Carleton Knights

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Carleton College volleyball team improved to 3-2 on the season, earning a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-23, 25-22) over Central College (Iowa) on Friday afternoon at the Leonard Center in the opening day of the Macalester Invitational.

After Central scored the opening two points of the match, Carleton responded with a 10-2 run that grew to 10-4. Senior Jennifer Bricker and sophomore Sami Torresin teamed up for a block later in the frame to extend the advantage to 21-9. Despite a late 9-3 push by the Dutch, junior Ellewyn Swafford closed out the set 25-18 with a kill off an assist from senior setter Megan Smith.

The second set featured tighter competition, with Central mounting an early 7-3 lead. Tied 10-10, the Dutch rattled off a mid-set surge to take a 16-11 lead following a kill from Rachel Bowers. Carleton responded with a 9-3 run, tying the set at 19-19 on a kill by sophomore Aditi Mukhirala. With the set tied 21-21, Carleton scored four of the final six points of the frame. Torresin put the Knights ahead with a kill, and Swafford finalized the 25-23 set victory with another kill set up by Smith.

Central grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the third set, but Carleton fought back to keep the frame close throughout. Trailing 21-17, the Knights rallied to score eight of the final nine points, including the last six points—highlighted by a kill from Bricker, a tandem block by Bricker and Torresin, plus a service ace and a pair of kills from Rachel Bingham—to secure the 25-22 set victory and complete the match sweep.

Rachel Bingham led the Knights' offense with nine kills. Swafford contributed eight kills on a .500 hitting percentage, and first-year Alexis Ormsby tallied seven kills. Setter Megan Smith dished out a match-high 25 assists alongside 10 digs to collect her third double-double of the season. Defensively, junior libero Madeleine Dimitre anchored the defense with a match-high 14 digs. Mukhirala added 11 digs and Bricker tallied a match-high four blocks.

Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will be back in action on Saturday in St. Paul. The Knights square off with the University of Minnesota-Morris at 10am before finishing the weekend against the University of Wisconsin-Superior at 2pm at Leonard Center.