NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton volleyball team swept Concordia College 25-17, 25-21, 25-23 on Saturday evening at West Gym behind a season-high .347 team hitting mark and 10 service aces — four of them in the opening set alone — to secure a key MIAC home win.
The Knights utilized comebacks late in the second and third sets to secure the win, which was their second straight after defeating Augsburg 3-1 last week in Northfield.
"I thought it was a great win. Our serve receive really gave us a great chance to set up the offense," said junior setter Megan Smith of the win. "I am really proud of the way we all came together to get a great team win."
After spotting the Cobbers the first two points, Carleton quickly seized control in the opening set with a four-point burst featuring an ace from senior Sylvia Dixon and a kill from first-year Sami Torresin. The Knights sided out at nearly every turn and pulled away late behind a key 7-1 run and later used back-to-back aces from Smith on the way to closing it out 25-17. Carleton hit .474 with just two attack errors in the frame.
"I think we won the serve and pass game," commented head coach Abby Walton on how the Knights got off to such a strong start. "Our back row did awesome and I was really impressed with our passing."
Concordia led 9-5 early in the second and trailed 18-14 late in the frame before scoring six unanswered to flip the momentum. An ace from senior Isabel Macia and back-to-back kills from junior Kate Wiczynski highlighted the run, which gave the home team a 20-18 lead. But the Cobbers would not go quietly. The visitors scored three consecutive points to regain the lead (21-20) before the Knights again closed strong, scoring the final five points of the set to win 25-21 and go up 2–0.
The third set featured 14 ties and seven lead changes. Neither side led by more than three throughout the frame. Trailing 21-19, Carleton came from behind to tie the score (21-21) before Concordia again took the lead (22-21). But the Knights understood the assignment and scored four of the final five points with Wiczynski and Torresin delivering kills in the closing stretch. A block from Smith and first-year Ella Goolsby ended it at 25-23 to finish the sweep.
Dixon led Carleton with 11 kills and 13 points. Wiczynski followed with 10 kills and Torresin added nine, while hitting .444. Smith posted 32 assists, eight digs and two aces. First-year Angelina Erhardt anchored the defense with 11 digs, while sophomore Madeleine Dimitre added eight and senior Ella Curtis-Revelle tallied five digs with a match-best three aces. Carleton finished with 10 service aces, 46 digs and a season-low nine attack errors on 98 attacks to secure its best hitting match of the season.
"Everybody contributed," Walton said of her team's balance. "I really liked how Megan moved the ball tonight and got everybody involved. We had some injuries last week and some of our players were coming back from injuries, so there was a lot of good stuff with how well they came out here and played well."
"We have started to pick up momentum recently in the conference season," stated Wiczynski. "We are just looking to carry that through the last half of the conference season."
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will head on the road next week for a Wednesday night match up at Gustavus at 7pm before returning home to host the Carleton Triangular next Saturday at West Gym.
