GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Carthage College Lady Reds dropped the opening match of the 2018 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship on Thursday at Calvin College's Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids, falling to the second seeded and third ranked Wittenberg University in three sets, 3-0.
 
"Really proud of the girls as we knew Wittenberg was a really talented team," said Lady Reds head volleyball coach Leanne Ulmer. "We got off to a little bit of a slow start, maybe some nerves played a factor but I thought being down 17-9 in the second set and being able to fight back after a few timeouts was encouraging. But good teams find a way to close things out and that's what they (Wittenberg) did."
 
A slow start for the Lady Reds in the first half forced an early timeout for Carthage, whom found themselves down 10-5 quickly.  The Lady Reds sustained the deficit and after a 3-0 run behind two kills by Linda Morton, the Lady Reds cut the Tiger's lead to one at 14-13.  It would be as close as the Lady Reds would get, however, as a Wittenberg timeout led to a 11-4 run to close-out the game and take the opening set 25-17.
 
Things looked good out of the gate for the Lady Reds in the second set, exchanging points with Wittenberg to a 3-3 tie through the six points but a 7-0 run by the Tigers quickly put the Lady Reds in a 10-3 hole before a Kaila Johanson kill ended the run. Wittenberg would extend the lead to as many as ten at 20-10 before Carthage began a fierce comeback behind the serve of Megan Dawrant that brought the score back to within two at 22-20 with a 6-0 run.  The comeback would be halted though, as Wittenberg regained their composure and were able to take the second set, 25-22, for the commanding 2-0 lead.
 
Another run opened the third set up for Wittenberg as the Tigers quickly jumped on the Lady Reds for a 5-0 lead in the must-win third set.  Carthage then began to weather the storm and a 4-0 run by the Lady Reds capped by a double block from Nicole Acton and Linda Morton tied the match at 6-6, forcing a Wittenberg timeout.  The Lady Reds would take their first lead of the set at 8-6 after a kill by Acton.  From there the Lady Reds and Tigers were tied up in a close game with the Lady Reds having to take a timeout trailing 17-15 following a pair of attack errors.  Carthage would tie it at 17-17 out of the timeout, but another 3-0 run by the Tigers forced the Lady Reds into their final timeout, trailing 20-17.  One final push by Carthage cut the lead to two, but Wittenberg was able to hold on and finish off the Lady Reds in the third, 25-20.
 
Behrendt posted her 18th double-double of the season with 11 kills and 18 digs along with a .298 hitting percentage. Kebisek and Morton each tallied eight kills off the bench while Ellie LeCount posted 34 assists. Laura de Rosales tied for a team-high 18 digs, and Nicole Acton collected three assisted blocks. The Tigers hit .213 as a team while Carthage collected a .140 figure. Wittenberg also had the upper-hand in blocks (10-6) and least errors (19-16). 
 
The loss ends the Lady Reds' season at 21-11, while the #3 Tigers will advance to Friday's regional semifinal at 24-2.