ELMHURST, Ill. – The Carthage College Lady Reds volleyball team dropped their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin match of the season Wednesday, falling to the Elmhurst College Bluejays, 3-0.
The loss drops Carthage to 7-6 on the year and 1-1 in the conference, while the #18 Bluejays move to 11-4 and 3-0 in the CCIW.
For the match Carthage was outhit .293 to .104 in the three-setter dooming the Lady Reds in the sweep. Additionally, the Lady Reds finished with 28 attack errors and 5 service errors to the Bluejays 15 total errors as well as a 9-2 advantage for the Bluejays at the net in blocks.
A 6-1 outburst by the Bluejays in the first set put the Lady Reds in an early hole, coupled with a poor hitting game by the Lady Reds saw the five point deficit quickly grow to ten at 15-5. Carthage managed to battle back late in the set cutting the Elmhurst lead to seven, however Elmhurst prevailed behind a .435 hitting percentage to Carthage's -.026, 25-16.
In the second set the Lady Reds were able to jump out to an early lead at 5-3 and some back-and-forth action the Lady Reds led, 16-15, just past midway through the set. After the Bluejays were able to tie it at 16-16 the Lady Reds were unable to get back into their groove and ended up dropping the set 25-20 despite hitting .200.
Carthage and Elmhurst exchanged blows in the third set to find the Lady Reds up one at 7-6 early. The Bluejays however responded with a 6-0 run to take a 12-7 lead. Still trailing 17-11, the Lady Reds began to make their comeback by going on a 12-6 run to tie the much needed set at 23-23. After being tied at 24-24 two points later, the Bluejays rattled off the final two points of the match to take the third set, 26-24.
Rachael Kisten led the Lady Reds with eight kills on the night followed by
Mallory Parsons with seven and six by
Rachel Mickey and
Stephanie Korbakes apiece.
The Lady Reds will look to bounce back over the weekend as Carthage heads to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for three games at the "Titan Tussle". The Lady Reds will face #12 Whitewater Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Alma and #19 UW-La Crosse on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and noon respectively.
