ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Carthage College Lady Reds opened their 2016 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin season Wednesday on the road taking down the Vikings of Augustana College in four sets, 3-1.
 
Despite hitting just .176 for the match Carthage moved to 7-5 overall on the year and 1-0 in the conference, while dropping Augustana to 9-4 and 0-1 in the CCIW.
 
Carthage opened the match with a slow start finding themselves behind before eventually tying the match and taking the set, 25-23.
 
"It's great to get a conference win on the road against a good Augustana team to open the conference season," said head women's volleyball coach Leanne Ulmer.  "We got off to a really slow start and freshmen Shannon Kebisek and Megan Behrendt helped us pull even to take the first set.  We had a good lead in set number-three with a number of chances to finish the match but Augie hung tough and was able to take the set."
 
After taking at 2-0 lead in the match behind a 25-17 second-set win, the Vikings forced the match into a fourth set, outlasting the Lady Reds, 27-25, in the third.
 
Carthage was able to eventually closeout the match behind a solid fourth set that saw the Lady Reds regain their second set swagger, taking the match with a 25-19 win.
 
Ulmer added, " I was proud of the girls coming out strong in set number-four.  Stephanie Korbakes and our middles came up with some good swings.  Despite the win we have lots of room for improvement but we are happy to get the win."
 
Statistically, Megan Behrendt led the Lady Reds with 15 kills hitting .389, followed by Korbakes with 13 kills and Rachel Mickey and Kebisek adding five apiece courtesy of Abigail McGowan setting Carthage up with 25 assists.  Ellie LeCount also was in double-digits with 15 assists.
 
Defensively, Carthage had five different Lady Reds with at least ten digs, led by Luci Krenzke with 21 to give her 1,371 and move into a tie for sixth on the Lady Reds career digs list with Karen Chin.  Behrendt and LeCount added 13 digs each, while McGowan and Kebisek had 10 each.
 
Rachel Mickey tallied six total blocks; including a match-high five assisted blocks to miss her season-high total by just one.
 
Carthage will continue their season on the road a week from today with a match at Elmhurst College next Wednesday, September 28th, who was ranked #23 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association DIII Top 25 poll.