HELENA, Mont. – Carroll College Volleyball fell twice in the first day of the Big Sky Challenge held at the PE Center in Helena, Friday.
 
The Saints opened the tournament with a game against No. 6 Eastern Oregon and fell 25-19, 23-25, 19-25, 25-15, 15-13 in a battle from first serve to the last kill.
 
Carroll followed that up with a 25-18, 25-22, 30-28, 25-22 loss to No. 8 Vanguard in the nightcap of day one of the tournament.
 
The first match of the day was frustrating for head coach Moe Boyle. The Saints had a few chances to earn the victory but couldn't close out the Mounties.
 
"Against Eastern Oregon we had an opportunity to win and we didn't capitalize on it," Boyle said. "We need to learn to win those. We are a young team but everyone on the team needs to have a killer attitude.  Once that competitive spirit finds its way to the top of our mindset then you will start to see the changes."
 
The second match was much tougher. No. 8 Vanguard opened with a dominant first-game win before the Saints found their footing. The biggest boost came in the third set from sophomore, Mallory Arbizzani off of the bench. Junior setter Jonni Dorr kept the Saints in the set when they were down 24-19 late with great serving.
 
"We came out really flat tonight and we didn't wake up until game three," Mallory came in and made a few plays to get everyone going then Jonni did a great job serving for us to keep us in the game. Those are the things that will pay dividends down the road, we know we can stay in games because we have done it before."
 
Boyle knows that a squad with significant contributions from young players is going to take lumps early in the season, especially against two top ten teams. Her motives in scheduling these teams were partially to get her young team experience against the best in the country.
 
"We scheduled these matches so we could see what we could do against this competition," Boyle said. " The truth of the matter is that we can beat teams of this caliber. We have to instill that in these players."
 
The Saints close out the Big Sky Challenge tomorrow with matches against Hope International at 1 p.m. and Corban College at 7 p.m.
 
Info on every game of the tournament can be found here on the Tournament Central page.