Carroll College swept Bismarck State College 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 26-24) Thursday night at the PE Center in Helena, Mont., and the result settled the Mystics' Frontier Conference Tournament spot: BSC is locked into the No. 7 seed, according to the Bismarck State athletics recap.
The loss dropped the Mystics to 12-14 overall and 10-11 in Frontier play, per BSC Athletics. Carroll moved to 18-10 and 13-8. The official Frontier standings back up the seeding: with one match left, BSC can finish no better than 11-11, which can't catch sixth-place Carroll, while eighth-place Dickinson State (7-13) can reach no more than 9-13.
The Mystics were close in two of the three sets. In the first, they erased a 21-17 deficit with four straight points to tie it at 21, helped by kills from Ellie Baumstarck, before Carroll closed it out 25-23, the recap said. Carroll led the entire second set after a 6-6 tie and won 25-18 as BSC hit .000 in the set, with eight kills and eight errors.
The third set nearly sent the match to a fourth. Trailing 17-11, the Mystics scored eight straight points, the last seven with Aubrey Flynn serving, two of them aces, to lead 19-17. Two Aspen Roaldson aces helped BSC build a 24-21 lead and three set points, but Carroll won the final five points, the last four with Jansyn Carrizales serving, to take it 26-24, per BSC Athletics.
According to the box score, Reese Duchsherer led BSC with 12 kills and 11 digs, a double-double the recap lists as her 15th this season. Ashlee Stanger had 10 kills. Baumstarck hit .333 with nine kills and six blocks. Roaldson had 32 assists and two aces, and Piper Harris had a team-high 16 digs. BSC hit .117 as a team (39 kills, 23 errors, 137 attempts) to Carroll's .213. Birdie Heuiser led Carroll with 12 kills, and Lauren Heuiser added 11 kills and five blocks.
The teams split the season series, each sweeping at home; BSC won 3-0 on Sept. 25.
BSC closes the regular season tonight, Friday, Nov. 6, at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont., at 7 p.m. Central (6 p.m. Mountain). The Mystics beat the Battlin' Bears 3-1 in their first meeting.
Then it's back to Helena. The Frontier Conference Tournament quarterfinals are set for Thursday, Nov. 12, at the PE Center, and BSC will play in the day's third match at 6 p.m. Central (5 p.m. Mountain), according to BSC Athletics. The opponent will be the No. 2 seed, which isn't settled. Montana Tech (15-5 Frontier) is second in the conference standings, and the recap says the Orediggers clinch second by winning either of their last two matches. If they lose both and Dakota State (15-6) beats Valley City State on Saturday, the Trojans take second, according to BSC. BSC split with Montana Tech this season, losing 3-1 in Butte on Sept. 11 and winning in five sets at home on Oct. 17.
It is the program's first trip to the Frontier Conference Tournament, according to BSC Athletics, after an 11th-place finish last season.
Sources: Bismarck State College Athletics game recap, box score and volleyball schedule (bscmystics.com); Frontier Conference women's volleyball standings (fcsports.org); Carroll College PE Center facility page (carrollathletics.com).
