Northern lands two more volleyball standouts

Montana State University-Northern head volleyball coach Jerry Wagner announced two more signings to his first recruiting class at Northern.

Wagner recently announced the signings of Elissa Lind, an outside hitter from Western Wyoming Community College and Rylee Burmester, an outside hitter from Central Wyoming Community College.

Lind is a 5-10 outside hitter from Hardin, and recently completed two years at Western Wyoming Community College. Lind is planning to major in Health Promotions. In 2018 she was NJCAA All-Region IX Second Team and an NJCAA Region IX All-Tournament Team selection. Lind also served as team captain at WWCC in 2018.

"Elissa is very athletic six–rotation player with size who has a wealth of experience," Wagner said. "She will complement the returning players and assist the program in our pursuit of becoming a competitive Frontier Conference team. Elissa's ball control skills and aggressive style of play strengthen our ability to become more up-tempo in our offensive philosophy. Elissa works hard, is an outstanding leader, teammate, and has a strong desire to achieve big things at a high level."

Lind went to Hardin High School. While she was there she received Class A All-State in 2015, Eastern Class A First Team, Hardin High School MVP, team captain and Defensive Player of the Year honors. In 2014 she received Class A All-Conference Second Team.

"I chose MSU-N because of the amazing academic and athletic opportunities," Lind said. "I saw what coach Wagner was doing with the program and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I am excited to be able to bring what I have to offer to the Skylight program, and reach all of my academic and athletic goals."

Burmester is a 5-10 OH from Afton, Wyoming, and recently completed two years at Central Wyoming Community College.

Burmester went to Star Valley High School. She received the following Star Valley High School accolades, 2015 and 2016 Wyoming 3A All-State, All-Conference in volleyball and 2016 All-Conference in track. In 2016 Rylee was a member of teams winning three Wyoming 3A State Championships in volleyball, basketball and track. She continued her volleyball and basketball experience for two seasons at Central Wyoming Community College. She received the following recognition 2018 NJCAA Region IX Honorable Mention team in volleyball and voted CWC team captain. While competing for CWC in Basketball Rylee set the all-time made free throw record and finished third all-time in rebounding.

"Rylee is very strong athletic, six–rotation player with a high volleyball IQ," Wagner said. "She will complement the MSU-N returning players and assist the program in our pursuit of becoming a competitive team in the Frontier Conference. Rylee has earned great respect from her teammates, opponents and coaches because of the effort and attitude she displays on and off the court. She is a "glue type" player with a calming personality which makes her extremely reliable and a confident teammate. Rylee makes everyone better when she is out on the court and is a selfless player who always places the team first.

"I chose MSU-N because Havre feels like home and after only meeting a few people, I can already tell the community is amazing," Burmester said. "I can see that coach Wagner has great things in store for our season and is eager to win. MSU-N has a great academic program that is a great fit for me and will help me in my future plans. I love playing volleyball and am so excited to play this next season as a Skylight."