FULLERTON, Calif. – The Carroll College volleyball team defeated No. 9 Vanguard 26-24, 25-19, 25-17 and held on to beat Hope International 25-20, 25-7, 14-25, 22-25, 15-13 Friday in the first day of the Hope International Labor Day Invitational to move to 9-2 on the season.
"It was an amazing day," Boyle said. "The last time I beat Vanguard is when I was a player. I can't tell you the last time we came back from a tournament in California with two wins, let alone two in the same day. These girls are playing well right now and figuring out how to win."
The Saints looked out of sorts to start match one, allowing Vanguard to build a 5-0 lead in the first set but the Saints battled back and closed the set out with a 5-1 run to win 26-24.
The second set, Carroll led wire-to-wire and tallied 14 kills to just two errors, en route to the 25-19 win. In set three, the Saints again notched 14 kills and won 25-17.
The Saints had a solid hitting percentage of .288.
Paige Montgomery tallied a team-high 12 kills and a .357 hitting percentage to pace the offense. Freshman
Ayla Carpenter had 16 digs and 11 kills for a double-double.
Jonni Dorr led the way with 36 assists.
"We gained a ton of confidence," Boyle said. "We played solid, good quality volleyball against Vanguard. Down big in the set but we got on a roll and played well. This team is a lot of fun to watch when they are playing like they did today."
In the second match of the day, the Saints topped the tournament host 25-20 in set one followed by a 25-7 win in set two. Carroll looked to be on the way to another sweep before HIU battled back, capturing set three 25-14 and four 25-22.
The fifth set was a back-and-forth battle but, trailing 13-12, the Saints rattled off three-straight points to earn the 15-13 win.
"We had a huge let down and once we got down it was really difficult to get back up," Boyle said. "We've got to learn to keep that focus and attention to detail, we can't let a team to get back into the match, but that being said, we gutted our way through it, got the win and I am really proud of this team."
Holly Morehouse tallied 15 kills with a .367 hitting percentage while
Paige Montgomery tallied 11 kills. Dorr had 38 assists and four saints tallied double-digit digs, with
Catherine Sloan notching a team-high 16.
Natalie Kassa has 14 digs and and an amazing eight service aces.
"The seniors are leading in a lot more ways than just the stats, they are really pushing our team to improve," Boyle said. "Jonni had a great day, she is keeping our offense rolling right now. Paige is really putting the ball down and Natalie is playing with a lot of energy despite playing the full rotation. Her serving today was amazing. I know the work that they've have put in and what they're goals are. They are pushing us to be great and they are taking the team with them."
The Saints close out the weekend with a pair of matches beginning with Biola at 1 p.m. Mountain time followed by The Master's at 5 p.m.
"Biola is going to be tough," Boyle said. "They beat the No. 1 team in the country last week and won both of their matches today. The Master's swept also. It will be a very challenging day and hopefully we can recover and be ready to play."
Video of the matches is available via Hope International's website.
