ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Carleton volleyball team took second-place St. Catherine down to the wire in a five-set loss at Butler Center Saturday night.  After winning the opening two sets, the Knights could not hold off the Wildcat comeback as the host came all the way back to take the match 3-2, despite a career night from junior Sylvia Dixon.
 
Carleton came out strong, scoring six of the match's first eight points.  A pair of aces, one from sophomore Megan Smith and the other from junior Katelyn Harder aided the early run.  The lead would grow to as many as nine on multiple occasions, including late in the frame (23-14) before St. Kate's scored five straight points to narrow the gap to four.  But the Knights scored the final two points of the set to close it out 25-19.
 
It was a late run in the second set that gave Carleton the 2-0 lead after two.  The Knights trailed 18-15 before the Maize and Blue put together a 7-1 run to flip the momentum and take a 22-19 lead.  From there, Carleton held on to take the second set 25-23 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Late in the third set, the Knights held on to a 19-17 lead and were just six points away from securing the upset of the second-place Wildcats.  But St. Catherine went on to score eight of the final 10 points of the set to take it 25-21 and extend the match.
 
Trailing 11-9 midway through the fourth set, the Knights used an 8-1 run to open up a commanding 17-12 lead headed to the late stretches of the frame.  Back-to-back aces from Dixon helped spur the run, which looked to give Carleton the boost it needed.  But the Wildcats had more lives remaining.  St. Catherine rattled off nine straight points to regain the lead (21-17) and held on from there to force a deciding fifth set. 
 
The Knights took control early in the fifth, scoring the first four points of the set.  Carleton held St. Kate's at arm's length throughout the final frame, eventually holding its largest lead of the set late with a five-point advantage and only one point standing between the Knights and the upset win.  But it wasn't to be.  The Wildcats scored six consecutive points to take a 15-14 lead and extend the match.  Carleton came back to take an 18=17 lead, but it was St. Catherine's night, as the home team scored the final three points of the set to complete the reverse sweep.
 
Sylvia Dixon led the Carleton offense with a career-high 24 kills.  That total places her among the program's top 15 individual performances for kills in a match and is the most for any Carleton player since Abby Loe '20 tallied 25 kills against Saint Mary's on October 30, 2019.  Her big night came on 50 total attacks and a hitting percentage of .380.
 
Sophomore Rachel Bingham followed as the only other Knight in double-figure kills with 10.  Bingham and fellow sophomore Jennifer Bricker each posted five blocks and Megan Smith put up her fourth straight double-double with 44 assists and 15 digs.  It is her eighth double-double in the last nine matches and 12th of the season.  Ella Curtis-Revelle put up a career-high 18 digs. 
 
Up Next for the Knights
The Knights will head into their final week of the season with a pair of matches remaining.  They will travel to take on UW-River Falls on Wednesday at 7pm before returning home for the season finale against Concordia Saturday night at 7pm in West Gym.