The road to a sixth consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship begins tonight for the Carthage volleyball team.

The nationally-ranked Reds host North Park in a CCIW Tournament play-in match at 7 p.m. at Tarble Arena.

Carthage, which went 7-0 in the regular season, is the tourney’s top seed. North Park, 0-7 in the CCIW, is seeded eighth.

Under coach Leanne Ulmer, Carthage has won the last four CCIW titles outright while tying for the 2004 crown. The Reds finished the regular season with a CCIW-record 44 consecutive victories.

Carthage, ranked ninth in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division-3 poll and third in the Oct. 28 NCAA Division-3 Midwest Regional poll, swept North Park on Sept. 29.

A win tonight would clinch the Reds homecourt for the remainder of the conference tournament Friday and Saturday. The CCIW Tournament champion receives the league’s bid to the Midwest Region championship, where Carthage expects to get one of the highest seeds.

All-GLVC Rangers

UW-Parkside’s Shannon Becker and Meredith Novak were named first-team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference in soccer, the league announced recently.

Becker, a sophomore forward, leads the GLVC in points (29) and points per game (1.61) and is fourth in goals (9) and third in assists (11).

Novak, a senior midfielder, leads the league with 12 assists and is second in the league in points (28) and points per game (1.56) and sixth in goals (8).

Parkside senior midfielder Becky Zirlin was named All-GLVC second team while junior back Caitlin Moon and sophomore goalkeeper Cassie Glodowski earned third-team honors.

Parkside fell to 12-3-3 following Sunday’s GLVC Tournament loss at Indianapolis.

Parkside’s Matt Gloshen, a junior back, was named All-GLVC second team while Niklas Boedtz, a sophomore, was a third-team choice.

Carthage’s Tyler Funk was named the CCIW’s Special Teams Player of the Week in football for the second time this season, the league announced Monday.

The senior from Racine Horlick High School, averaged 51.5 yards on two punts in the Red Men’s 41-28 win over Millikin on Saturday at Art Keller Field.

The special education major entered the game ranked first among Division-3 punters at 44.88 yards a boot.

Funk previously won the award on Oct. 12.