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News you can use
Skylights will play a 20-match conference season this fall
Montana State University-Northern's Ellisa Lind, left, goes to block a Montana Western shot during a 2019 Frontier Conference match in Havre. The Skylights are looking forward to the 2020 season, but because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, things, including the schedule, are going to look much different. Northern doesn't begin the season until Sept. 12, and each weekend, teams will play each other on back-to-back days as part of a 20-match Frontier schedule.
Just like with football, COVID-19 has made sure the upcoming Frontier Conference volleyball season will have a much different look to it. But the Frontier schedule, which was approved by the league's presidents last week, will also be a throwback to the past.
The combination of the NAIA allowing just 22 dates for volleyball, and the loss of Lewis-Clark State to the Cascade Conference helped propel the league to go forward this season with a 20-match conference schedule - a schedule that will feature teams playing each other on back-to-back days. So, for example, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights will open the season Sept. 12 at home against the Montana Western Bulldogs and will play the Dawgs again the Armory Gymnasium the following afternoon.
In all, each team will play the other four times throughout the season, which is a throwback to the old Frontier basketball schedules of the 1980s. Match times have also been set for 6 p.m. Friday nights and 2 p.m. Saturday's, unless there is a conflict with a home football game.
"The volleyball schedule that was passed will really help with travel," Northern AD Christian Oberquell said last week. "The times will be a big factor in that, too. They (also) voted not to have a conference tournament this year. So, our regular season champion will get the automatic bid to the national tournament."
Those are certainly big changes for Frontier volleyball, but after the NAIA released its Fall Sports Return-to-Play plan, which allows volleyball programs to start practicing Aug. 15 and to start playing matches Sept. 5, the changes the Frontier made to its schedule were necessary.
And they're different, too. Training camps usually begin the end of July and Northern was set to play its first tournament the week Aug. 21-22. Northern was too have three weeks of non-conference play, but with the new Frontier schedule, only the weekend of Sept. 5 is open, and the Skylights haven't announced any matches as of yet for opening weekend.
Conference play will begin with the home dates against Western Sept. 11-12, then Sept. 18-19, the Skylights visit Montana Tech. They close out September with matches at Carroll College Sept. 25-26.
Northern opens October with home matches against Providence Oct. 2-3, followed by a road trip to Rocky Mountain College Oct. 9-10. The second half of the season begins with a trip to Western Oct. 16-17, followed by home dates against Tech, Oct. 23-24 and Carroll Oct. 30-31.
The final two weeks of the season have the Skylights traveling to Great Falls to play the Argos Nov. 6-7 and then closing out the year at home against RMC Nov. 13-14.
Again, with the new schedule, there will be no postseason tournament this fall. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament was set for the second week of November in Great Falls.
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