KENOSHA, Wis. – The #19 Carthage College Lady Reds dropped their home opener Wednesday night in a tough five-setter at Tarble Arena to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 3-2.
 
The loss sends the Lady Reds to 5-4 on the season, while the Warhawks improve to 7-2 in 2018.
 
The Lady Reds and Warhawks exchanged sets throughout the night, with Whitewater taking the first and third sets, while the Lady Reds won the second and fourth sets.  The Lady Reds hoped to rollover their .206 performance that gave them a 25-15 fourth set win into the fifth, but Carthage struggled, hitting a match-low .038 in the decisive set, while Whitewater hit a match-best .360 to claim the match.
 
Carthage was great from the service line, rattling off eight aces in the loss to just four for Whitewater, but 33 attack errors to the Warhawks' 24 doomed Carthage down the stretch.
 
Linda Morton turned in the best performance of her career in the loss, registering 14 kills to lead Carthage, followed by Megan Behrendt with 12 and Shannon Kebisek with 11.  Behrendt also added 23 digs to lead Carthage, while Kebisek had 19, Laura De Rosales had 15 and Ellie LeCount had 13.
 
Coming off the bench, Sarah Udoni had a career-high three blocks, tying with Katie Laio for the team lead.
 
The Lady Reds will look to snap their short, two-game losing streak this weekend as Carthage hosts their annual tournament this Friday and Saturday.  The Lady Reds will open the weekend with the Milwaukee School of Engineering at Tarble Arena on Friday night at 6:00 p.m.