KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Lady Reds opened their 2017 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin season in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night, coming back in the fifth set to defeat the Augustana College Vikings, 3-2.
 
The win moves the Lady Reds to 8-3 on the season and 1-0 in the CCIW, while Augustana falls to 6-7 and 0-1 in the league.
 
Carthage opened the match with a .400 hitting percentage in the first set to take a convincing 1-0 lead with a 25-11 win.  After dropping the second set 25-23, the Lady Reds rebounded to take a 2-1 lead in the match with a third set 25-16 win.  However, Augustana rebounded and took the fourth, 25-23, and looked to be ready to finish the Lady Reds off with a 14-10 lead in the fifth. 
 
Carthage then came to life in the fifth with a 5-0 run started by a kill by Rachael Kisten and behind the service of Megan Behrendt.  During the run Shannon Kebisek had two kills and Megan Fallert added another.
 
Tied at 16-16 in the fifth Shannon Kebisek set Carthage up with their third match point at 17-16 and an ace by Autumn McGee ended the match.
 
As a team the Lady Reds hit .205 with 69 kills to the Vikings .114 and 51 kills.  Kebisek led three Lady Reds in double figures with a career-high 17 kills followed by Behrendt with 16 and Kisten with 12.  Ellie LeCount had 39 assists and McGee added a career-high 20.
 
Defensively two Lady Reds also set career marks as Megan Fallert recorded nine blocks and Luci Krenzke had 37 digs.
 
The Lady Reds will return to action on Friday in a non-conference showdown with Lake Forest College at Tarble Arena.  First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.