Skylights keep climbing

After a huge weekend of road wins, the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team continues to climb in the national rankings.

The Skylights (3-0, 12-4), garnered 78 votes in this week’s NAIA Volleyball Coaches Poll, which was released Tuesday afternoon. Last week, Northern had 14 votes. The big jump by the Skylights comes on the heels of MSU-N’s three-set sweep over then No. 24 Rocky Mountain College last Thursday night in Billings. Consequently, RMC dropped out of this week’s poll, leaving no Frontier Conference teams in the NAIA Top 25. By votes, the Skylights are currently ranked 27th.

In the newest Frontier Conference power rankings, the Skylights did take over the No. 1 spot this week. Northern switched places with RMC in the new Frontier ratings, while Lewis-Clark State, currently in first in the conference standings, sits at No. 3. Montana Tech and Carroll College round out the Top 5.

The second half of the power rankings has Westminster College at No. 6, followed by Great Falls, UM-Western and Dickinson State.

The Skylights are home this week, hosting Western on Thursday night and Westminster on Saturday afternoon.

NAIA Volleyball Poll

Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.

1 1 Concordia (Calif.) (22) 9-0 653

2 2 Texas at Brownsville (1) 11-0 632

3 3 Biola (Calif.) 10-0 611

4 4 Madonna (Mich.) 18-0 582

5 5 Midland (Neb.) 20-0 576

6 7 MidAmerica Nazarene 13-1 550

7 11 Northwestern (Iowa) 19-1 504

8 13 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 15-0 498

9 12 Park (Mo.) 15-2 473

10 8 Westmont (Calif.) 13-1 462

11 14 Eastern Oregon 15-2 443

12 10 Oklahoma Baptist 12-4 395

13 18 Missouri Baptist 14-1 374

14 15 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 8-5 372

15 15 Bellevue (Neb.) 18-3 369

16 6 Columbia (Mo.) 7-2 337

17 19 Vanguard (Calif.) 12-2 332

18 8 Georgetown (Ky.) 13-4 311

19 20 Dordt (Iowa) 11-2 289

20 21 Concordia (Ore.) 12-2 239

21 22 The Master's (Calif.) 10-3 205

22 23 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 15-2 194

23 25 Hastings (Neb.) 11-6 144

24 17 Viterbo (Wis.) 17-5 136

25 RV Grand View (Iowa) 11-8 135

Others receiving votes: Cal State San Marcos 111; Davenport (Mich.) 101; Tabor (Kan.) 78; Montana State-Northern 78; Spring Hill (Ala.) 56; Bryan (Tenn.) 49; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 22; Cornerstone (Mich.) 19; Jamestown (N.D.) 17; Menlo (Calif.) 11; Indiana Wesleyan 10; Evangel (Mo.) 7; Campbellsville (Ky.) 6.