What a Start: Skylights sweep Bears

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team knew it was capable of good things. The Skylights new they were capable of winning matches. They just needed to prove it to themselves — and, as it turns out, their first match inside the Armory Gymnasium was the perfect proving ground.

Friday night, inside a packed and loud Armory, the Skylights opened Frontier Conference play with a dominating performance against two-time defending Frontier champion Rocky Mountain College. In thrilling fashion, the Skylights swept RMC by scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-23.

The win was Northern’s first over RMC since 2013, and it was MSU-N’s second of the season. And while the season is certainly still young, the Skylights saw Friday night’s victory as a massive step forward.

“This is a huge win,” junior Cassie Krueger said. “It’s huge for our morale as a team. We’ve worked so hard, we’ve built great team chemistry, and this win just gives us so much confidence.

“I’m so happy for these girls,” added head coach Bill Huebsch, “because they really have worked extremely hard. And a match like this just reinforces that that hard work does pay off. It also shows them what they’re capable of. It shows they are capable of playing at this level. So even though it was just one, and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, a win like this can be the foundation for good things to come for this team.”

The Skylights wasted little time in laying the groundwork for what would become one of their best home wins in quite some time.

MSU-N came out swinging, especially Krueger, who notched three kills in what would eventually become a 7-0 MSU-N run, which built the Skylights an 18-12 first-set lead. Rocky would close the gap to 20-17, but back-to-back kills from Haley Yoder and Cydney Auzenne got the Skylights rolling again, and, eventually, Krueger would finish off the set with a smash right through the heart of the RMC defense.

And things got even better from there.

Jacy Vining served a pair of aces early in the second set, leading the Skylights to an 8-0 start in a set they led wire-to-wire. Yoder and Auzenne would add big kills to eventually give Northern a 21-14 lead, and, freshman Timi Severson, who had a big night by hitting .360, finished off the dominating set with a thunderous kill cross court.

“I thought two things that were big for us were, we served really aggressively,” Huebsch said. “We had six aces, but even when we didn’t get aces, I thought we hit our spots, and really broke them down. The other thing that was big was we played well at the net. We blocked really well, and that allowed us to play really good team defense in the back. So those two things were key for us, because they were two things we didn’t do particularly well throughout the preseason.”

One more thing Northern did well, and maybe hadn’t done as well early in its non-conference schedule, was finish. The Skylights were riding high at the start of the third set, but RMC came out determined and held a slight lead for much of the early portion of the game. However, a 6-0 run, with kills by Yoder, Auzenne and Vining, gave MSU-N the lead back at 16-15, and while things remained tight from there, the Skylights never wavered.

And with the set tied at 20-20, Severson and Emily Russell teamed up for a huge block, which sent the crowd into a frenzy, and from there the Skylights were able to put the match away with two kills, including the game-ender by Krueger.

“It was a good, well-played match,” Huebsch said. “I thought Rocky played very well. I thought both teams played good team defense. There were some great, long rallies, and the scores were close. So, for our kids to hang tough, to play as well as they did in such a tight match, that says so much about how hard they’ve worked, and, also how far they’ve come. I thought they did a lot of growing tonight, and it was really fun to watch.”

The Skylights were indeed good across the board. Northern hit .177 to Rocky hitting just .111. Severson led a balanced MSU-N offense with 11 kills, while Krueger had nine, Auzenne 7 and Yoder and Jillian Nickens added six each. Of course, good performances were across the board for the Skylights too. Russell finished with 34 aces, while Severson, Yoder and Krueger had two blocks apiece, as the Skylights out-blocked RMC 8-6. Hannah Amtmann added 27 digs on defense, while Vining was outstanding too, with 13 digs and two aces. Auzenne also served three aces on a night when Northern played its best volleyball of the young season.

“I think the big thing was, we were loose tonight,” Krueger said. “Emotionally, we came out ready to play, and we were relaxed. And we had fun out there. Our team chemistry is so good right now. We trust each other and believe in each other on and off the court and that’s so big for us. Tonight was just so much fun.”

Quick Turnaround

While the Skylights were riding high after Friday night’s big win, they had to put it on the back burner pretty quickly. That’s because Northern had to travel to Dillon on Saturday night for a match against the UM-Western Bulldogs, a team Huebsch called much-improved this season.

And Western certainly showed that, as the Bulldogs swept the Skylights in three games.

With the weekend split, Northern is now 1-1 in the Frontier Conference and 2-9 overall. The Skylights are back in the Armory Gymnasium Thursday night to host the UGF Argos.

Quick Turnaround

While the Skylights were riding high after Friday night's big win, they had to put it on the back burner pretty quickly. That's because Northern had to travel to Dillon on Saturday night for a match against the UM-Western Bulldogs, a team Huebsch called much-improved this season.

And Western certainly showed that, as the Bulldogs swept the Skylights in three games.

With the weekend split, Northern is now 1-1 in the Frontier Conference and 2-9 overall. The Skylights are back in the Armory Gymnasium Thursday night to host the UGF Argos.

Armory Sweep

Skylights are 1-1 in Frontier, 2-9 overall; Up Next: vs UGF Thursday

MSU-Northern def. Rocky Mountain

25-21, 25-19, 25-23

RMC – Kills 21 (Kylie Hadley 14), Assists 28 (Hailey Copinga 15), Aces 3 (three with 1 each), Digs 78 (Holland Ferguson 22), Blocks 6 (four with 1 each).

MSU-N – Kills 42 (Timi Severson 11, Cassie Krueger 9), Assists 38 (Emily Russell 34), Aces 6 (Cydney Auzenne 3, Jacy Vining 2), Digs 80 (Hannah Amtmann 27, Jacy Vining 13, Emily Russell 12, Cydney Auzenne 10), Blocks 8 (Severson 2, Yoder 2, Krueger 2).