46 assists and 64 digs in the match.
Heuermann recorded a season-high 17 kills in the match, along with Chin's 37 assists and Krenzke's 23 digs.
Bria Hailey also earned a season-high six blocks against Whitworth.
The Lady Reds return home next weekend, Sept. 18-19, to host the "2015 Carthage Women's Volleyball Invitational" at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. Carthage will play their first game of the tournament on Friday at 4 p.m. against Bethel University (Minn.) (9-1). At 8 p.m., they will take on UW-Stevens Point (8-0). On Saturday at Noon, the Lady Reds will face off with the Dominican University Stars (Ill.) (7-1), followed by a 4 p.m. match against Carroll University (Wis.) (3-5).
