The Official Site of the Fighting Saints

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - The 2026 season didn't start quite how the Carroll Volleyball team would have liked, as they fell in straight sets to Grace (Ind.) in the opening match of the ONU Tigers Kick-off Invite at the McHie Arena.

While one match certainly won't make or break a season, the Fighting Saints came out of the gates a little flat in their first action since November of '25. Carroll dropped their first three sets of the year, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18, as the group looks to find the right combination to replace five departed seniors in the early season.

The Saints and Lancers went back-and-forth in the early stages of the first set. A pair of attack errors by Grace, followed by an emphatic kill by First Team All-Frontier right side McKaila Balcom (Pasco, Wash. / SR) knotted the frame up at 12-12. Although Carroll posted their highest hitting percentage of the morning in the opening set (.231), the Lancers would find a way to pull away over the back half of the frame.

Carroll grabbed an early 6-4 lead in the second set, but Grace would respond with a 12-2 run to grab complete control. The Saints dug-in and came up with an extended run of their own, however, scoring six straight points to claw back within two at 16-14. A late Carroll run featuring kills by Kaylen Hay (Pocatello, Idaho / R-SO) and Birdie Heuiser (Helena, Mont. / SO) helped keep Carroll alive, but the Lancers would go on to close out the frame.

Finding a way to string together points proved difficult for the Saints in the final frame, as Carroll scored back-to-back points only three times in a 25-18 loss. They posted a match-high 14 kills as a team in the frame, but failed to slow down a Grace side that hit .302 to take the first match of the season.

Balcom, who led Carroll with 271 kills in 2025, picked up right where she left off. The senior southpaw tallied nine kills to lead the team, while Birdie Heuiser finished the match with eight.

Jansyn Carrizales (Sunnyside, Wash. / SR) and Lauren Fox (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) combined for 20 assists in the loss, while Sofia Kimmel (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) led the back line with 16 digs and Carroll's lone ace of the match.

Carroll will look to rebound in the morning, as they wrap up play at the season-opening event with an 8 a.m. (MDT) matchup against Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and a 1 p.m. tilt with RV Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).