The Official Site of the Fighting Saints

HELENA, Mont. - The Cinderella run towards a Frontier Conference Tournament Title came to a close for the Carroll Volleyball team on Saturday night, as they fell in four sets to the league's regular season champion and top seed, Bellevue in the Frontier Conference Championship Match.

Although the Fighting Saints (22-11) came up a little short in the final Frontier match of the season, they provided fans in the PE Center with a three-day stretch of memorable games, and secured their spot in the NAIA National tournament along the way.

The Helena community and Carroll student-body showed up in droves for the third straight match, providing an energetic atmosphere around Saturday's title tilt. Playing-off the energy, the Saints would strike first. 

Utilizing a 9-3 run early in the match, Bellevue appeared to have complete control of the opening set. However, a scrappy group of Saints would respond with a 10-1 run of their own featuring multiple kills each by Kaylen Hay (Pocatello, Idaho / R-SO) and McKaila Balcom (Pasco, Wash. / SR), leapfrogging into the lead at 16-12. The Bruins would later knot things up at 20-20, but the Saints were not going to be denied. Hay, Balcom, and both Heuiser sisters put away kills down the stretch, lifting Carroll to a 1-0 lead with a 25-21 win in the opener.

A competitive start to the second set saw both sides tied at 10-10 before Bellevue rattled-off an insurmountable 13-1 run, powered by seven kills by Payton Dzingle and a team-wide.294 attack, as they went on to even things up with a 25-15 win. Things didn't get any better for Carroll in the third set, as Bellevue picked-up a second-straight 25-15 win while the Saints hit a match-worst -.073.

Carroll responded in the fourth frame with their best attack percentage of the night at .286, but the Bruins were simply too strong to topple. Bellevue closed-out their sweep of the league's regular season and tournament championships with a highly-impressive .452 attack in a 25-17 win.

Birdie Heuiser (Helena, Mont. / SO) was the lone Saint to record double-digit kills, finishing with a team-best 12 on the night. Jansyn Carrizales (Sunnyside, Wash. / SR) tallied 20 assists, while Lauren Fox (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) added 18. It was a second consecutive double-double for Carrizales, who finished her night with 10 digs as well. Norah Allen (Great Falls, Mont. / SR) led Carroll with 13 digs in the loss.

The Saints will now await the results of Monday evening's NAIA Tournament Selection Show to find out who their opening round opponent is, and where they'll begin their quest to Sioux City for the tournament's final site.