Box Score Grand Rapids, Mich. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-13) to Carthage College (Wis.) Thursday afternoon in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship in Calvin College's (Mich.) Van Nord Arena.  The Eagles finish 20-10 on the season while the Lady Reds advance to face Illinois Wesleyan University Friday, November 13 in the second round. 

In the first-ever meeting between the teams in the NCAA III Championship, UWL took a 4-2 lead in the opening set Thursday before Carthage (Wis.) used a 14-6 run to lead 16-10.  The Eagles scored nine of the next 14 points to cut the lead to 21-19 after a Stephanie Henk kill.  After Carthage (Wis.) took a 22-19 lead, back-to-back kills from UWL's Jill Entinger and Jessica Jablonski made it 22-21.  UWL later trailed 23-22 after a Henk kill, but Carthage (Wis.) scored the final two points to win the opening set, 25-22.

UWL tallied the first two points of the second set, but Carthage (Wis.) scored eight of the next 10 to lead 8-4.  The Eagles cut the Lady Reds' advantage to 12-11 on block assists from Jill Entinger and Ashley Entinger, but Carthage (Wis.) ended the set on a 13-5 run to win 25-16. 

The third set was tied 9-9 before the Lady Reds scored 10 of the next 12 points to lead 19-11.  UWL made it 19-13, but Carthage (Wis.) scored the final six points of the match to win the third set, 25-13. 

Henk led UWL with 10 kills Thursday while Jill Entinger finished with eight, Ashley Entinger six and Leah Putzier five.  Jaclyn Barrette recorded 31 assists as the Eagles hit .031 (33-29-128).  UWL hit .229 (14-6-35) in the first set, .000 (11-11-41) in the second and -.077 (8-12-52) in the third. 

Barrette had a team-high 14 digs with Paige Schmidt finishing with 13 and Danica Johnson with 12.  UWL had 2.0 blocks with Jill Entinger and Ashley Entinger each having two block assists. 

Stephanie Korbakes and Emily Heuermann each had 10 kills to lead Carthage (Wis.).  Karen Chin finished with 28 assists as the Lady Reds hit .219 (37-12-114).  Carthage (Wis.) hit .278 (15-5-36) in the first set, .200 (11-4-35) in the second and .186 (11-3-43) in the third. 

Luci Krenzke had a match-high 17 digs while Chin finished with 14 and Heuermann 12.  Carthage (Wis.) finished with 10.0 total blocks with Bria Hailey recorded two block solos and four block assists.  Korbakes had four block assists.

UWL, one of 20 at-large selections to this year's NCAA III Championship, recorded its first 20-win season since 2008 (28-12).  The Eagles, now 17-14 in 13 career appearances in the national championship, were making their first appearance in the NCAA III Championship since 2008.  

"I'm really proud of what the team has done this year," said UWL head coach Lily Hallock.  "It was a great turnaround year for us.  We had great senior leadership (Jaclyn Barrette, Sydney Bump, Danica Johnson, Leah Putzier) and a lot of people don't know how important the seniors were to this team, both on and off the court."

?Hallock, in her fourth year as the Eagles' head coach, was named the 2015 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Coach of the Year.  UWL won its first WIAC regular-season title with a 6-1 league mark.  It was the Eagles' 10th regular-season title in school history and first since 2003.