MSU-N VB goes to Nebraska

The beginning of the season is always a hectic time for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team and a big reason why is the Skylights’ schedule.

Last weekend, Northern opened its season at the Big Sky Tournament in Butte and lost three of four matches. But, this week, the Skylights will have a chance to rebound and to get that chance, they traveled all the way to Bellevue, Nebraska, to take part in the prestigious Bellevue College Tournament this weekend.

The Skylights will open the tournament this afternoon at 2 with a match against Dordt, Iowa. Then, MSU-N will play its second match of the day as the Skylights are set to take on the College of the Ozarks (Missouri) at 8 p.m. MSU-N will then play William Woods College, also of Missouri, Saturday at 4 p.m., followed by a contest against Northwestern University from Iowa at 8.

"We will see some very good competition in this tournament," MSU-N head coach Bill Huebsch said, "a couple of teams that are ranked in the Preseason Poll — and they're ranked for a reason. But our goal is the same, we just want to keep getting better."

MSU-N may just want to get better, but it wants to win, too, especially against ranked opponents, which could help the Lights potentially earn an at-large berth down the road into the NAIA National Tournament.

Huebsch learned plenty about his new squad the first weekend and in particular he found out who his main hitters will be as both Timi Severson and Cassie Krueger put together impressive performances.

Severson led the way for Skylights with 46 kills, while Krueger was second on the team with 44. Krueger also leads the team in blocks with eight, while Hannah Amtmann had a team-high in digs last weekend in Butte with 53. Cydney Auzenne also had a nice opening weekend for the Skylights, leading the team in assists and finishing third in kills.

"We can take away a lot from the first weekend," Huebsch said. "We learned a lot about ourselves. I think we learned we need to be better defensively, and offensively our hitters just need to find their consistency. So this weekend will again be good for us to work on those things and to keep getting better."

After returning home from Nebraska, the Skylights will take part in the University of Great Falls Tournament Sept. 9-10. MSU-N will then have its first home match of the season Oct. 16 against Rocky Mountain College. The Skylights will get their Bellevue tournament underway today at 2 p.m., versus Dordt.