SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Carroll College women's volleyball team takes the court Tuesday at 2 p.m. MST in the first match of three in pool play of the NAIA Volleyball Championship at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.
 
The 18th-ranked Fighting Saints enter the tournament for the fourth time in history and first since 2012.
 
Carroll will play its first match since the Nov. 12th Frontier Conference championship match which they won 3-1 over Montana Tech.
 
The Saints arrived in Sioux City Monday after flying into Omaha, Neb. and hit the court for a practice Monday afternoon.
 
"I think they were a little tight today just because they were still in traveling mode," head coach Moe Boyle said. "You get to a hotel and you sit around a lot and do homework but once you get on the court, in this setting, with the lights and three courts side-by-side it can take a little bit to adjust to. You could see as practice went on, they loosened up a bit, and by tomorrow, they will be ready to go."
 
Carroll will need to be ready to go Tuesday when they face No. 15 Doane an at-large selection from the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The Tigers are 23-6 on the year with wins over Rocky Mountain (3-1) and Jamestown (N.D.) (3-1), the only two common opponents with Carroll. The Saints went 2-0 against Rocky Mountain (3-0, 3-1) but fell to Jamestown (3-1).
 
Doane's success begins with setter Alex Neff. She is 22nd in NAIA with 58 aces on the year and 43rd in total assists. As a team, the Tigers are 29th in the nation in hitting percentage.
 
Kaitlin Bradley leads Doan with 3.4 kills per set and Erin Warren notches an impressive 4.8 digs per set.
 
"Doane looks like a few teams that we have seen from our conference," Boyle said. "They are a very solid team but they don't have anything that is too unusual from what we have seen the rest of the year."
 
At 23-6, Carroll is a near mirror of Doane. Jonni Dorr, the Frontier Conference Player and Setter of the Year, is 23rd in the nation in assists and has paced the Carroll offense to a tie with Doane for 29th in the NAIA with a hitting percentage of .225.
 
Paige Montgomery ranks 50th in the country with 3.52 kills per set and Natalie Kassa tallies 4.2 digs per set.
 
Boyle has to prepare her team for three matches in three days. The best way to do that she says, is to focus on her team.
 
"We have to take it a step at a time and control what we can do on our side of the net," she said. "Our girls need to get on the same page and in the right mindset tomorrow. If we do that, the sky is the limit."
 
The game will be streamed on the NAIA Network for a charge but every Carroll match will be broadcast live on 94.9 ESPN Montana Radio and an audio stream will be available online for free. Live stats will also be available via Dakstats.