Box Score

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Elmhurst College volleyball team's season came to a close with a three-set loss to Carthage College in the second round of the NCAA Championship Tournament.

Carthage (32-6), ranked ninth in the latest AVCA poll took the match 25-20, 25-19, 27-25.

Leading 10-9 in the opening set, Carthage won six of the next seven points to open up a 16-10 lead. The Lady Reds were able to pull away and take the opening set while Elmhurst struggled with its attack, committing 10 errors in the opening set.

Elmhurst (31-6), ranked 16th in the latest AVCA poll, started strong in the second set, building a 10-6 advantage. Carthage slowly began to chip away at the Bluejays lead, using a 10-6 run to pull even at 16-16. The Lady Reds won five of the next six points to take a 21-17 lead and pull away to take the second set.

Once again, the Bluejays started strong in the third set, opening up a 15-10 cushion. The Bluejays pushed their lead up to 20-14 forcing Carthage to burn their final timeout. The Lady Reds responded with four straight points out of the timeout to pull to within two points. Elmhurst opened up a 23-21 lead, but back-to-back points from Carthage knotted the score at 23-23. A kill by Antonéya Veasy Smith gave the Bluejays a set-point at 24-23, but Carthage's Lauren Dembkowski evened the match at 24-all. Dembkowski gave Carthage a match-point with a kill, but the Veasy Smith answered back to know the score at 25-25. A kill by Dembkowski and an error on Elmhurst gave Carthage the third set and the match at 27-25.

Elmhurst finished the match hitting .152 with 44 kills and 24 errors. Carthage hit .236 with 44 kills and only 14 errors

"We just gave Carthage too many free points today," said Elmhurst Head Coach Julie Hall. "We committed too many unforced errors and were never really to generate a lot of offense in the middle of the court. I think our inexperience of playing at this level showed today. This was our first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2005 and we have a very young team. Carthage has a senior-dominated squad that has been to the tournament each year of their careers. Their tournament experience showed today."

Veasy Smith powered Elmhurst's offense in the loss, pounding down 16 kills and recording nine digs. Sam Szarmach added seven kills and 15 digs while Megan Reynolds totaled six kills and a match-high seven blocks. Kaitlyn Wilks, Katie Rueffer, and Taylor Rasmussen all finished with four kills apiece. Perrie Morgan added 13 digs while Rueffer finished with 23 assists. Erin Thill added 13 assists and nine digs for the Bluejays. Marci Novak totaled three kills and nine digs for Elmhurst.

Michelle Madeja paced Carthage in the win, totaling 12 kills and 10 digs. Dembkowski and Dani Steffa added 10 kills apiece. Izzy Shandlin totaled 17 digs while Drewann Pancratz finished with 24 assists.

Elmhurst closed out the season with a 31-6 overall record and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2005 season. With no seniors on the 2011 squad, the Bluejays are set to return their entire roster next season.

Hall is proud of what the Bluejays accomplished in 2011 and believes the team can has a bright future ahead.

"As disappointed as our team was to lose today, we really accomplished a lot this season," said Hall. "They worked extremely hard after the 2010 season and the hard work clearly paid off this year. Now that they've been to the NCAA Tournament, they're seeing first hand what it takes to be successful at this level. If we continue the same level of commitment and hard work, then I'm very excited to see what's in store for us down the road."