Carroll Volleyball continued to build on the best start in franchise history this weekend, going 4-0 in at the Red Hawks Invitational hosted by Ripon College. Carroll (13-2, 0-0 CCIW) defeated St. Mary's 3-1 and St. Scholastica 3-0 on Friday evening before beating Alverno 3-0 and Hamline 3-1 on Saturday morning. The perfect weekend helped Carroll push their current win-streak to nine games, another school record.
MATCH 1 – FRIDAY VS ST. MARY'S (MN)
St. Mary's (6-5, 0-0 UMAC) delivered the first punch as they won the first set 25-16 before Carroll was able to settle in and rattle off the next three sets by scores of 25-23, 25-17, 25-17. As a team, the Pios outscored SMU in points, kills, assists, and digs. Freshman Lizzy Williams registered 13 kills, a new high in her young career. Payton Depies led the team with 24 assists, while five different Pioneers registered a service ace. Defensively, Rebekah Andreae got her hands on seven Cardinal attacks, a season-high, while Maggie McGough paced the Pios with 26 digs, a season-high for her.
MATCH 2 – FRIDAY VS ST. SCHOLASTICA
Carroll was hot in the Friday nightcap, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-20, 26-24. As a team, Carroll had an attack percentage of .356, a season-high. Senior Peyton Frost was the kill-leader for Carroll with 11. Frost also had three aces, along with freshman duo Ashley Miller and Emily Jones. Miller and Jones tallied 22 and 20 assists, respectively, to lead the navy and orange. Andreae was the blocks leader once again with two, while McGough collected 12 more digs in the match.
MATCH 3 – SATURDAY VS ALVERNO
All 20 members of the squad got some burn on Saturday morning, as Carroll got to work bright and early, defeating Alverno in the tip-off match by scores of 25-14, 25-21, 25-16. Williams and freshman Carly Hicklin scored seven kills to lead the team, while senior Bella Alfaro collected four kills in five attempts to record a .800 attack percentage. Jones tallied a season high 13 assists, while Miller's four aces marked a career-high for the freshman. Defensively McGough had 14 digs and eight Pios recorded a block assist.
MATCH 4 – SATURDAY VS HAMLINE
Carroll closed the perfect weekend out defeating Hamline (4-7, 0-0 MIAC). As a team, Carroll registered 68 points, the most in a four-set match this season and the second most regardless of set volume. The Pipers made the first noise of the match winning 25-20 in the first frame. Carroll responded with dominance the rest of the way, winning three straight by scores of 25-16, 25-17, 25-14. Freshman Bronwyn Rowse added 12 kills to her freshman campaign. Rowse is sitting at a clip of 2.61 kills per set on the season. Payton Depies recorded 23 more assists for the Pios and freshman Samantha Miserendino recorded three service aces. Defensively, freshman Kylie Wittnebel had five stuffs at the net, while McGough had 17 digs.
Carroll returns to action on Wednesday, September 18, where they travel to Kenosha, WI to open CCIW-play against Carthage looking to continue to build the best start in school history.
