Carroll advances to FC Volleyball Championship in five-set thriller over Montana Tech

November 13, 2026

HELENA, Mont. - Host-team No. 6 seed Carroll (Mont.) (21-10 overall record) rallied past No. 2 seed Montana Tech for a 17-25, 25-23, 25-27, 25-22, 15-12 victory in the Frontier Conference women's volleyball postseason tournament semifinals on Friday at PE Center. McKaila Balcom delivered the match-winning kill.

Not only the victory advanced the Fighting Saints to the championship match, they earned the league's second automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament's opening round next Saturday, Nov. 21, thanks to top-seed Bellevue's (Neb.) semifinal victory over fifth-seed Montana Western in the first semifinal match.

The Frontier Conference Women's Volleyball Tournament's championship match is set for 7 p.m. (Mountain Time) on SWX Local Sports broadcast.

Montana Tech opened with 15 kills and one attack error for a .452 hitting percentage. Payton Treadwell combined with Sophie Madsen for a block that completed a four-point run to a 17-10 lead, then ended the set with a kill. Carroll built a 13-8 advantage in the second set on a Lauren Fox ace, but a four-point Tech run capped by Brooklynn Hayes' ace put Tech ahead 17-16. Trailing again at 20-19, Carroll scored three straight points, including a go-ahead Balcom kill, before Lauren Heuiser finished the set at 25-23.

The third set swung back to Montana Tech despite Carroll taking an 18-12 lead on Kendall Denny's kill. Tech erased that deficit and saved two set points. Rhys Layton's kill tied it at 24, and Talan Dodson supplied another tying kill at 25 before Kenedee Moore served consecutive aces to secure a 27-25 win and a 2-1 match lead.

Carroll responded with a .361 hitting percentage in the fourth set. A five-point run turned a 6-3 deficit into an 8-6 lead, and Carroll later moved ahead 20-15. Montana Tech closed within 23-21 on a Denny attack error, prompting a Carroll timeout. Heuiser then ended the set with a kill from Fox to force the deciding fifth.

After erasing an 8-6 deficit in the fifth, Carroll fell behind 11-10 on another Hayes ace. Malia Allen answered with a tying kill, starting a four-point run that also included a Treadwell attack error and kills by Grace Baerlocher and Heuiser. Halle Moomaw saved the first match point with a kill to make it 14-12, but Balcom converted a Jansyn Carrizales assist on the next point. Carroll hit .421 in the deciding set.

Heuiser led Carroll with 20 kills and a .529 hitting percentage, committing only two errors on 34 attempts. Balcom added 18 kills while hitting .371, and Kaylen Hay contributed 14 kills. Carrizales finished with 33 assists and 10 digs, while Fox supplied 28 assists, 10 digs and three aces. Norah Allen led Carroll's defense with 22 digs.

Moomaw paced Montana Tech with 24 kills on .553 hitting. Dodson added 15 kills, and Treadwell recorded 13 kills and five blocks. Layton totaled 53 assists and 14 digs, while Hayes collected a match-high 27 digs. Montana Tech hit .269 to Carroll's .253 and held an 8-4 advantage in blocks, but Carroll finished ahead 71-65 in kills and 84-76 in digs.

Montana Tech fell to 23-7 overall record. They will wait and hear from the NAIA national office on Monday afternoon if they will receive an at-large invitation to the national tournament via NAIA's Selection Show at 4 p.m. (Central Time)/3 p.m. (Mountain Time).