Northern spikers play well in Nebraska

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team had already played eight tough matches prior to making the trip east to Bellevue, Nebraska. But as far as non-conference tournaments go, this past weekend was the toughest yet for the Skylights.

Northern was in Nebraska for the prestigious Bellevue University Classic, a tournament that is widely considered the best preseason tournament in NAIA volleyball. And while MSU-N came away with just one win in four matches over the weekend, the Skylights certainly played at a high level against top-notch competition.

"We have improved from weekend to weekend, and I think the scores this weekend reflected that," Northern head coach Bill Huebsch said. "We were very competitive against some very good teams down there. Right now, it's a matter of us not beating ourselves as much, and we did that a few too many times this weekend. But overall, I'm really proud of our girls. They played well."

Northern opened the tournament last Friday with a four-set loss to Evangel, the 18th ranked team in the NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Skylights proved again they have fight in them as they rallied to win the third set after dropping the first two. But, Evangel proved too tough and won the fourth, and the match by scores of 25-15, 25-17, 21-25 and 25-12. In the loss, Cassie Krueger and Korrie Stephenson combined for 17 kills, while Stephenson added two aces and Emily Russell had 31 assists.

Friday night, the Skylights showed resiliency by returning to the floor to beat Culver-Stockton in four games, by scores of 18-25, 25-19, 26-24 and 25-23. It was another hard-fought match, but one the Skylights played very well in the final three sets, especially, the back-and-forth fourth set. In the victory, Krueger had 18 kills and a block, while Jessica Wilcox had 10 kills and 14 digs. Russell also had 41 assists and two aces, while Kylie Pasieka added two aces as well.

"Evangel is tough and they blocked us really well," Huebsch said. "I would have liked to have seen us be a little more competitive in that match than we were.

"But again, our kids showed a lot of maturity because they came right back and regrouped against Culver-Stockton. We dropped the first set, but they really fought hard and came back and got a really good win for us."

On Saturday, Northern found itself in yet another tough battle against Ashford University of Iowa, another team that is in the NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll. In what was a tight match throughout, the Skylights fell by scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-23 and 26-24. Every set could have gone either way, and it was just a point here and a point there that held the Skylights back.

Krueger again led the Northern offense with 19 kills, while Wilcox added 10 and Cydney Auzenne had nine. Wilcox also had two aces while Jacy Vining led the defense with 14 digs.

In the final match of the tournament, Northern played host Bellevue, a perennial NAIA power. And though the Skylights lost in straight sets, by scores of 26-24, 25-21 and 27-25, every set could have gone the other way, as again the Skylights played very well.

Krueger finished a strong tournament with 11 kills and an ace, while Erin Jensen had nine kills and Russell tallied 31 assists and 14 digs.

"Saturday was an interesting day," Huebsch said. "We played two really good teams, and we played really well. We lost a total of seven sets by a combined 13 points. That means we were right there with chances to win all of those sets. So we played well, we just needed to be a little more consistent.

"And that's all part of the process," he added. "We're improving. We want to improve even more, but this weekend, I thought we showed a lot of improvements and that's the main goal during this preseason. That's why we're challenging ourselves like this every week."

The Skylights wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule with four matches at the Jamestown College Tournament this weekend in Jamestown, North Dakota. Northern opens Frontier Conference play Sept. 17 against Lewis-Clark State in Havre.

Evangel def. MSU-Northern

25-15, 25-17, 21-25, 25-12

MSU-N – Kills 37 (Cassie Krueger 9, Korrie Stephenson 8), Assists 33 (Emily Russell 31), Aces 6 Stephenson 2), Digs 52 (Jacy Vining 19), Blocks 6.

MSU-Northern def. Culver-Stockton

18-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-23

MSU-N – Kills 46 (Cassie Krueger 18, Jessica Wilcox 10), Assists 44 (Emily Russell 41), Aces 7 (Kylie Pasieka 2, Russell 2), Digs 45 (Wilcox 14), Blocks 2 (Erin Jensen 1, Krueger 1).

Ashford def. MSU-Northern

25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 26-24

MSU-N – Kills 52 (Cassie Krueger 19, Jessica Wilcox 10, Cydney Auzenne 9), Assists 48 (Emily Russell 45), Aces 5 (Wilcox 2), Digs 51 (Jacy Vining 13), Blocks 8.

Bellevue def. MSU-Northern

26-24, 25-21, 27-25

MSU-N – Kills 37 (Cassie Krueger 11, Erin Jensen 9), Aces 1 (Krueger 1), Digs 64 (Jacy Vining 14, Russell 14), Blocks 10.