DECATUR, ILL.—The Carthage College women's volleyball team made the four-and-a-half-hour trek to Decatur, Illinois to face Millikin University in one of the 2016 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin semifinal matches on Friday evening. The Big Blue locked the #1 seed and 2016 CCIW Regular Season Championship with their 3-0 victory over Carroll University on November 1.
 
Friday's semifinal match was an opportunity for Carthage to gain revenge as they found themselves on the losing end in their previous two meetings with Millikin. This includes a 3-1 loss to the Big Blue at Tarble Arena on October 19.
 
Carthage and Millikin entered the contest knowing Elmhurst College awaited the winner for tomorrow's CCIW Women's Volleyball Championship Game. Two teams that defeated the Lady Reds separated them from a 2016 CCIW Women's Volleyball Tournament Championship. Things didn't go as planned as Millikin defeated Carthage 3-1.
 
The Lady Reds end the 2016 season with an 18-13, 5-3 CCIW record while Millikin advances to the CCIW Championship Game with a 25-11, 7-1 CCIW mark.
 
Millikin 3, Lady Reds 1
 
Carthage found themselves in a 1-0 and 2-1 hole in set one, but regained the lead and never looked back. Stephanie Korbakes, Megan Behrendt, Stefanie Romanowski and Rachael Kisten each collected a kill to push the Lady Red lead to 5-3.
 
That lead eventually grew to 18-10, the largest margin of set one. The Big Blue responded and narrowed the gap to 21-17, but kills from Rachel Mickey, Mallory Parsons and Korbakes sealed a 25-17 set-one win for Carthage.
 
Behrendt tallied a kill for the Lady Reds to give them a 3-2 lead in set two. This was Carthage's only lead of the frame as the Big Blue jumped to six-point leads on four occasions. That latest margin came when Millikin led 17-11, the point Carthage mounted a come back. A pair of kills from Anna Kinell helped the Lady Reds narrow their deficit to 19-18. That comeback bid fell short as Millikin tied the match 1-1 with a 25-22 win in set two.
 
Carthage couldn't muster a lead in set three as they fell by a score of 25-15, giving Millikin a 2-1 advantage in the match. The Lady Reds were on Millikin's heels throughout the opening stages of set four, but it never resulted in a lead as they fell 25-18.
 
Korbakes paced the Carthage offense with 10 kills in the game. Kinell chipped in with nine kills and five digs.