HELENA, Mont. – The red-hot Carroll volleyball team defeated Lewis-Clark 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 25-18 Thursday to move to 3-0 in Frontier Conference play and earn its sixth straight win.
"Six-straight and three conference wins and the exciting thing for me is that I don't think we have reached our full potential yet," head coach Moe Boyle said. "LC is a very good team, they have quality hitters, they are big at the net. They had a big impact on the way we hit today but we came away with a win which is huge for this point in the season."
The Saints (9-7, 3-0 FC) took an early lead in the first game after being tied 2-2 the Saints rattled off five-straight to take a 7-2 lead. The Warriors(8-8, 1-2 FC) rallied to cut the lead to 11-10 and the teams traded short rallies until, leading 20-19, the saints won five-straight points to close out the game.
"We're letting the teams we play get on runs, and we've done it to each of the teams we've played," Boyle said. "Our girls are playing with such a calmness and confidence right now that even in our darkest times during the match, somebody steps up and takes care of business and gets the next point."
In the second set, The Saints again jumped out to a 7-1 early lead but LC took the lead at 12-11 and never looked back en route to a 25-22 second set win.
In the third set,
Jonni Dorr had two service aces to lead the Carroll attack. Carroll never trailed after taking a 4-3 lead early in the game. The Saints cruised to a 25-19 win to set up the fourth game.
"Our serving is really what got us going in this match," Boyle said. "They would hit three or four in a row and then we would kind of get on a serving run and get everything going in the right direction. We had six aces which is huge for us and really set the tone."
The Warriors took a 6-2 lead in set four when Treneisha Doyle served five straight, including two aces.
"Treneisha Doyle had a great match against us," Boyle said. "If it wasn't her hitting that was hurting us it certainly came from behind the line serving. She is one of the best in the conference and she showed it tonight."
The Saints overcame the early struggles in the set to take the lead at 12-11. The lead change was in the middle of a 7-0 run by the Saints. Carroll didn't trail for the rest of the match and earned the 25-18 win to close out the match.
Carroll outhit Lewis-Clark .286 to .184. Carroll hit a stellar .433 in the first set and hit over .280 for the three sets that they won.
"We hit very well, maybe the best we have this season," Boyle said. "If we can continue to improve and hit those numbers consistently we will continue to get better."
Paige Montgomery tallied a team-high 16 kills
Crystal Schmidt was second on the team with 11 and a .409 hitting percentage.
Dorr tallied a team-high 33 assists.
The Carroll defense held LC to .086 in the first set and. 094 in the second set.
"Our defense right now is pretty solid," Boyle said. "I wasn't sure about it a couple weeks ago but now, as a team, we are playing very team oriented. We only have six on the court but all 18 players are engaged and working hard together. This is a team effort."
Madeleine Fey led the Saints with 16 digs and Dorr had 14 digs, a strong performance from the setter position.
The Saints next face MSU-Northern Saturday at the Armory Gymnasium in Havre. The match is scheduled for 2 p.m.
