MANKATO, Minn. -  The Carleton volleyball team went on the road to take a 3-1 victory over Bethany Lutheran College on Wednesday night at the Sports and Fitness Center North Gym.  Carleton dropped the first set before winning three consecutive sets to improve to 3-2 on the year.
 
The Knights got out to a good start in the non-conference match up.  Three straight kills gave the visitors a 3-1 lead in the early going.  Leading 6-4, Carleton went cold, as the Vikings went on a 14-2 run, including nine straight points on the way to opening up an 18-8 advantage.  Though the two teams were even through the remainder of the frame, the damage had been done in a 25-15 opening set win for the home team.
 
Carleton nearly saw the same script unfold in the second set.  Leading 13-10, the Maize and Blue did not score for the next seven points as the three-point advantage quickly reversed to a four-point deficit (17-13).  That lead grew to six late in the set.  With Bethany leading 23-17, the Knights needed to find something quickly, and find it they did in what proved to be a pivotal point of the match. 
 
A kill from sophomore Rachel Bingham got things going.  As junior Isabel Macia stepped to the service line, Carleton needed to string points together and go on a run.  A pair of kills from both junior Sylvia Dixon and sophomore Kate Wiczynski fueled the run, along with an ace from Macia.  Suddenly, the Knights led 24-23 after rattling off eight straight points and needing just one more to finish the comeback.  Macia stepped to the line and put the exclamation point on the frame with an ace to cap a 9-0 run that brought the Knights all the way back to take the second set 25-23.
 
An evenly-played third set featured 15 ties and eight lead changes as the two teams battled back-and-forth.  After Carleton held an 11-8 edge early, it was Bethany who appeared to have the upper hand late in the set with a 22-18 lead.  But five straight points from the Knights gave the Maize and Blue the lead once again, this time 23-22.  The pendulum of momentum swung back to the Vikings (24-23), then back to the Knights (25-24) before the home team tied the score 25-25 heading for extra volleyball.  A kill from senior Kerrigan Candra gave the advantage back to Carleton, who went on the take the final point of the frame and collect the 27-25 win in set two.
 
Set four again was highly-contested.  Bethany jumped out to a 4-1 lead before five straight points for Carleton gave the Knights a 6-4 edge.  Later in the frame, Carleton scored four unanswered to stretch its largest lead of the set (18-15), but the Vikings scored five of the next seven points to even the count 20-20.  Two points for the Knights (22-20), then two for the Vikings (22-22).  Two more for Carleton (24-22) and the Knights were one point away from closing out the win.  Bethany gained the serve back, but could not hold it, as the visitors took the final point to win the fourth set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
 
On the night, Carleton flexed a 53-41 kill advantage and hit a .154 percentage, compared to .145 for the Vikings.  Kerrigan Candra and Isabel Macia both notched double-doubles to lead the way for the Knights.  Candra tallied 11 kills and 13 digs, while Macia operated the offense with 18 assists and added 12 digs.  Sophomore Megan Smith added 17 assists, and first-year Madeleine Dimitre recorded a pair of career highs with 13 digs and seven assists. 
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will be back in action Friday in Winona when the Knights take on Luther College at 5pm in the Sugar Loaf Classic.  Following Friday night's contest, the Maize and Blue will take on Buena Vista University and UW-La Crosse on Saturday.