TACOMA, Wash. – The 2016 Carthage College Lady Reds volleyball team rebounded from dropping their opening match of the season Friday against Southwestern University to defeat Pacific Lutheran University in the nightcap of the opening day of the Puget Sound Tournament.
 
In their opening match, Carthage jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead with a 25-20 first set win.  Southwestern University bounced back however taking the second and third sets, 25-17 and 25-20, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.  The Lady Reds regained momentum in the fourth set with a 25-16 win to force a fifth set.  However the Pirates managed to knock-off the Lady Reds 15-13 in the set to take the match, 3-2.
 
Anna Kinell led the Lady Reds with a match-high 16 kills, tying with SU's Kate Mitchell.  Mallory Parsons added 11 kills and Rachel Mickey had 10 to round out the attacking leaders.  Abigail McGowan finished with 32 assists and Luci Krenzke led the Lady Reds defensively with 32 digs.
 
As a team, Carthage hit .189 in the match to equal Southwestern's attack, however the Lady Reds committed 26 attack errors and 12 service errors to the Pirates 21 attack errors and nine service errors.
 
The second match of the day saw Carthage return to the form which the Lady Reds presented in 2015 with a dominant 3-1 win over Pacific Lutheran. 
 
Carthage jumped out to a 2-0 lead before PLU took the third set.  The Lady Reds responded emphatically in the fourth with a 25-11 win which saw the Lady Reds hit .366 while holding the Lutes to a zero hitting percentage.
 
As a team the Lady Reds hit .229 to PLU's .099, aided largely by the play at the net defensively of Rachel Mickey, Stephanie Korbakes and Megan Fallert who led Carthage to 12 blocks in the match.
 
Offensively it was Anna Kinell leading the Lady Reds with 18 kills, followed by Korbakes and Parsons with 11 apiece, while McGowan followed up her 32 assists in the first match with 31 in the second.
 
Carthage will wrap-up their opening tournament of 2016 out west Saturday with matches against Vassar College and tournament host, the University of Puget Sound.  Live stats will be available for both matches.