On the Road: Skylights crush Warriors

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team needed to start winning on the road, and the Skylights knew all along they could do it.

Saturday afternoon, Northern went out and proved it, and they did so in one of the toughest places to play in all of the Frontier Conference, against a nationally ranked rival.

In Lewiston, Idaho, Northern knocked off 25th-ranked Lewis-Clark State in straight sets, for its first road win of the Frontier season. Northern’s 25-17, 25-19, 25-23 thumping of the Warriors improved the Skylights’ record to 3-3 in league play, and into a tie in the top half of the league standings.

“It was a tough road trip,” Northern head coach Bill Huebsch said. “Thursday night in Butte, we didn’t get the win, but I thought we played much better than we had been playing on the road. And I thought that carried over against LC (State).

“The kids didn’t dwell on the loss at Tech, instead they came out really focused and ready to play,” he continued. “So credit to them for doing that. It was a big win for them, and it was a lot of fun to watch because they played really well the entire match.”

From the start, the Skylights were the better team, and it didn’t just show on the scoreboard, it showed in the box score too. MSU-N hit .294 for the match and had 49 kills to just 38 for the Warriors. Northern also served up seven aces and recorded 55 digs and five blocks, defensively. Individually, Cassie Krueger had a big night with 16 kills, out-performing LCSC star Kennadie Clute, who had 14.

Timi Severson also came up with 12 big kills for the Skylights, while Emily Russell had 38 assists. Cydney Auzenne added three aces, while on defense Hannah Amtmann had 14 digs and Mikayla Virostek tallied two solo blocks.

“We served really tough and we played great team defense,” Huebsch, who has now led Northern to its only two wins at LC State in the last 15 seasons, said. “Those are big keys for us, and we did that against LC. But overall, it was just a great team win, and I’m really happy for these kids. They’ve worked so hard, and have gotten better every week. So it was really exciting to see it finally pay off for them on the road.”

The Skylights (4-11) return home to play UM-Western in a homecoming match Saturday afternoon at the Armory Gymnasium.

MSU Northern def. Lewis-Clark State

25-17, 25-19, 25-23

MSU Northern leaders – Kills 49 (Cassie Krueger 16); assists 43 (Emily Russell 38); aces 6 (Cydney Auzenne 3); digs 55 (Hannah Amtmann 14); blocks 5 (Mikayla Virostek 2).

Lewis-Clark State leaders – Kills 38 (Kennadie Clute 14); assists 36 (Amber Hillestad 27); aces 1 (Shaelyn Pearson 1); digs 57 (Amber Hillestad 12); blocks 7 (Kennadie Clute 2.5).