Carthage 3, Wheaton 0
WHEATON, Ill. — Carthage picked up a 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-7) victory against Wheaton (Ill.) on Tuesday night at King Arena to open College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play.
Set 1: Carthage overcame an early 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead before Wheaton eventually pulled even at 17-17. The Firebirds responded with three straight points to regain the advantage and extended the lead to 24-19. Wheaton scored three consecutive points to cut the deficit to 24-22, but a Thunder service error gave Carthage the 25-22 victory.
Set 2: The Firebirds jumped out to a 5-3 lead before Wheaton tied the score at 5-5. Carthage answered with a 7-1 run to take a 12-6 advantage and continued to build its lead throughout the set. The Firebirds used a 10-1 run to take a 22-13 lead before Wheaton scored twice.
Hailey Wierzgac's kill gave Carthage a 23-15 lead before
Kristina Manojlovic finished the set with back-to-back service aces for a 25-15 win.
Set 3: Carthage opened the third set with a 6-1 advantage and continued to pull away. The Firebirds led 10-3 before scoring 11 of the next 12 points to take a commanding 21-5 cushion. Carthage reached match point at 24-7 before
Ava Dettwiler's kill completed the sweep with a 25-7 victory.
Carthage hit .286 as a team in the three-set victory, while Wheaton (5-9, 0-1 CCIW) was limited to .011 hitting on the night. The Firebirds totaled 36 kills while holding the Thunder to 23 kills.
The Firebirds also recorded 10 service aces, including four from Manojlovic, and posted a dominant 15-4 advantage in total blocks.
Manojlovic paced the Carthage offense with 11 kills, while also recording four aces, eight digs and six total blocks. Dettwiler added eight kills on .273 hitting, 14 assists and five total blocks.
Hailey Wierzgac recorded five kills without an attack error while adding 10 block assists. Emma Crow contributed seven kills on .462 hitting and three block assists.
Mina Reichert led the Firebirds defensively with 15 digs, while Della Walsh added nine assists and two digs. Carthage finished with 40 digs as a team.
"It's always good to get that first CCIW win!"said Head Coach Leanne Ulmer. "We really blocked well tonight as a team with 15 total blocks. Hailey [Wierzgac], Emma [Crow] and Tina [Manojlovic] really owned the net! They also led us on offense. Della [Walsh] and Ava [Dettwiler] did a good job of running the offense. It was a good team win on the road!"
Carthage (8-5, 1-0 CCIW) returns to action Friday night at the Hope College Tournament in Holland, Mich. The Firebirds will take on Earlham at 5 p.m. EST. The Firebirds return to Tarble Arena on Oct. 3 against Wis-Eau Claire. For more information, visit athletics.carthage.edu.
