Northern volleyball wins two at ACU tourney

With the start of Frontier Conference play still a few weeks away, the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team is getting a taste of what life is like on the road.

And this past weekend, the Skylights played five matches in three days, all in Phoenix, Arizona. Northern took part in the Arizona Christian Tournament last Friday and Saturday, then had a rematch with Park University Sunday. And when all was said and done, the Skylights went 2-3 on the trip, and bring home a solid 4-5 overall record, with just two weeks left in non-conference play.

Head coach Jerry Wagner’s club started the weekend off strong with a 3-0 sweep of Park Friday afternoon. Northern won by scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-23 with 44 kills, 11 aces and seven blocks. Rylee Burmester paced the Skylights with 10 kills and 13 digs, while Tammy Maddock had four blocks and Katie Murdock tallied 15 digs.

Things got more difficult for the Skylights Saturday night when they were swept by host Arizona Christian. The Firestorm beat the Skylights by scores of 25-19, 25-22 and 25-16 in the first-ever meeting between the two NAIA west schools. Elissa Lind had 10 kills, one block and thee digs, while Katia Michelotti had four blocks in the loss for Northern.

MSU-N quickly rebounded Saturday morning in the first of back-to-back matches. The Skylights dominated SAGU American Indian College 25-15, 25-12 and 25-9 in their second sweep of the road trip. Northern had 36 kills and six blocks, while serving nine aces in the win. Lind finished with a team-high 13 kills to go with 11 digs, while Shay Waldbillig had four aces and 20 assists. Shania Neubauer added four aces and Abi Ellison totaled 14 digs.

Northern took to the floor right after the win but, the Skylights fell to Dakota State by scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 25-23. The loss was tough as the Skylights were out-hit 47-25. Burmester paced the MSU-N offense with nine kills, two aces and five digs. Murdock led the defense with eight digs.

After the tournament was over, the Skylights stuck around for a Sunday matinee with Park in Gilbert, Arizona. But in the rematch Park won by scores of 25-15, 25-27, 20-25 and 25-21. The Skylights did well to try and dig out of the 2-0 hole, tallying 36 kills and nine aces. But it wasn’t quite enough.

Lind and Burmester each totaled nine kills while Burmester had a match-high 20 digs. Maddock was responsible for five blocks, while Hailey Warren had 20 assists.

The Skylights will be back in Montana this weekend, with a scrimmage against North Idaho Friday, before playing two matches in the University of Providence Tournament Saturday. MSU-N will battle Medicine Hat College and Benedictine University in Great Falls. The Skylights wrap up non-conference play Sept. 13 at Dickinson State.