Skylights stay inside NAIA Coaches Poll

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team's first loss since the end of August was tough on the Skylights. But Northern pretty much retained its spot in the national rankings.

Following their five-set loss at Westminster College last Saturday, the Skylights only dropped one spot in the new NAIA Coaches Poll. Northern moved from No. 24 to No. 25 ahead of this weekend's final home stand.

MSU-N split matches with UM-Western and Westminster on its final road trip of the regular season, and Northern goes into the final weekend of the season with a one-match lead on Rocky Mountain College in the Frontier Conference standings. The Skylights (13-1, 22-5) host RMC in their regular season finale Friday night at the Armory Gymnasium. Before, that match, Northern hosts winless Dickinson State Thursday night.

The race to the Frontier's regular season title pretty much comes down to Friday night's match between the Skylights and Battlin' Bears. Northern can clinch no worse than a share of the title though, with a win over DSU. Rocky also has to close out its season Saturday at Great Falls. Lewis-Clark State and Westminster are fighting for the third seed in the upcoming Frontier tourney. The two bitter rivals meet Thursday night at LC State. The rest of the seeding for next weekend's Frontier tourney is pretty clear. Carroll is poised to finish fifth and Montana Tech sixth. Great Falls could still end up in the sixth position but will likely finish seventh, followed by Western and Dickinson State. Those two teams are looking at playing in a play-in match at the Frontier tourney for the second straight season.

The 2013 Frontier Conference tournament will get underway next Thursday in Great Falls. The tournament is being held at UGF's McLaughlin Center.

Northern hosts Dickinson State Thursday night at 7 p.m., while the Skylights will play their senior night match against Rocky Friday at 7 p.m.

NAIA Volleyball Coaches Poll

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts.

1 1 Texas at Brownsville 29-0 653

2 2 Concordia (Calif.) 20-1 632

3 3 Biola (Calif.) 19-2 611

4 4 Madonna (Mich.) 34-0 590

5 5 Northwestern (Iowa) 31-1 569

6 6 Midland (Neb.) 30-3 544

7 7 Oklahoma Baptist 29-5 514

8 8 MidAmerica Naz. 22-2 507

9 9 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 31-2 496

10 12 Vanguard (Calif.) 18-6 445

11 11 The Master's (Calif.) 17-6 423

12 13 Park (Mo.) 30-4 417

13 15 Columbia (Mo.) 23-9 407

14 14 Westmont (Calif.) 19-6 362

15 17 Wayland Baptist 27-5 335

16 18 Dordt (Iowa) 21-5 332

17 20 Georgetown (Ky.) 27-9 314

18 16 Bellevue (Neb.) 30-8 300

19 19 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 16-9 288

20 21 Cornerstone (Mich.) 25-9 251

21 22 Davenport (Mich.) 30-9 227

22 23 Grand View (Iowa) 26-13 201

23 RV College of Idaho 14-9 196

24 10 Eastern Oregon 23-5 144

25 24 MSU-Northern 22-5 134

Others receiving votes: Missouri Baptist 108; Spring Hill (Ala.) 85; Viterbo (Wis.) 74; Hastings (Neb.) 72; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 55; Cal State San Marcos 29; Evangel (Mo.) 29; Trinity Christian (Ill.) 19; Bryan (Tenn.) 13; Concordia (Ore.) 11; Campbellsville (Ky.) 9; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 3; Kansas Wesleyan 3.