Long Road: Skylights are finally home

The road to the start of the Frontier Conference volleyball season was a long one for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights, who, in three weeks, played eight nationally-ranked opponents between trips to Spokane, Bellevue, Nebraska and Helena.

But the road to get back to the Armory Gymnasium has been even longer. And after opening Frontier play with losses at Lewis-Clark State and Montana Tech last weekend, the Skylights (4-11, 0-2) are finally back in the Armory.

Tonight, Northern hosts the No. 1 team in the NAIA, the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears in its home debut. Northern follows tonight's match with an afternoon affair against the Carroll College Fighting Saints Saturday.

"We're really excited. It's been a long road in the preseason. It's really hard to play on the road as much as we have," sophomore libero Sydney Stolearcius said. "So it feels good to finally be at home. And we're really excited to go out and play in front of our fans. You don't have that on the road and our fans are the best in the conference. It's one of the reasons I love this school. The preseason has been a buildup to this weekend, and it's finally here. So we want to go out and play well for our fans. I know the whole team is very excited for this home opener."

Of course, MSU-N, which has struggled out of the blocks this season, won't be able to hang its hat on just playing in the Armory, a place the Skylights went undefeated last season, and have lost just once since the 2011 season. No, Northern will have to play some of its best volleyball of the young fall in order to beat the Bears and Saints.

"There are things we need to do better," Northern head coach Bill Huebsch said. "And those are the little things that we haven't been doing well lately. We just need to be more consistent with everything we do. But the kids are really excited to finally play at home, and they really have nothing to lose this weekend. They just have to go out and execute and play hard."

Tonight's match is a rematch of the 2013 Frontier championship bout, which the Bears won in Great Falls back in November. A week earlier, in front of a record volleyball crowd in the Armory, the Skylights beat RMC to win the Frontier regular season championship. So there is some history between the two teams.

On the other hand, it's a new year, and while RMC (13-2, 2-0) has ascended to the top spot in the NAIA, becoming the first Frontier team to ever do so, the Skylights aren't the same team as they were a year ago. Northern is much younger, with junior Dayna Jensen (140 kills), sophomore Erin Jensen (105 kills) and Stolearcius (147 digs) as the only returning starters. At key positions, like in the middle, MSU-N has new players like Jessica Wilcox (108 kills, 10 blocks) and Taylor Woolman, as well as setter, where Janelle Hoff (130 assists) and Jaden Lynch (263 assists) have been sharing time.

Meanwhile, the Bears are not a young team, they are a veteran team with all the pieces in place to make a run at the national championship. And that run is spearheaded by 6-0 senior middle blocker Yang Yang. She leads the Frontier in both kills (263) and blocks (64). She's also No. 1 in the NAIA in blocks, while Rocky is the top blocking team in the nation. And the reason is the Bears have a dominant presence at the net. Anna DeWald (6-3) plays right alongside Yang, while outside hitter Aleah Billis (6-2, 127 kills) is one of the most talented offensive players in the league. Senior setter Tori Bertsch is an excellent all-around player, while 6-3 Mariah Stiffarm adds even more size at the net.

"We know it's a formidable challenge," Huebsch said. "Rocky is very good, very talented and they are experienced. They are long, they are an excellent blocking team, and they have good players at every position. They have a national player of the year candidate in Yang, and as she goes, they kind of go. But they also have a lot of firepower around her. So it's a heck of a challenge to open up your home schedule playing the number one team in the country.

"For us, we have to serve really tough," he continue. "If we can do that, and break them down then we can create some more opportunities to put the ball away. Once they get in system, they really get rolling and they become pretty tough to stop. And really, in both matches this weekend, we need to have a much better presence at the net. We need to block really well and play great team defense behind the block. And finally, we have to score when we get chances. Against teams like we're playing this weekend, when you miss out on scoring opportunities, the odds of winning are not going to be in your favor. So we've really got to terminate the ball in these matches."

Tonight's match with the Bears is indeed formidable, as the Skylights will be playing their second match against the No. 1 team in the NAIA in the last three weeks. But Saturday's clash with the Saints (2-0, 9-6) won't be a walk in the park either.

Carroll is off to a strong start in Frontier play and will be hungry for revenge. The Skylights have beaten the Saints in the Armory in each of the last two seasons, and Northern is 5-2 against Carroll in the last seven meetings. And like Rocky, Carroll is big at the net and talented all around the court.

"Carroll doesn't change much," Huebsch said. "They have the same style of play as we're used to seeing from them. They are big at the net, they have a lot of talented, athletic players and they have good depth. They have beaten some really good teams this season, so again, we'll have to be on top of our game in order to be successful against them."

The Saints are led by 6-2 outside hitter Kathleen Mulligan, who has 108 kills and 21 blocks this season. Sarah Roshak (5-11) is an excellent hitter as well, while junior college transfer middle hitter Crystal Schmidt (6-0) has a team-high 136 kills and 45 blocks. The Saints also have height, play strong defense and have two outstanding setters in Jonni Dorr and Emily Burk.

And while both the Bears and Saints are going to present huge challenges to the Skylights this weekend, that's nothing new to this Northern team. Over the last four weeks, MSU-N has already faced eight teams that were ranked in the NAIA Top 25, as well as LCSC and Tech, two teams which have yet to lose a Frontier Conference match. And now Northern will go against two more teams which haven't lost a conference match yet. Only this time, the matches are in the Armory, and Huebsch is hoping that will give the Skylights some added momentum.

"There's no time off in this league," Huebsch said. "Every team is very good and you have to be on top of your game every night, every set, every point. I think this team has grown a lot and they understand that.

"We've been on some long, long road trips and we've played some very good teams," he continued. "So there's no question our kids are excited to be at home. Hopefully, we'll have good crowds because the kids feed off that, and they're really excited about playing at home."

Tonight's match between Northern and top-ranked RMC starts at 7 inside the Armory Gymnasium. Saturday's tilt between MSU-N and Carroll starts at 2 p.m.