KENOSHA, WIS. — The No. 1 seed Carthage College women's volleyball team collected a 3-0 straight-set victory over the No. 5 seed Augustana (Ill.) in the semifinals of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Women's Volleyball Tournament Thursday at Tarble Arena.

It was a back-and-forth effort to start the match with Carthage (26-3) holding a 10-7 lead in set one. Augustana (Ill.) (13-19) battled back to shrink the deficit to seven before a service ace from Ellie LeCount gave the Lady Reds the first set 25-14. Carthage jumped out to a 12-6 advantage to start set two before going on a 13-5 run to take a two-set lead. The Lady Reds controlled an 11-6 margin in the third set until Augustana cut the deficit to five at 19-14. Another 6-3 run for Carthage sealed the straight-set victory 25-17. 

The Lady Reds will be the host in the CCIW Championship game playing the No. 3 seed Millikin starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 9 at Tarble Arena. 

Head Coach Leanne Ulmer

"We were excited to host the semifinal round of the CCIW tournament! What a great crowd and great atmosphere. I thought we did a really good job serving and passing and that set up a strong hitting night. Haley Horner had a strong night offensively leading us with 12 kills. Megan Behrendt, Shannon Kebisek and Laura de Rosales played some great defense and passed very well. Ellie LeCount was tough at the service line tonight and ran a very efficient offense. We are looking forward to hosting the finals on Saturday at 5 p.m."

Quick Facts

• The Lady Reds defense held the Vikings to a .019 hitting percentage. 
• Haley Horner finished with 12 kills while Shannon Kebisek and Megan Behrendt tallied eight and seven kills respectively. 
• Ellie LeCount added 28 assists and Laura de Rosales recorded 14 digs.  

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