Skylights put a wrap on a tough preseason

For the last three weeks, the young Montana State University-Northern volleyball team has been going through a challenging nonconference growing process, and that process ended with two matches Saturday afternoon in Helena.

At the Carroll College/Montana Tech Tournament Friday and Saturday, the Skylights played their final four matches of the preseason, going 1-3. But more importantly, Northern once again squared off against elite competition, this time taking on three nationally ranked NAIA powers, including the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 9 team in the nation.

"This was definitely the biggest test out of the three weeks of the preseason," Northern head coach Bill Huebsch said. "Nebraska was challenging, playing four ranked teams in two days. But in Helena, we played the defending national champion and the No. 2 team back-to-back. So that's a pretty emphatic way to end the preseason."

Emphatic indeed. Northern's rigorous nonconference schedule continued with a loss to No. 9 Biola of California Friday morning. Biola beat the Skylights by scores of 25-19, 25-21 and 25-14. Jessica Wilcox paced MSU-N with 10 kills, while Dayna Jensen added six kills, two aces, 12 digs and a block. Sydney Stolearcius also had 17 digs in the tough loss.

In Northern's second match Friday, the Skylights played much better and dominated California-Merced, by scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-14. Erin Jensen totaled six kills, while Wilcox had seven digs and two solo blocks. Northern also served eight aces in the commanding victory.

"Merced was kind of a young team, like us," Huebsch said. "And I thought in that match, we played much more consistently. We played much better from start to finish than we did against Biola. And that was big to get that win and split on the first day because we knew that Saturday was going to be the most challenging day of the preseason for us."

And it was.

Saturday morning, Northern squared off against defending NAIA champion Texas-Brownsville and was defeated by scores of 25-14, 25-11 and 25-11. Erin Jensen totaled six kills, while Wilcox added five kills and an ace

The match against Brownsville was tough, but it was also an outstanding learning experience for the Skylights, who came back and played well in a 25-21, 25-16 and 25-21 loss to No. 2 Concordia-Irvine. In that match, Dayna Jensen had 11 kills eight digs and an ace, while Janelle Hoff totaled 23 assists and Carlie Haeffner had two blocks.

"We understood how good those two teams we were playing on Saturday were," Huebsch said. "Against Brownsville, I was hoping we would come out and play with some composure, but we are a young team and I think we had that deer in the headlights look at times. But they were as good as I expected. They do all the little things right, they do all the things that championship-caliber teams do. So it was a great experience playing them.

"But I'm really proud of the way we responded against Concordia," he continued. "We played much, much better in that match. And I felt like we played some of our best volleyball of the entire preseason against them."

And that was the goal, for the Skylights to get better from the first week in Spokane to this past weekend in Helena. And Northern did that against arguably the toughest preseason schedule of any team in the NAIA this fall. Now, the Skylights will look to make all the experiences of the last three weeks start to pay off as Frontier Conference play begins this week.

"I think we're better now than back when we were in Spokane," Huebsch said. "And I felt like, even though the scores might not reflect it, we were better at times this weekend than we were last week in Nebraska. At times, we played very well, and we could see the improvement. Now, we just have to get more consistent. And that will come. But I do feel like we have grown a lot, I think we have matured, and we are certainly battle-tested going into our conference season."

Frontier play begins Thursday night when the Skylights visit Frontier power Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho. Northern is also on the road Saturday, visiting Montana Tech in Butte. MSU-N makes its long-awaited home debut Sept. 19 against defending Frontier champion Rocky Mountain College.

Note: For a full preview of the 2014 Frontier Conference volleyball season, see Wednesday's Havre Daily News.

Biola def. MSU-Northern

25-19, 25-21, 25-14

MSU-Northern leaders – Kills 27 (Jessica Wilcox 10, Dayna Jensen 6, Erin Jensen 5); Assists 27 (Jaden Lynch 19); Aces 2 (D. Jensen 2); Digs 44 (Sydney Stolearcius 17, D. Jensen 12); Blocks 6 (D. Jensen 1, E. Jensen 1)

MSU-Northern def. Cal-Merced

25-15, 25-17, 25-14

MSU-Northern leaders: Kills 19 (Erin Jensen 6, Sydney Auzenne 4); Assists 17 (Jaden Lynch 10); Aces 8 (Lynch 2, Sydney Stolearcius 2, Sarah Stringfellow 2); Digs 27 (Dayna Jensen 9, Jessica Wilcox 7); Blocks 7 (Wilcox 2).

Texas-Brownsville def. MSU-Northern

25-14, 25-11, 25-11

MSU-Northern leaders – Kills 22 (Erin Jensen 6, Jessica Wilcox 5, Dayna Jensen 5); Assists 22 (Jaden Lynch 16), Aces 2 (Wilcox 1, Sarah Stringfellow 1); Digs 26 (D. Jensen 6, Sydney Stolearcius 5), Blocks 0.

Concordia-Irvine def. MSU-Northern

25-21, 25-16, 25-21

MSU-Northern leaders – Kills 32 (Dayna Jensen 11, Erin Jensen 9); Assists 27 (Janelle Hoff 23); Aces 5 (4 with one each); Digs 36 (Dayna Jensen 8, Sydney Stolearcius 7); Blocks 6 (Carlie Haeffner 2).