Northfield, Minn. – Danielle Hargreaves (Sr./Brandon, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) posted 11 kills and 12 digs and Samantha Hendricks (Jr./Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) added 11 kills as well as the Carleton College volleyball team picked up a key 3-0 sweep of Bethel University.
The Knights (11-10, 5-4 MIAC) won by game scores of 30-27, 30-27, 30-24 in moving closer to clinching their fourth straight MIAC Playoff bid. The win pushed the Knights into sixth place, one game ahead of Macalester and only one-half game behind Hamline and St. Thomas. The Knights own the tiebreaker on both the Tommies and Pipers, having beaten both teams. If Carleton wins its final two MIAC matches against St. Catherine (Oct. 21) and at St. Olaf (Oct. 25), it would do no worse than finishing in a three-way tie for fourth and would host a MIAC Playoff first-round contest. The Knights could finish as high as third, depending on St. Benedict's finish. The Blazers are 5-3, but finish with road matches at St. Olaf (Oct. 20), Gustavus (Oct. 21) and MIAC champion Concordia-Moorhead (Oct.25).
Liz Glesne’s 17 kills paced the Royals (14-10, 4-6 MIAC), but the loss likely leaves them on the outside looking in for the six-team conference postseason tournament.
Annie Eckhoff (Fy./Northfield, Minn.) added eight kills and four blocks. Heather La Chapelle (Jr./Eagan, Minn.) added 40 assists and nine digs and Laura Barsness (Fy./Lakeville, Minn./North) paced all players with 23 digs for Carleton. Stephanie Schmidt tallied 11 kills for Bethel and Laura Naig posted 37 assists and nine digs. Joslin Geisler led the way with 21 digs.
The Knights fell behind early in game one, 6-4, but reeled off six of the next seven points, paced by two Eckhoff kills and a Eckhoff and Vanessa Brown (Sr./Lakeville, Minn.) block. A Hargreaves ace, two Bethel errors and another Eckhoff kill pushed the margin to 17-10. The Royals rallied, getting within 24-22 on a Kayla Smith ace and kills by Glesne and Jennifer Stoa to make it 24-22, but the Knights held the visitors off and closed out the game on a Hargreaves kill shot off the Bethel block.
Game two played out much the same, as Carleton took an early 16-11 lead on a Hendricks kill shot, but Bethel closed to 20-19 after two Glesne kills and a pair of Carleton errors. Carleton pushed the lead to 26-23 on a Barsness ace, but the Royals tied it at 26-26 on a Glesne kill and two Carleton errors. Hendricks added her fifth kill of the game and Bethel had an attack error. Two points from the game, Sarah Kunelius (So./Eagan, Minn.) and Hendricks combined on a block, and after a Stoa kill shot Hendricks closed out the game with a kill of her own.
The third and final game was tight early, but the hosts pulled away late. A Stoa kill tied the game at 10-10, but Carleton gradually gained the advantage, moving to a 17-14 spread after a Royal service error and an attack error. Two more Bethel errors and a Hargreaves kill made it 20-14 in favor of the hosts. The lead grew to 25-17 after two more Hargreaves kills and a block by Hargreaves and Eckhoff. Bethel shrunk the gap to 27-24, but Brown tallied a kill out of a timeout, Bethel was called for a ball-handling error and a Royal hitting error gave the Knights the game and the contest.
The Knights are back in action in their final regular-season home match of the season, hosting the College of St. Catherine on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m.
