HELENA, Mont. -- All that stands between the Carroll College Fighting Saints and a trip to nationals is the Frontier Conference Volleyball Tournament, requiring three match victories in two days to advance automatically to the national site. 

The No. 5-seeded Saints begin that journey on Friday at 2 p.m. in Great Falls, Montana, against the No. 4-seeded Lewis-Clark State College Warriors. It will be a rematch of the Saints' regular-season finale, a match the Saints won 3-2 in the PE Center. 

"I think that the girls feel ready," Saints coach Moe Boyle said. "I believe they're feeling confident and they're showing that on the court. More important to me I guess is that they're really enjoying their time together on the court. I think that shows in the way that they play. I'm excited they get yet another weekend to play together. It's now up how many more games they play going forward."

The Saints closed out the regular season winning eight of their final 10 matches. The only two slipups came against Top 25 competition in Providence and Montana Tech. 

Entering the tournament, the Saints' carry one of the best blocking defenses in the NAIA. They record 2.7 blocks per game, which is No. 2 in the country. Hannah Dean averages 1.3 blocks per game, which is good for No. 4 in the NAIA.   

Offensively, the Saints are led by Lexi Mikkelsen's 282 kills and Ali Williams' 839 assists. Ayla Carpenter ranks No. 33 in the NAIA in digs per game with 5.3. 

LCSC closed out the regular season with two losses, falling to the Saints 3-2 and then suffering a sweep by Montana Tech. The Warriors have some of the best serving in the NAIA, with 2.1 aces per game, which is good for No. 19 in the NAIA. 

Carroll will look to take down LCSC for the second time in seven days when the two square off on Friday. 

"I think we have talked a lot all year about what this tournament means so it's not a big surprise when it's upon us," Boyle said. "It doesn't matter who's on the other side of the net, really. It matters how we are playing and what we're capable of doing."

The Frontier Conference Volleyball Tournament will be streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERBVRktYtkfbDskcdmuZ8A.