Skylights back on the road

Frontier Conference play is still a week away, yet it’s already been a long road for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team. And the Skylights are back on that road Saturday.

Northern, which just returned from a four-match weekend in Florida, will play a pair of NCAA Division II schools in the University of Mary and Minot State University as part of the UGF/Carroll Tournament Saturday in Great Falls.

And though it’s a short trip, compared to back-to-back trips to Spokane and Daytona Beach, MSU-N head coach Bill Huebsch says it will be one more challenge for his road warrior team to climb before league play finally begins next Friday night in Havre.

“We’ve been on some long trips, we’ve played a lot of games,” Huebsch said. “But it’s been good for us. I think it’s bonded us together more and we certainly have been challenged. And though this is just a trip to Great Falls, I’m hoping we get an even tougher challenge because that’s what we need right now. Carroll is just a week away.”

The Skylights (7-4) are coming off a grueling Labor Day weekend trip to Florida in which they won three times, and went at least four sets in three of the four matches they played against tough NAIA opponents. MSU-N’s only loss in Florida came at the hands of nationally-ranked Madonna University of Michigan, while senior hitter Abby Nicholas earned Frontier Conference Player of the Week honors for her efforts.

And though the Skylights played well, and played a lot in Florida, Huebsch said with four matches, he got to see exactly what his team needs to do in order to be ready to compete for a Frontier Conference championship.

“We have to block better,” Huebsch said. “That’s just something we’re not doing right now. We have to serve at a better percentage too, but right now, we’ve got to be better defensively at the net. I think our back row defense is outstanding, and if our front row improves its defense, we will be clicking pretty good.”

Clicking indeed. The Skylights are first in the Frontier right now in hitting percentage, kills per set, total kills and assists. Meanwhile, Nicholas is first and Kelsey Williams second in the Frontier in kills, while Joni Nagy leads the league in assists. Holly Cartwright is also third in the conference in total digs. But Northern is dead last in the league in blocks per set, total blocks per match and is near the bottom of the conference in total aces.

So that’s what Saturday in Great Falls is about. The Skylights will be playing two tough teams, but will also finally be closer to home. And while they want to win and end the nonconference season on a high note, Huebsch said the goal is to improve, be challenged and make sure his team is ready for its highly anticipated home-opener with Carroll next Friday night at the Armory Gymnasium.

“We’re hoping to get pushed hard by both teams this weekend,” Huebsch said. “And we just want to make sure we get better. We need to really focus in on our weaknesses and really work hard to improve on them. We need to really establish a better presence at the net defensively, and we need to make sure we’re doing the little things right. To really fine tune what we’ve been doing throughout the last month.

“That match with Carroll is almost here,” he added. “And we want to make sure we keep Improving, and we have a chance to do that against two quality opponents this weekend.”

The Skylights will take on the University of Mary at 12 p.m. and Minot State University at 2 p.m. Saturday at the McLaughlin Center in Great Falls.