NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Carleton College volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision (25-12, 25-20, 25-16) to cross-town rival and No. 25-ranked St. Olaf College in Wednesday night's annual "Battle 4 the Bell" matchup at West Gym.
The Oles set the tone in the opening frame, breaking away from an early 2-2 tie. St. Olaf used an 11-2 run that included a stretch of eight unanswered points to open up a 13-4 cushion. Carleton answered with kills from senior Rachel Bingham and junior Ellewyn Swafford, but the Oles capitalized on a 6-1 run to increase the lead to 20-8 and ultimately capture the first set 25-12.
The Knights found their footing in the second set, claiming a 4-1 lead after Bingham delivered a kill and a service ace in the early going. Carleton continued to trade points with the visitors to an 11-8 lead. A block assist from senior Jennifer Bricker and first-year Alexis Ormsby alongside kills from Bingham and sophomore Sami Torresin gave the Knights three straight points and opened up some breathing room at 14-9. Carleton led 19-16 in the late stages before the Oles scored nine of the final 10 points to pull out a 25-20 come-from-behind set win.
St. Olaf jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage led from wire-to-wire in the final frame. The Ole lead would climb to as many as 11 (20-9) before the Knights rattled off a 5-1 spurt thanks to kills from senior setter Megan Smith, Swafford, and Bingham. The run was capped off bay a service ace from first-year Raffaella Gardner to cut the deficit to 21-14, but St. Olaf answered down the stretch to close out the frame 25-16 and lock up the sweep.
Ellewyn Swafford and Rachel Bingham paced the Carleton offense with eight kills apiece, while Alexis Ormsby contributed five. Megan Smith directed the attack with 23 assists and added 10 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. Libero Madeleine Dimitre anchored the back row with a match-high 21 digs. At the net, Sami Torresin posted three block assists, with Bricker and Swafford adding two block assists each.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will now look to Friday night when it hosts Nebraska Wesleyan University in the first match of a busy weekend at West Gym. The Knights will host the Prairie Wolves at 7pm and proceed to host four more matches, competing in two of them, on Saturday as part of the Carleton/St. Olaf Invitational.
