Almost There: Skylights battle in preseason scrimmage

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team has been hard at work the past couple of weeks, but Monday night, the Skylights' faithful got its first look at the 2017 team.

The Skylights, who are heading to Denver to open the regular season later this week, closed their fall camp with their annual scrimmage. One team wore white, the other dressed in maroon.

Ultimately, it was the White team that won, taking the best-of-three set match by the scores of 25-16, 17-25 and 25-19.

"I think that it went well," Northern head coach Rose Obunaga said. "But I think that some of the girls were not in the positions that they were supposed to be, so it might have looked a little out of order at times, but for their first scrimmage, it was a good job."

In the opening set in the intrasquad scrimmage, the Maroon team got a couple of kills early from freshman Shania Neubauer, but thanks to the strong play on the block of Timi Severson and Mikayla Virostek, the White team jumped out a 19-13 lead. Then, after some impressive kills from junior college transfer Precious Atafua, the White took game one 25-16.

Yet, in the second game, the Maroon team, which was led Cassie Krueger, a First Team All-Frontier selection in 2016 rallied. Krueger struggled with her hitting in the opening set, as the White team allowed few openings defensively. However, Krueger turned things around in the second and hammered home a few kills, allowing the Maroon squad to build an early lead, which it maintained in a 25-17 win to even the match at 1-1.

Due to the scrimmage, Obunaga and the Skylights decided to play just three sets instead of the usual five, so the third set would determine the winner. And much like in the opening set, it was the White team that set the pace. Severson, another First Team All-Frontier selection in 2016, notched a few kills, along with Atafua as White outscored Maroon 25-19 to take the game and the match.

"I was looking for the competitiveness," Obunaga said. "I knew that some might be out of position, but we were able to make some adjustments, especially because we had one player that has practiced with us for just one day, so that makes it kind of hard. But I was really happy with the competitiveness and that excitement and the chemistry. That is what I wanted to see. And I wanted to see them make some of those adjustments under pressure and with the short time that we have."

After scrimmaging each other for the past couple weeks, the Skylights will be on the road for four consecutive non-conference matchups in Denver, starting Thursday, with the season-opening match against Embry Riddle. Things will get underway at 2 p.m.

"I think we are ready," Obunaga said of her team's first match. "We are leaving for Denver Wednesday, so we will see."

Editor's Note: For a full season preview of the Skylight volleyball team, and their upcoming 2017 season see Thursday's Havre Daily News.