NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Carleton volleyball team fell to Saint Mary's in five sets in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play Friday night at West Gym.  The Knights won the opening two sets, but could not quite hold on to drop to 2-13 overall, 0-2 in MIAC play. 

The Knights opened strong, recording 15 kills on .222 hitting in the opening frame. Junior Rachel Bingham, first-year Ella Goolsby and junior Jennifer Bricker combined for key points. Trailing 16-11, Carleton used a 12-3 run to take control of the set.  Bingham and senior Sylvia Dixon produced three kills each down the stretch to hold off a Saint Mary's rally and close out the frame 25-23. Megan Smith distributed 13 assists and the Maize and Blue posted two service aces in the opener.

Carleton had its best offensive set of the match, hitting .275 with 14 kills and just three errors. The Knights used a 10-1 run, highlighted by back-to-back aces from sophomore Madeleine Dimitre and kills from Bingham and Bricker, to break open the set. Defensively, Carleton limited Saint Mary's to a negative hitting percentage and took a 2–0 lead with a dominant 25-12 win.

Saint Mary's responded by hitting .344 in the third set, while holding Carleton to .093. Despite 12 kills from the Knights, the Cardinals used a string of 10 unanswered points to take a 22-14 lead and all but put the set away. Saint Mary's finished the set scoring three of the final four points to take the third 25-17.

The Cardinals forced seven early Carleton errors and raced to a 5-0 lead. Carleton managed only six kills against 14 errors (.-163) in the fourth set. Bingham and fellow junior Kate Wiczynski added late kills to try to slow the surge, but the Saint Mary's defense controlled the set 25-14 to even the match.

The decisive set featured 10 ties and multiple lead changes. Carleton built a 10-6 advantage on consecutive kills by Bingham, sophomore Ellewyn Swafford and fellow sophomore Abby Kvart. Saint Mary's rallied, coming back to tie the score at 16-16. After alternating points to 18-18, the Cardinals won the final two rallies to secure the match 20-18.

Bingham had a career night to lead the way for the Knights.  The junior came through with a double-double, notching career highs in both kills (19) and digs (20).  Junior setter Megan Smith followed with a double-double of her own, putting up a season-high 45 assists and 14 digs.  Madeleine Dimitre recorded a team-high 22 digs.  She led six Knights with double-figure digs.  Along with Dimitre, Bingham, and Smith, first-year Angelina Erhardt posted a career-high 17, while Sylvia Dixon put up 15 and senior Ella Curtis-Revelle totaled 12.  Carleton totaled 109 digs as a team, the most in a match since September 8, 2012 when the Knights posted 112 digs in a five-set loss to Linfield College.

Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will be back in action next week when the Knights travel to Arden Hills, Minnesota to take on Bethel on Wednesday night.  That match is set for a 7pm start.