BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Carthage College Lady Reds overcame a 2-1 deficit to top the NCAA Bloomington Regional hosts, Illinois Wesleyan University, in a five-set thriller Friday night to win their NCAA Regional Semifinal match, 3-0.
 
"I am super proud of my girls tonight," said head coach Leanne Ulmer after the win.  "That match is exactly what I anticipated it to be, just a slugfest back and forth.  Two great teams battled tonight.  Kim has done a great job with Wesleyan and they have great players on their team.  For us to beat them once is difficult, but to beat them three times this year is crazy to think about.  I give my kids a lot of credit.  We were down a little bit; lost the first set, came back; lost the second set, came back; then finished it out, which we have been doing all year." 

The third win of 2017 over the Titans and 12^th straight dating back to October 20^th, improves the Lady Reds overall record to 27-8, while Illinois Wesleyan University's season comes to an end at 23-8.
 
The Titans took advantage of the Lady Reds worst hitting set of the week in the first, as the Lady Reds hit .000 in the first set defeat, 25-19.  Carthage tallied just ten kills to the Wesleyan 15, but ten attack errors doomed the Lady Reds in the first set.
 
The Lady Reds tied it up in the second set after a 6-0 run gave Carthage a 17-11 lead.  Illinois Wesleyan would make a run late, trying to catch the Lady Reds, closing a 23-16 deficit to 23-20, but a Megan Fallert kill and attack error by the Titans gave the Lady Reds the 25-20 win.
 
In the third, the Titans jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead, but a Katie Laio block sparked a 5-0 run in favor of the Lady Reds, forcing a IWU timeout with Carthage trailing, 8-7.  Out of the timeout, Carthage extended the run to 7-0 to take their first lead of the set at 9-8.  After tying the match at 11-11, the Titans would lead the rest of the set, building a four-point lead that the Lady Reds would cut to two but could never get any closer as the Titans pulled away for a 25-19 third set win to go up 2-1.
 
Set four saw the Lady Reds and Titans go back and forth for most of the set with 11 ties and seven lead changes.  Trailing 11-12, the Lady Reds went on a 4-0 run courtesy of a Rachael Kisten kill and three straight attack errors by the Titans.  The Lady Reds would never let the Titans back in the set, closing things out 13-4 with the 25^th point coming on a block by Kisten and Kaite Laio against Tyler Brown to take the set 25-18.
 
Carthage then completed the comeback in the fifth after taking a 2-1 lead and never letting the Titans within reach after that, pushing the lead to 8-4 at the switch.  Carthage hit .440 in the fifth with 13 kills to take the match with a 15-8 fifth set win.
 
Rachael Kisten finished with a match-high and career-high 20 kills in the win and was joined by Shannon Kebisek, Megan Behrendt and Megan Fallert to lead the Carthage offense with 15 kills, 12 kills and ten kills respectively, while Ellie LeCount dished out 53 assists.
 
A week after the Lady Reds were out blocked by the Titans in a CCIW Semifinal, Carthage won the battle at the net, blocking IWU six times, led by Katie Laio with five, to Wesleyan's four.
 
The Carthage defensive back row also had an amazing night with four Lady Reds recording 20-or-more digs.  Behrendt led all-players in the match with a career-high of her own, 27 digs.  Libero Luci Krenzke was right there with Behrendt, picking up 26 digs followed by Mallory Parsons with 24 and Kebisek with 21.
 
 The win moves the Lady Reds into the Regional Championship on Saturday, where Carthage will face #2 Calvin College at 7:00 p.m.