BUTTE, Mont. – The 16th-ranked Carroll College Volleyball team opened Frontier Conference play against No. 22 Montana Tech Wednesday in Butte. It was a critical match, especially as the first match in the conference season and the Saints came to play.
Carroll took control early with a stellar .278 hitting percentage to earn a 25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 win over the Orediggers. The Saints move to 12-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.
"It always feels great to beat Montana Tech in Butte," head coach Moe Boyle said. "This is a heated rivalry and each match is important. This season we are both ranked so it ups the ante. It is much better to start conference 1-0 than 0-1."
Holly Morehouse tallied a team-high 14 kills with a .306 hitting percentage and
Mallory Arbizzani notched 10 kills with a .471 percentage to pace the Saints attack.
Jonni Dorr tallied 48 assists to pace the offense and
Ayla Carpenter tallied 11 digs to lead the Carroll back row.
In the first set, Carroll tailed 11-9 before a 7-0 run gave Carroll control. The Saint s built a 22-14 lead before the Diggers made a run to cut it to 24-20 but it wouldn't be enough as Carroll took set one 25-20.
In set two, the Saints took 7-2 lead on a 6-0 run. Carroll led the entire rest of the set, although the Diggers did cut the lead to 23-22 before the Saints notched two-straight points to close out the set 25-22.
Carroll led much of the third set but tied at 16-16, the Diggers made a 7-2 run to take a 23-18 lead. The Saints wouldn't go away quietly and won four-straight points before the Diggers closed the game 25-23.
The Digger may have won the third set but the late surge gave Carroll all of the momentum going into the fourth set.
"That run in the third set really helped us establish control," Boyle said. "We made some mistakes but the girls impressed me with the way they fought in that third set. I knew that we were in good shape going into the fourth and they showed it right away."
Carroll jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth to take control and led wire-to-wire en route to the 25-22 win.
They didn't show up big in the stat column but blocking and serving were two aspect of the match that helped propel the Saints to the win.
"Blocking got us going," Boyle said. "It dictated how they're offense operated on the outside and that had a huge impact on the match. In game four, Catherine (Sloan) had two aces right out of the gate and they couldn't recover. Ayla, Rayna (Pilgeram), Jonni and Catherine are all serving very well right now."
Despite the strong match by many Saints, Boyle is still looking for more consistency across the board.
"Different people are stepping up a lot but not everyone has been 'on' at the same time I am looking forward to what this team is when we get there," Boyle said. "It was a great match but we need to focus on what is in front of us and get ready for the challenge of the conference slate."
The Saints next travel to Lewis-Clark State Saturday for the second conference match of the season. The Saints take on the Warriors at 2 p.m. Saturday in Lewiston.
