HELENA, Mont. – Senior Marija Nicksic put up her best performance of the season, notching a .389 attack percentage and killing the final point to lead Carroll College to a 25-21, 26-24, 25-13 senior night sweep of Montana Western Thursday at the PE Center. 

The win was the sixth-straight for Carroll gives Carroll sole possession of second place in the Frontier Conference standings, a half-game ahead of Rocky Mountain who hosts the Saints in the season finale Saturday evening in Billings.

The first two sets were back and forth battles with the Saints and Bulldogs trading leads and points. Carroll held on in the first set 25-21 and withstood a late UMW run in the second to earn the 26-24 victory. 

In the third set, Western jumped out to a 4-2 lead before the Saints rattled off an 8-1 run and never looked back en route to the 12-point win. 

The Saints improved hitting throughout the match, hitting .146 in the first set, .239 in the second and a stellar.419 in the third for an overall performance of .254. 

Holly Morehouse tallied a match-high 10 kills with just three errors for a .304 attack percentage. 

Rayna Pilgeram notched 35 assists, seven kills, 12 digs and five block assists. Pilgeram was in on every combo block of the match for the Saints. Ayla Carpenter notched 20 digs for Carroll. 

Western setter McKenna Fink had a strong game for the Bulldogs with four kills and 28 assists. Dylan Fowler had 20 digs for UMW. 

The, win combined with an upset of conference leader Montana Tech by the University of Providence keeps Carroll's regular-season title hopes alive. A win Saturday for the Saints over Rocky Mountain and another upset loss for the Diggers would put both teams at 9-3.

Carroll takes on Rocky Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Fortin Center. 

Senior night was not the last match on the court for the Saints. Carroll hosts the Frontier Conference tournament at the Carroll PE Center on Nov. 10-11.