Skylights begin Frontier play on the road

It's been an exciting preseason for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team. And it's all been about preparing for conference play.

Now however, the preparation is over, and it's time for the Skylights to take on the Frontier Conference, under new head coach Jerry Wagner.

"I'm excited to coach in this conference," Wagner said earlier this summer. "It's obviously changed a lot since I was last in it. But I've always followed Northern volleyball and always followed the Frontier Conference very closely. So I'm very familiar with it."

Wagner is familiar with the Frontier, but more so, volleyball in general, and he has his Skylights, who went winless in league play a year ago, showing vast improvements thus far.

Northern brings a 6-7 overall record into tonight's Frontier opener at Lewis-Clark State (9-5), and the Skylights have been playing well against good, non-conference opponents.

In their six wins this season, Northern has hit better than .170, which is a rise from where the Skylights were offensively a year ago. The Skylights have also become one of the top serving teams in the league as Northern has 81 aces so far in 2019, which is second only to LC State. The Skylights also rank fifth in digs in the league heading into conference play, while they have 69 total blocks.

Individually, the Skylights are led by Rylee Burmester (114) and Elissa Lind (110), who rank ninth and 10th in the Frontier in total kills. Abigail Ellison, Burmester and Lind are also in double digits in total aces, while Hailey Warren sits seventh in the league in assists. Shania Neubauer has been a Swiss Army Knife thus far for Northern, playing multiple spots, while Tammy Maddock is quickly establishing herself in the middle, and freshman libero Katie Murdock is sixth in the Frontier in digs with 189.

Of course, as well as Northern is playing heading into league play, the Skylights know all too well how tough the Frontier is, and the challenges start right away with this weekend's road trip.

Tonight, Northern battles an LC State squad that is also showing major signs of improvement, and as mentioned, is tops in the league in serving. Brooke Kawa is a dangerous hitter, and she leads LCSC defensively, while Denise Elder is an outstanding blocker and middle hitter for the Warriors.

Things also won't get any easier for the Skylights on Saturday. That's because they'll head back into Montana to take on nationally ranked Montana Tech (12-2) Saturday night in Butte.

The Orediggers are currently ranked 18th in the latest NAIA Coaches Poll. They were also picked to win the Frontier title this season, and they have been a team on the rise recently, seemingly getting better and more dangerous with each passing season.

Tech has stalwarts at every position, as well. Setter McKenna Kaebler leads the Frontier in total assists, while libero Sabrina Hopcroft leads the league in digs. Offensively, Tech is quick and athletic, too. Karina Michelson is a returning All-Conference performer, who already has 154 kills this season, while Maureen Jessop is equally dangerous on the other side. Tech also has a strong presence in the middle with Sydney Parks already tallying 47 blocks this season.

In other words, the Diggers have it all, and that's why they're a strong favorite to win the Frontier title this season, and return to the NAIA national tournament in November.

Still, the Skylights have already shown they aren't the team they were last season, when they won just one set in conference play. Instead, under Wagner's leadership Northern has gotten better each and every week and has already proven it has no intention of being a Frontier pushover this fall.

The Skylights meet LC State tonight at 8 p.m. M.S.T. to start Frontier play. Northern's match at Montana Tech starts at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Butte. The Skylights finally return home to host the University of Providence next Wednesday inside the Armory Gymnasium.