NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team was unable to complete a two-sets-to-none comeback in a five-set loss to crosstown-rival Carleton College in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Friday night at West Gym.

Carleton (5-11, 2-3 MIAC) hit .375 – three times its season average entering the night – on its way to winning the first two sets before St. Olaf (9-6, 2-2 MIAC) fought back to win sets three and four to send the match to a decider. The Oles held a 13-10 lead late in the fifth set before a string of errors helped the Knights stay alive and eventually complete a 25-18, 25-21, 18-25, 23-25, 18-16 win. The loss snapped St. Olaf's four-match winning streak in the series between the two programs.

Senior Anysia Caille carried the load offensively for St. Olaf, compiling a career-high 20 kills – three more than her previous mark – while hitting .260 while reaching double figures in kills for the 10th match in a row. Classmate Catherine Moore was also in double figures with 12 kills and first year Maren Miller added nine while hitting .350.

First year Skylar Fildew handed out a career-high 29 assists for the Oles, who hit just .142 in the match, while sophomore Paige Christophersen logged her fifth double-double of the season with 20 assists and 14 digs. Fifth-year senior Selena Rodriguez registered 30 digs and five assists for the sixth 30-dig performance of her career.

In the opening set, Carleton won four-straight points to build a 16-11 lead and did not look back, closing the set by winning eight of the final 11 points for a 25-18 set victory. The Knights, who entered the night hitting .125 for the season, hit at a .333 clip in the set and limited the Oles to a mark of .147.

St. Olaf surged out to a 5-0 lead early in the second set thanks to two early kills each from Miller and classmate Lilah Van Scoyoc. Carleton hung in the set, however, and took its first lead at 17-16 during a 4-0 run. The Oles took a 20-18 lead with a 4-0 run of their own, but the hosts won the next six points to bring up set points at 24-20 and closed it out on a kill by Sylvia Dixon.

In the third, St. Olaf posted easily its highest attack percentage of the match, outhitting Carleton by a .296-.139 margin to prolong the match. The Oles broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-1 run to open up a 15-8 lead thanks, in part, to three kills from Caille in the spurt. After trailing 19-11, the Knights got within four at 19-15 but could get no closer.

Like the third, St. Olaf established a comfortable lead midway through the fourth, leading 15-7 after a stretch that saw the Oles win 10-of-12 points. Carleton proceeded to win 13 of the net 16 points to get within five points of the win at 20-18, but back-to-back blocks by St. Olaf evened the set at 20-20. The teams alternated winning the next six points before Caille delivered back-to-back kills to push the match to a fifth set.

The Oles got out to an early 3-0 lead in the decider and were still up three at 10-7 when the Knights took a timeout. Out of the stoppage, Carleton won three points in a row to even it up at 10-10, but a service error followed by kills by Miller and fifth-year senior Christina Cheng gave St. Olaf a three-point lead again at 13-10. The Knights won the next four points to bring up the first of three match points that the Oles saved, but a kill and an ace by Kerrigan Candra ended the match in Carleton's favor.

St. Olaf is right back in action on Saturday, Oct. 7 with matches against Augsburg University (2 p.m.) and UW-Eau Claire (6 p.m.) at the Augsburg Triangular at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis.