Carroll rallies to knock off Rocky Mountain in semis 

11-13-10

LEWISTON, Idaho - Momentum can be a strange and fickle thing. One minute you have it and the next minute you're stuck trying to figure out what went wrong.

"Momentum can be funny thing, but once you have it you just have to roll it with," Carroll volleyball coach Maureen Boyle said. "And roll with it for as long as you can."

The Saints did just that and advanced to the championship match of the Frontier Conference Tournament on Saturday at the Lewis-Clark State College Activity Center.

Starring straight at what appeared to be the end of the season, the Saints fought back after losing the first two sets to Rocky Mountain to defeat the No. 18-ranked Bears 11-25, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20, 15-10 in the tournament semifinals. The win lifts the Saints to 22-10 and into Saturday night's title match with host and top seed Lewis-Clark State.

"Guts," Boyle said about the key to the comeback. "It really was. We have played in so many five-set matches this season that we're used to them. We've won the first two and then lost the next three, or lost the first two and come back. I think that really helped prepare us for this and we played with a lot of guts."

RMC, the No. 2 seed, falls to 22-7 and must now wait until the final NAIA poll and at-large berths are awarded to find out if it gets to continue its season.  Saturday's loss will likely mean the Bears will drop some spots in the poll so their postseason hope will rely on the number of upsets in other conference tournaments across the NAIA.

The Bears certainly didn't look like they would be in this situation after the first two sets. RMC dominated play early by opening up a 7-1 lead and cruising to the first set win.

RMC trailed 19-16 in the second set and then fought off three set points to claim the second set.

It appeared the Bears were going to rally to win the third set as well. Trailing 20-13, the Bears rallied to within 23-22 and 24-23, but Carroll answered each threat with a critical point to get the win. From that point, it was, as Boyle put it, just a matter of rolling with momentum.

Carroll jumped out to a 10-2 advantage in the fourth set, but again Rocky rallied to tie it at 16. Carroll's front line then came through with some huge blocks to put the Saints up 23-18. The two then exchanged points before the Saints closed out the match and force a fifth game.

The Saints again got the early jump and took an 8-3 lead. RMC twice cut the margin to one point at 9-8 and 10-9, but the Saints again came up big at the net and scored the next five points for a 14-9 lead. Carroll then closed out the match on a kill by Haylee Otteson.

Otteson led the Saints with 16 kills, while Kayla Hughes added 14. Caitlin Tocci had 27 assists and 13 digs.

RMC was paced by Sara Brunner's 16 kills, 27 digs, and two aces, while Jessica Overstreet had 13 kills and 11 digs. Jillian Bates added 12 kills and Ashley Welborn added 11 kills.

For the match, RMC hit .196, while Carroll hit .163. RMC also had a 105-90 advantage in digs, while both teams finished with nine bocks.

The two teams split during the regular season with each visiting team capturing the win.