Bismarck State College volleyball already knows it is going to Helena, Mont., for the Frontier Conference tournament. This week's Montana road trip, along with Carroll's home finale against Dickinson State, will determine whether the Mystics go in as the sixth or seventh seed.
The Mystics (12-13, 10-10 Frontier) play at Carroll at 7 p.m. Central (6 p.m. Mountain) on Thursday, Nov. 5, in Helena, then at Rocky Mountain at the same time on Friday, Nov. 6, in Billings, according to the BSC schedule.
What's at stake
BSC sits seventh in the Frontier standings, two games behind sixth-place Carroll (17-10, 12-8). In its Oct. 31 recap, BSC Athletics said the Mystics have secured at least the seventh seed and "can now leapfrog their way as high as sixth with a pair of wins."
The league schedule shows what else has to happen for that to be possible. Carroll finishes at home against Dickinson State on Friday. If BSC beats both Carroll and Rocky Mountain and Carroll also loses to Dickinson State, the Mystics and Saints would both finish 12-10. In that case, BSC would have won both meetings with Carroll this season, after sweeping the Saints 3-0 at the Bavendick Center on Sept. 25. The standings page doesn't list the league's tiebreakers, so how that tie would be broken could not be confirmed. In every other outcome, Carroll finishes ahead of BSC.
BSC can't climb past fifth-place Montana Western or fourth-place Providence. Both are 13-7, so even two losses would leave them at 13-9, ahead of BSC's best possible 12-10. They play each other Friday in Great Falls. Dickinson State, eighth at 7-13, can't catch the Mystics.
The likely quarterfinal
The eight-team tournament opens with quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 12, in Helena. BSC said that if the standings hold, the Mystics are slated to face the No. 2 seed, Montana Tech. The Orediggers (15-5 Frontier) still play at MSU-Northern and at Providence this weekend. Dakota State is one game behind them at 14-6. Bellevue has already clinched the regular-season title.
The Mystics have split their two matches with Montana Tech. They lost 3-1 in Butte on Sept. 11, then beat the Orediggers in five sets in Bismarck on Oct. 17.
Who to watch
BSC won its last two matches, beating Valley City State and Mayville State at home. In the Senior Day win over Mayville State, McKenna Brendel led the team with 15 kills. Reese Duchsherer added 11 kills, four aces and 18 digs, and senior Piper Harris had a team-high 23 digs, per BSC Athletics. The Mystics are 2-7 on the road, according to the Frontier standings.
Carroll comes in after a 3-2 comeback win at Montana Tech on Oct. 31. Carroll Athletics lists Lauren Heuiser as the league's kill leader. BSC beat Rocky Mountain 3-1 in Bismarck on Sept. 26. The Battlin' Bears are 4-16 in the Frontier.
"[The Frontier tournament] is what we've been working towards all season," senior Shayna Roach said in BSC's Oct. 31 release. "We talk about it every single day, and now that it's finally here, we are so pumped to show up and show people what we're made of."
Sources: Bismarck State College Athletics volleyball schedule (bscmystics.com) and Oct. 31 match recap; Frontier Conference 2026 women's volleyball standings and team schedules (fcsports.org); Carroll College Athletics Oct. 31 match recap (carrollathletics.com).
