Skylights get needed win

Sooner or later, the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team was going to break through. With how much talent the young Skylights have, it was just a matter of time.

That breakthrough came Saturday afternoon when Northern beat UM-Western in four sets in a Frontier Conference match in Dillon. It was the Skylights’ first conference win of 2014 and it snapped an overall six-match losing streak.

Northern beat the Bulldogs by scores of 25-16, 25-15, 23-25 and 25-23 to improve to 1-5 in league play and 5-14 overall.

“I’m really proud of the kids,” MSU-N head coach Bill Huebsch said. “They had certainly worked hard enough to win some conference matches. So after this one, they were pretty excited and deservedly so. It had been a pretty long time in between wins.”

A strong start, and outstanding blocking propelled the Skylights to an early 2-0 lead. Northern took control of the match with Western early in the first set, and through the first two sets, the Skylights were rarely threatened. It was the opposite of what happened to MSU-N when the Skylights continually fell behind Westminster, only to rally late.

“Against Westminster, a lot of our strengths went away,” Huebsch said. “We didn’t play to our full potential and Westminster did play well. So, we had a really productive film session when we got to Dillon Friday and I thought the kids responded by coming out and playing really well in those first two sets against Western. We passed really well, we served tough and we had a great presence at the net.

“Unfortunately, in that third set, Western picked it up and I don’t think we responded to it,” he continued. “We had a few of those things that have been holding us pop up in the third set.”

The Skylights did fall off the pace in the third set and were down 23-18 late. Northern again rallied and started to play better, but couldn’t quite catch up in the end. However, in the fourth game, MSU-N was again strong. The set was tight throughout, but the Skylights never relinquished control, and eventually put the much-improved Bulldogs away for good.

“Give our girls a lot of credit,” Huebsch said. “Because, after losing the third set like we did, for a young team like us, that could have been a huge turnaround the wrong way. The wheels could have started to fall off right there. But our kids showed a lot of character and they played really well in order to close out the match. So I’m really proud of them for that.”

Blocking was huge for Northern against the Bulldogs. The Skylights racked up 16 team blocks with Carlie Haefner and Erin Jensen leading the charge. Dayna Jensen, who had a match-high 13 kills and Jessica Wilcox were big keys offensively, while Northern had eight service aces, including two each by Sarah Stringfellow and Dayna Jensen. Sydney Stolearcius added 18 digs in the much-needed victory.

And now, with a win in tow, the Skylights return home for a stretch where MSU-N could make some more progress. Northern is home to face UGF Saturday night, then has a bye week, before playing two more home matches.

“Anytime you can go and get a split on the road in the Frontier Conference, it’s not a bad weekend,” Huebsch said. “And I do feel like, no matter what the outcome of these last few weeks has been, we’re getting better, we’re improving. And hopefully a win will give us even more confidence, and as we can continue to improve, we will start to find even more success.”

Northern will host arch rival UGF Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Armory Gymnasium.

MSU Northern def. UM-Western

25-16, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23

MSU-N - Kills: 43 (Dayna Jensen 13). Blocks: 14 (Erin Jensen 6.5). Aces: 8 (D. Jensen 2, Sarah Stringfellow 2). Digs: 72 (Sydney Stolearcius 18). Assists: 39 (Janelle Hoff 16, Jaden Lynch 16).

UM-W - Kills: 45 (Emily Erickson 12). Blocks: 4 (Tessa Miller 2.5). Aces: 2 (Erickson, Kendra Mendicino). Digs: 76 (Mendicino 26). Assists: 43 (Paige Latimer 39).