HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll volleyball team kicks off a busy weekend Thursday in a rematch of last Friday's road match against Evergreen State.
The Saints won the match 3-1 in Olympia, Wash.,
Brielle Bumgarner led the way with 12 kills in the win.
Volleyball teams aren't used to playing an opponent twice in a week. It proves difficult for a team that is coached as well as the Geoducks.
"We have to come ready to play," head coach Moe Boyle said. "They are coached well, they have a fantastic outside hitter and we are going to have to defend well and play solid volleyball. This game is won or lost on razor-thin margins and we can't go in to this match with a lackadaisical attitude."
The match is the lone non-conference game for the Saints and the last home match until Sept. 23 in the Frontier home opener against MSU-Northern.
"We are excited to play in our own gym. The travel last week was brutal and we are ready to have a match with our legs back," Boyle said. "The end of the road trip last week was tough. We were out of sync last week but still had some positive results. We are hoping to clean that up this weekend starting with tomorrow."
Thursday's match is the first of five for the weekend. The Saints travel to play four matches at the Butte Civic Center for the Big Sky Challenge. The tournament has changed format from years past when half of the matches were hosted at Carroll. Instead, three courts will be set up in the civic center and matches will be played there.
The Saints open the tournament with the eighth-ranked Eastern Oregon Mountaineers Friday at 12 p.m. before playing No. 20 Concordia (Neb.) at 5 p.m.
Saturday, Carroll plays its second rematch of the season when they face Corban at 11 a.m. before closing the tournament with a match against Dickinson State at 3 p.m.
"We are excited to get back on the court and make the changes that we have put in place since last week,"' Boyle said. "When you get on the court, the things that you did in practice begin to make sense, then the girls get excited to come back and really work at the things we need to do to get better. We are excited to take those things and bring them back to the court and see how much we have improved."
Leadership has been a big part of the first four matches for the Saints and Boyle will continue to lean on her three seniors to push the Saints to success.
"Jonni (Dorr) played tremendously last week. She really ran our offense very well and was one area that we were very consistent," Boyle said. "Natalie (Kassa) really did some great things on the back row and Paige (Montgomery) played great on the outside. They have stepped up far more than I ever expected them to this year. They are taking ownership of their senior season and I couldn't be more excited for them or our team."
The Saints and the Geoducks take the court at 6 p.m. the match will be live streamed via the Carroll youtube channel and live stats will be available via the Carroll Dakstats page.
