KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Lady Reds split their opening matches of the 2018 Carthage College Classic, topping the Milwaukee School of Engineering before falling to the University of Chicago to end the evening.
The split sends the Lady Reds to 6-5 on the season, while MSOE fell to 5-6 and Chicago improved to 11-0 on year.
#19 Carthage 3, MSOE 0
Carthage started the tournament with their best performance of the season, hitting a season best .410 in the three-set win and took advantage of a struggling Raiders squad that -.033 for the match with negative hitting performances in the first and second sets.
The Lady Reds were able to dig deep into the bench in the win as they won each set by at least eleven points.
Nicole Acton and
Megan Behrendt led the Carthage starters with eight kills apiece and Behrendt was the lone player of the match in double figures in digs with eleven. Acton finished with a .700 attack on eight kills on ten attempts and just one error and substitute
Andrea Kozak hit a perfect 1.000 with four kills on four attempts.
Ellie LeCount was dominant from the service line, serving five aces in the win and added 35 assists to pace the Lady Reds.
Chicago 3, #19 Carthage 1
In the final match of the first day, the Lady Reds were unable to keep the momentum of a first set win, as the Maroons took advantage of 23 attack errors by the Lady Reds over the final three sets to drop the four-set match.
Despite falling,
Megan Behrendt had one of the best nights in a Lady Reds uniform, as the junior outside registered a career-high 19 kills.
Ellie LeCount shelled out a season-high 50 assists, helping
Shannon Kebisek and
Nicole Acton to double-digit kills as well with 13 and ten respectively.
Defensively, the Lady Reds tallied seven blocks in the match, with
Sarah Udoni sending five ball back down to the court followed by Behrendt with four. Laura De Rosales had a career-high 25 digs for the Lady Reds and Behrendt rounded out her strong performance with 23 digs.
The Lady Reds will return to action at noon on Saturday when they open their day with Saint Mary's University at noon and wrap up the tournament with Concordia University Wisconsin at 4:00 p.m.
