CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Carthage College women's volleyball team defeated Bowdoin in straight-sets 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship
Thursday at the US Cellular Center. The Lady Reds advance to the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 2015 with the victory.
It was a back-and-forth effort to start with Bowdoin (21-8) controlling a slim 6-4 advantage over Carthage (31-3). A kill from
Andrea Kozak gave Carthage a one-point lead. Later, another kill this time from
Haley Horner made the score 13-12 in favor of the Lady Reds. Following a Polar Bears timeout, a kill from
Nicole Acton extended the Carthage margin to two at 16-14. The Lady Reds closed the set with a 8-4 to take the first set 25-18.
Bowdoin began the second set with an early 3-1 advantage Carthage responded with an ace from Shannon Kebisek to change the score to 8-5 in favor of the Lady Reds. A quick 6-3 run for Carthage made it 14-8 before taking a two-set lead 25-14.
The Polar Bears jumped out to a 6-4 margin to start the third. Back-to-back aces from Autumn McGee gave the Lady Reds a 10-6 advantage, forcing a Bowdoin timeout. A kill from Horner propelled the margin to 15-9 however, a quick 4-1 run for the Polar Bears shrank the deficit to 16-13. Bowdoin continued the momentum cutting the lead to one at 20-19 but Carthage closed out the set for the straight-set victory.
The Lady Reds advance to face the top seed of the tournament Emory in the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball semifinals on Friday, November 22 at 5 p.m.
Quick Facts
- Carthage hit an impressive .517 in set two with only one attack error.
- The victory marks the third time in program history the Lady Reds have advanced to the NCAA Semifinals.
- Carthage had two players finish with double-digit kills: Haley Horner (13) and Megan Behrendt (11).
- Behrendt also collected 10 digs while Autumn McGee and Megan Dawrant each tallied three aces.
- Ellie LeCount added 38 assists and 11 digs.
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