HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College volleyball team plays four matches in two days starting Friday at the Hope Labor Day Tournament in Fullerton, Calif.
 
The Saints open with Vanguard Friday at 2 p.m. before playing Hope International at 6 p.m. The second day includes match-ups with Biola at 12 p.m. and The Master's at 4 p.m.
 
Two opponents, Vanguard (No. 9) and Biola (19) are ranked and The Master's received votes in the preseason poll. Hope International hosts the tournament and has tallied a 3-1 win over No. 18 Southern Oregon already this season.
 
The Saints are 7-2 and earned a win over No. 20 Concordia University 3-0 last weekend at the Big Sky Challenge in Butte. The key to the Saints early success is the leadership of the court.
 
"I feel like our leadership is coming along and moving us in a great direction," Boyle said. "We haven't put everything together on the court but our seniors and veterans are helping us win matches despite our struggles."
 
The Saints improved tremendously from week one to week two and Boyle hopes to see additional improvement this week.
 
"In each rotation, I believe that we are better than we were a week ago," Boyle said. "We have a long way to go and it is exciting to think about how good we can be when we put all the pieces together. We haven't even come close to our potential."
 
This is the last major road trip before Frontier Conference play. The reason for the tough non-conference schedule, which included just one home match, was to prepare for the rough Frontier slate. That focus hasn't changed.
 
"I like our rotation right now, our depth is great and we are going to rotate a lot of players in," Boyle said. "But our focus needs to be on improving on our side of the net. Everything we are doing is focused on Frontier play. It is a one of the most difficult conferences in the country, any team can beat anyone on any given night and trips like this prepare us for that."
 
Live stats will be available via the HIU tournament page.