HELENA, Mont. – Friday morning will mark the official start to the 2026 NAIA Volleyball calendar, and with it, the Fighting Saints will get their first taste of on-court action in nearly 10 full months.
 
The Carroll Volleyball team will begin their 2026 campaign with a trio of games this weekend at the Tigers Kick-Off Tournament, hosted by Olivet Nazarene in Bourbannais, Illinois. There, the Saints will take on three brand new opponents, squaring-off with Grace (Ind.), Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), and RV Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) on Friday and Saturday.
 
"We're going [down there] to win." said Head Coach Moe Boyle. "We're not going for the experience. We have to find out what it takes to win and go compete for that. I think we have to get out of our conference in order to be able to play in our conference. To be able to play some teams that we haven't ever seen before is going to be a positive for us."
 
The Saints are no strangers to the early season tests, having played on the NAIA opening day in each of the last five seasons.
 
This year, Carroll heads into the season with one of the most experienced teams in recent memory. All 13 players on the Varsity roster have appeared in at least one match throughout their career, and what the squad may lack in quantity, they believe they make up for in quality.
 
Although five seniors from the 2025 team have moved on, Coach Boyle believes this year's upperclassmen have what it takes to lead the Saints to another Frontier title.
 
"The crew that graduated passed on some pretty serious leadership roles to our seniors." Said Boyle. "We had a team chemistry that really grew last year, and I think we're going to see that continue to grow throughout this season."
 
Few classes in program history have as much experience as the current senior group. In 2023, most of the then-freshmen were forced into action far sooner than expected due to an extraordinary amount of injuries.
 
"Their freshman year, we had some serious injury issues that thrust this group into starting roles that maybe they weren't quite ready for, but they didn't have a choice." Said Boyle. "To look back on that now, who they are today really stems from what they grew from back then."
 
"Our Freshman year was a bit chaotic to say the least, we didn't have a ton of wins, but I definitely think that shaped us into the players we are today." Said 2025 Honorable Mention All-Conference selection and four-year starter Lauren Heuiser (Helena, Mont. / SR). "We grew a ton that year, and I don't think we would be where we're at now without the adversity we faced that freshman year."
 
Carroll's lone First Team All-Conference selection in 2025, McKaila Balcom (Pasco, Wash. / SR) echoed the sentiment.
 
"Our class has gone through a lot, starting with that year, but all of us are still here, and all of us are very close because of that year. I think our class has helped create a very strong hard-working culture on our team that has followed us through."
 
Balcom and Heuiser are poised to lead a Carroll attack that looks to take the next step. As the two leading hitters on last year's team, the pair combined for 507 total kills (Balcom 276, Heuiser 231), accounting for nearly 47 percent of the team's kills on the year.
 
They'll be flanked by familiar faces, as the Saints will roll into the year with all returners from last season.
 
"Our 'freshmen' are not freshmen anymore." Said Boyle "Those girls who played last year are really our No. 1 recruits. They have a year under their belts, you know what they're capable of as a coach, and there's just a huge transition from high school into college."
 
The 'freshmen' in question are Birdie Heuiser (Helena, Mont. / SO), Lauren Fox (Bozeman, Mont. / SO), and Sofia Kimmel (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) – who all appeared in 31 matches last season, paired with redshirt freshman Kendall Denny (Fairfield, Wash.).
 
"The exciting part of this season is those girls we're counting on now. They're four that I'm really counting on this year to be a big part of it."
 
The 2025 Saints finished the season at No. 6 in the Frontier Conference standings (17-14, 12-10), but will look to compete for a crown in 2026 – the 22^nd season under the direction of Boyle. With a career record of 369-269, Boyle is among the top 20 active wins leaders in all of NAIA Volleyball. Carroll has four Frontier titles under her leadership, and the veteran-led Saints hope to add the first since 2016 to the trophy case this fall.
 
The Saints officially begin the year early on Friday, with an 8 a.m. (MDT) first match against Grace.
 
A pair of games await the Saints on Saturday. An 8 a.m. tilt with Freed-Hardeman, followed by a 2 p.m. tournament finale against (RV) Lindsey Wilson.

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