ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Carleton volleyball team battled through four competitive sets, but came up short in a 3–1 (20–25, 25–18, 13–25, 22–25) setback at Macalester in MIAC volleyball action at the Leonard Center Friday night.
The Knights led 14-12 midway through the opening set before a 5-1 run for the Scots gave the home team a 17-15 advantage. Carleton came back to tie the score 18-18 before Macalester closed the frame on a 7-2 run to take it 25-20.
After dropping the tight opening frame, the Knights bounced back strong in the second. The Maize and Blue surged to a 12–6 advantage behind kills from junior Kate
Wiczynski and first-year
Ella Goolsby. A 22-13 lead narrowed to 22-18 following a stretch of five straight points for Macalester, but the Knights closed the second with the final three points to capture the set 25-18. Carleton hit .206 in the frame, their best offensive mark of the night, while limiting the Scots to nine kills.
Macalester regained control in the third with a 25–13 win before the fourth set turned into a back-and-forth battle. Carleton built an early 8–2 cushion behind sophomore Madeleine
Dimitre's serving and a pair of blocks from fellow sophomore Ellewyn
Swafford. Two points later, the hosts clawed back with an 8-1 run to take an 11-10 advantage. Tied 19-19, the Scots scored six of the final nine points of the set to edge the Knights 25–22 and secure the match.
Senior
Sylvia Dixon led Carleton with a double-double thanks to 12 kills and 11 digs to go along with three aces. Wiczynski added 10 kills and two blocks. Junior setter
Megan
Smith distributed 31 assists and tallied nine digs, and Dimitre anchored the back row with a career-high 27 digs to go with two aces. First-year Angelnia Erhardt added 10 digs.
As a team, Carleton finished with 39 kills, 10 aces, and 71 digs.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will be back in action tomorrow night in St. Paul when it takes on St. Catherine at 5pm before wrapping up the 2025 campaign next Saturday against Saint Benedict at West Gym.
