KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College women's volleyball team dropped their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin home match of the year in their second attempt, falling to the Millikin University Big Blue, 3-1, Wednesday night at Tarble Arena.
 
The loss drops Carthage to 13-9 on the season and 2-2 in the CCIW while Millikin improves to a perfect 5-0 in conference and 19-7 overall.
 
Millikin won most of the statistical battles on the night, most notably defensively as the Big Blue had six blocks to Carthage's one and 82 digs to the Lady Reds' 62.
 
"They touched a lot of ball tonight," opened head coach Leanne Ulmer following the defeat.    "They out-dug us by 20.  We only had one block.   Our hitting efficiency wasn't all that bad tonight but clearly didn't get enough kills.  But you have to credit their defense tonight.  After that first set they really got their game going and got better each set moving forward.  They are a very good team and that is why they are first in the conference and you have to play your very best to compete.  They got to a lot of ball though.  Dug a lot.  Tipped a lot.  And once they got their defense set they started rolling and gained more confidence."
 
Carthage jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set courtesy of a pair of Lady Reds aces by Abigail McGowan and attack errors by the Big Blue.  Later with the lead reduced to two at 14-12, Carthage used a kill by Stephanie Korbakes and a pair of attack errors by Millikin to extend the lead back to five at 18-12.  Carthage pushed the lead to six following a kill from Rachael Kisten at 21-15.  A 3-1 run by Millikin once again cut the Lady Reds lead to four however Carthage finished Millikin off in the set hitting .407 to .172 to take the opener 25-19.
 
Despite Rachel Mickey's early presence at the net, Millikin was able to jump out to an 8-4 lead, which after being extended to five at 10-5 forced the Lady Reds into an early second set timeout.  From there the Lady Reds continued to chip away at the Big Blue's lead, eventually tying the set at 18-18.   While not being able to take the lead, the Lady Reds offense wouldn't go away having an answer for each point by Millikin coming from Korbakes and Mickey at the net.  The two finished with five kills and three kills respectively in the set.  The Millikin block however doomed the Lady Reds in at the end of the set, with a pair from Kelsey Talkington to even the match at a set apiece.
 
 In the third set Millikin opened a quick 5-1 lead on the Lady Reds and never looked back in the set.   The Big Blue were able to eventually push the lead to 10 at 21-11 before taking the third set, 25-14, and a 2-1 lead in the match.  In the set the Lady Reds once again were unable to find their swing as the Big Blue outhit Carthage, .366 to .167 in the set.
 
Millikin looked to end the match in the fourth set as the Big Blue took a 9-4 lead early and forced Ulmer to use a Lady Reds timeout.  A 2-0 run by the Lady Reds cut the deficit in the set to three at 9-6 but Millikin's 3-0 run of their own to answer extended the lead once again to 12-6.  Fighting to comeback from a 15-7 hole, Anna Kinell connected on three-consecutive kills to get the Lady Reds back in the set at 16-13.  Unfortunately for the Lady Reds it was the closest Carthage could get as Millikin finished hitting .308 in the set to take the match 3-1.
 
Individually, Anna Kinell and Stephanie Korbakes led the Lady Reds offensively with 12 and 11 kill each, while Luci Krenzke's 23 digs were a match-high on the defensive end.
 
The Lady Reds will face some of their stiffest competition of the season this weekend in their final weekend tournament of the regular season as Carthage heads to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for four matches that will see the Lady Reds face #21 UW-Oshkosh, #11 UW-Stevens Point and #12 UW-Whitewater as well as Loras.