Jimmies sweep Skylights

With just one match left before the start of Frontier Conference play, the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team was looking for a good result. Unfortunately, the nationally ranked Jamestown Jimmies had other ideas.

Saturday in Great Falls, the Skylights closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with a three-set loss to the No. 23 Jimmies, by scores of 25-19, 25-12 and 25-19. The loss dropped Northern to 1-8 on the season, but, head coach Bill Huebsch still saw positives in his team’s performance.

“I thought we played right with them for long stretches,” Huebsch said. I thought we played really well in stretches of every set. Jamestown is a very solid team, with a lot of seniors and juniors, and we are a young, still inexperienced team, and at times, we played like it. We would be right there with them, point for point, and then we would give up a five-point run, and against a team like Jamestown, they’re not going to let you come back from that.”

Especially in the first and third sets, Northern did hang tough. But, Huebsch said, unforced errors were the difference in his Skylights being able to push over the top in any of the three sets in a match that was played at UGF’s McLaughlin Center.

“It’s kind of been how things have gone for us all preseason,” he said. “We have been streaky good at times, and other times we go on runs where we just don’t have any consistency. And that’s how the match went against Jamestown.”

In the loss, Haley Yoder led the way for the Skylights with seven kills, while Cassie Krueger had six and Cydney Auzenne added four.

Now, with the three weeks of road matches behind them, the Skylights will not only begin conference play this weekend, but will also make their home debut Friday night when they host Rocky Mountain College at 7 p.m. in the Armory Gymnasium.

“I feel like we’ve still improved every week,” Huebsch said. “This team has a lot of talent, and when we find that consistency, when we are able to put it all together, I think this team is going to be a lot of fun to watch. I know they’re very excited to play at home Friday night. They’re really looking forward to it.”

Jamestown (N.D.) def. MSU-Northern

25-19, 25-12, 25-19

JC - (kills-aces-blocks) Kaitlin Anderson 5-0-0; Elise Peterson 1-0-0; Nicole Warren 0-3-0; Aubrey Beaumont 3-0-0; Heather Bachman 7-0-4; Siri Jystad 6-0-0; Madison Wendel 6-0-0; Haley Glasoe 5-0-4; Josie Hegerle 0-0-1; Julina Niemeier 0-2-0; Morgan Hensch 9-0-1; Whitney King 1-2-0; Kori Buchanan 0-0-0. Totals 43-7-5.0

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Cydney Auzenne 4-1-1; Kylie Pasieka 0-0-0; Mikayla Virostek 1-0-1; Cassie Krueger 6-0-1; Jacy Vining 1-0-0; Emily Russell 0-2-0; Jillian Nickens 2-0-1; Haley Yoder 7-0-2; Sheridan Scheresky-O'Neil 0-0-0; Hannah Amtmann 0-0-0; Vaniris Vazquez 0-0-0; Timi Severson 3-0-3; Katia Michelotti 1-0-0; Madison Weaver 0-0-0. Totals 25-3-5.0.