GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Lauren Wilhite led the Thunder with 28 assists in Tuesday night's loss to Carthage at King Arena.

Wheaton, Ill.- The Thunder volleyball team fell to defending CCIW champion Carthage in straight sets at King Arena on Tuesday night.  Carthage improved to 4-1 on the season with set victories of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-19.

Wheaton (1-9) dropped the first set of the night after a very even start.  The set saw Carthage open a five-point lead in the middle of the set at 22-17, the Thunder would put together a run to cut the lead to 23-21, but the Lady Reds closed out the set with a side out and an ace to take the set 25-21.

The second set continued to be tightly score with neither team opening up much of a lead until the end of the set.  Several unforced errors by the Thunder gave Carthage a 22-17 lead that they would parlay into a 25-19 set victory.

Carthage led from wire to wire in the third set, jumping out to a quick 10-3 lead.  Wheaton would close the gap to 12-8 but the Lady Reds reasserted themselves and pulled back ahead 18-10 as they cruised to a 25-19 victory.

Emily Buyse led the Thunder with nine kills while Madeline Taylor was credited with six.  Freshman Lauren Wilhite was the lead facilitator for the offense with 28 of Wheaton's 31 assists.  Megan Thornton and Kelli Manning each record a service ace.  Manning led the Thunder with 10 digs.

Wheaton will be in action this weekend as they host the Wheaton Tri-Match on Saturday.  The Thunder will host Monmouth at 10 AM and Lakeland at 2 PM at King Arena.