NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Despite a season-best 17 kills from Jancyn Appel (Jr./Kansas City, Mo./The Pembroke Hill School) and 47 assists from Inger Shelton (Sr./San Diego, Calif./La Jolla), the Carleton volleyball team dropped a hard-fought five-set match (20-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-21, 15-6) against Saint Mary's University on Wednesday evening in Knights' home opener.
 
Playing on campus for the first time in 687 days, fans at West Gym were treated to a thrilling back-and-forth affair between the two teams, who coincidentally played in the last match held on Carleton's campus in the fall of 2019.

"I'm proud of our resilience and grit tonight," said Carleton head coach Jacki Smith. "I can't 'shout out' the crowd enough for being such a huge factor in tonight's match. It was fun to be home in front of our fans, and we look forward to the chance to bounce back."
 
Carleton hit .419 in the opening set to take a quick 1-0 lead in the match as the Knights closed the set with a 10-2 run.
 
Saint Mary's answered with a 25-22 win in the second set to even the match score and look poised to edge out in front again in the third as the Cardinals earned a set point opportunity at 24-23 late in the game. The Knights rallied however, as Annelise Sokolow (So./Draper, Utah/Juan Diego Catholic) recorded kills during three of Carleton's final four points in the set to give the Knights a come-from-behind 27-25 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Saint Mary's responded with a 25-21 victory in the fourth set, before closing out the match with a 15-6 win in the fifth.   
 
Appel hit .500 in the match and added two blocks and an ace. Sokolow tallied 15 kills to go along with 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Grace de Benedetti (Sr./San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco University) added 11 kills, while Kennedy Bombei (Fy./Solon, Iowa/Solon) recorded a match-best 22 digs.
 
As a team, Carleton hit .208 compared to .259 for Saint Mary's. Ciarra McNally led the Cardinals with a program-record 32 kills.
 
Up Next for the Knights
 
The Knights return to action this Friday with a conference road match at Macalester College on at 7:00 p.m.