KENOSHA, Wis. -- The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday in the CCIW Tournament quarterfinals, falling in five set to the Carthage Firebirds on the road.

After trailing 1-0 to begin the first set, the Vikings went out in front following consecutive kills by Emily Schipper and Carmela Carbone and never trailed again the rest of the way. Despite the home team drawing even twice, Augie always answered with a score and grew its margin out to as many as five before holding off a late rally to win the opener by a score of 25-21. Carbone's kill at 24-21 halted two straight scores by the Firebirds to seal the set and give the Vikings a 1-0 match lead.

Augustana erased an early 4-1 deficit to begin the second and dominated from there, using two large scoring runs to pull ahead and eventually run away with the game. A 7-1 scoring outburst turned an early two-point hole into a four-point lead before a 5-1 run moved the differential out to six at 16-10. Carthage got within five just once the rest of the way as Augie coasted to the 25-16 victory to move the match lead out to 2-0. Back-to-back kills from Carbone and Schipper capped off a 3-0 run to close out the frame.

In the third, Carthage scored nine of the first 10 points and appeared to be cruising to its first set win, but the Vikings stormed back to make it interesting, pulling within four at score of 23-19. From there, Augustana saw two kills by Grace Gustafson and a pair of Carthage attack errors to make it a 24-23 score, but the home team remained alive with a kill on the next rally to extend the match out to a fourth set. The Firebirds erased a 24-21 deficit in the fourth with five points in a row to force a fifth and deciding game.

Carthage used its momentum from the fourth and notched the first four scores of the fifth and later moved that margin out to 7-3. A 5-0 run by the Vikings followed to give them their first lead of the set, using a kill from Carbone, an ace by Schipper, and three attack errors by the Firebirds to grab the advantage at the switch. The Firebirds countered with eight in a row to secure the win.

Schipper ended her night with 19 kills and 14 digs to lead Augie, while Alexis Richards add 11 kills and 13 digs. Augustana hit .268 as a team and had four players with a hitting percentage over .250.

With the loss, the Vikings' season comes to an end with a 10-20 record.