Skylights getting ready for a new fall

It's hot outside and hot in the gym, too, but that isn't stopping the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team from making some progress and working hard.

All this week, the Skylights, under veteran head coach Bill Huebsch, have been going through two-a-day practices in preparation for the start of their 2015 season, which is just a little over a week away.

In addition to training and getting back into the groove of volleyball, the Skylights are also continuing the process of coming together as a team. Northern has plenty of new faces on its roster this season, seven to be exact, while MSU-N returns just two full-time starters from last season in Erin Jensen and Jessica Wilcox. Kylie Pasieka and Cydney Auzenne are the only other two returning players who saw action a season ago, so MSU-N is certainly in the midst of trying to blend together and development chemistry on and off the court.

"The energy level and enthusiasm that this group brought with them the first night of play was just surprising in a such a positive way," Huebsch said recently. "They all seem to get along very well. They all push each other, and practices have been really intense."

Northern was picked to finish sixth in the Frontier Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released earlier this week. The Skylights were tied with UM-Western in the voting. The poll picked Lewis-Clark State first and defending Frontier Conference champion Rocky Mountain College second. Carroll College, UGF and Montana Tech were picked third through fifth in the poll, while the league will see a different type of schedule this season with Westminster College no longer in the Frontier.

But the Frontier is not presently what the new-look Skylights are worried about. Northern is getting ready for a month of high-quality non-conference matches, which will start next weekend in LaGrande, Oregon. Over the first four weeks of the season, the Skylights will play a handful of teams that were ranked in the NAIA Top 25 at the end of last season, and teams with national tournament experience.

That tough schedule is intended to get the Skylights ready for league play, which starts Sept. 17 against LC State in Havre. Northern does play its first four conference matches at home.

But fans don't have to wait until September to get a look at the Skylights. They will hold a scrimmage match against Medicine Hat College Monday night at the Armory Gymnasium. The scrimmage is open to the public and the entry fee is one item of nonperishable food which will be donated to the Havre Food Bank.

Northern will then get set to open the regular season Aug. 21-22 at the Eastern Oregon Tournament in LaGrande, Oregon.

Frontier Preseason Volleyball Poll

Lewis-Clark State (3) 33 pts

Rocky Mountain (3) 31 pts

Carroll College 27 pts

Montana Tech 19 pts

University of Great Falls 19 pts

MSU-Northern 9 pts

Montana Western 9 pts