Skylights face tough NAIA foes at Nebraska tournament

When the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team went to Spokane last weekend to open the 2014 season, the Skylights played some tough teams.

But Northern will take a major step up in competition over the next two days. And it’s a big step. Starting this afternoon, the Skylights will play four matches at a tournament in Bellevue, Nebraska, hosted by Bellevue College. While in Nebraska, the Skylights will play three matches against nationally ranked opponents, so after a 3-2 start in Spokane, the competition is getting much more difficult.

“The teams we’ll see out in Nebraska are very good,” said MSU-N head coach Bill Huebsch. “All of them are strong teams and three of them are either ranked in the NAIA Preseason poll, or were at the end of last season. So it will certainly be a step up for us.”

Three opponents are indeed ranked in the Top 25. After the Skylights open the tourney with Dordt College of Iowa this afternoon, they’ll take on No. 7 Midland University of Nebraska tonight. MSU-N then has two matches Saturday, starting with No. 5 Northwestern University of Iowa in the morning. The Skylights wrap up their trip to Nebraska with a match against No. 6 Grand View that afternoon.

So that’s three matches in 24 hours against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 10. That’s a tall order for a Skylight team still learning, a team that’s young and is still figuring itself out. But that’s the idea. Huebsch wanted his young team tested early and often, so that its ready to go once Frontier Conference play rolls around.

“We might take some lumps along the way, but this schedule will give us a chance to grow and learn and gain confidence,” Huebsch said. “And by the time we get to conference play, we’ll have played so many tough teams and seen so many different styles, maybe a really good Frontier Conference won’t look quite as daunting to this team. But either way, we’re certainly throwing this group into the fire because we’re basically playing the best-of-the-best in NAIA volleyball in the first three weeks.”

The Skylights begin the Bellevue Tournament with a match against Dordt this afternoon. Northern faces Midland tonight at 7, followed by Northwestern Saturday at 11 a.m. and Grand View Saturday at 5 p.m. MSU-N is on the road again next weekend, traveling to the Carroll College Tournament in Helena.