Skylights finish with UGF rivalry match

All season long, the young Montana State University-Northern volleyball team has been bent on just improving. All along, the Skylights have been gearing up to play their best volleyball when the Frontier Conference tournament comes.

Now however, the wait is nearly over, and the Skylights (3-10, 7-19) have just one match left before the Frontier tourney kicks off next weekend in Butte. And it’s a big match indeed. Saturday night, Northern will travel to Great Falls to take on arch rival UGF. The action kicks off at the McLaughlin Center at 7 p.m.

And while MSU-N has been improving every week, no week went better than last week for the Skylights, and they’re hoping that improvement and momentum carries over into Saturday night’s rivalry match. Northern finished off its home schedule with a dramatic five-set win over Westminster last Friday night, then followed that up with a dominating sweep of the UM-Western Bulldogs last Saturday night.

“We certainly played some of our best volleyball those last two matches,” said MSU-N head coach Bill Huebsch. “But we’re not done. We can continue to get better and get more consistent, and that’s starts with this match against UGF. We need to go down to Great Falls and play our best match of the season.”

The Skylights will need to be at their best because they know the Argos (6-7, 15-12) will. It will be senior night at UGF, and the Argos will be highly motivated. They always are when they play MSU-N, but UGF has also suffered some tough losses as of late, including a sweep at the hands of Western last Friday night.

However, Northern has motivation, too. The Argos came to Havre a month ago and stormed past the Skylights in a three-game sweep. In that match, MSU-N seemed overmatched and out-gunned, and the goal will be to turn that around Saturday night. But no matter what the motivation is, Huebsch said that the UGF-Northern rivalry is always an intense one.

“It’s been a good rivalry for several years now,” Huebsch said. “It doesn’t matter what the records are or where either of us are in the standings, we always seem to get up for each other.”

The Argos, who rebounded to beat Westminster last Saturday night, are led by sophomore Madison Willhelm’s 305 kills. Willhelm is a beast in the middle for UGF, and she was a handful for the Skylight defense last time out. UGF is the top hitting team in the Frontier and the Argos are just as good with their block. Alyssa McEwan has 251 kills and 50 blocks this season, while Kelsee Montagna has a team-high 53 blocks.

Northern will counter with a solid block of its own, led by Jessica Wilcox and Erin Jensen, who have combined for 68 blocks this fall. The Northern offense is led by Dayna Jensen’s 283 kills, while freshman Taylor Woolman has also come on strong. Woolman has 103 kills and 41 blocks this season. The Skylights must also get good play from their back row defense, which is led by Sidney Stolearcius and Sarah Stringfellow, while Dayna Jensen also lays tough defense in the back row. She has 271 digs this season.

And while there is plenty of firepower on both sides, and plenty to play for, Saturday night’s season finale will come down to execution, and Huebsch said that if his team executes like they did against Western, a little revenge in Great Falls might just be in order.

“Basically, we have to see more of what we saw against Western,” Huebsch said. “We have to pass well, and stay in system. We have to have a strong presence at the net, and we have to play well behind our block. Those are things we did really well against Western, and we need to them well against UGF.”

Saturday night’s match between the Skylights and Argos will start at 7 p.m. in Great Falls. The Frontier Conference tournament starts next Thursday in Butte.