Frontier volleyball moved to spring

As anticipated, the Frontier Conference announced more major changes to the upcoming fall sports season, including the announcement that the volleyball season has officially been moved to the spring.

Friday, the league announced that league administrators had elected to move the volleyball schedule to the spring. In a statement by the Frontier, it said of the upcoming volleyball season:

"At this time the Frontier Conference league administrators have elected to move the volleyball schedule to the spring. This move from the fall was done to accommodate all schools in the Frontier Conference and to further align the sport with the NAIA Championships to be held during the spring. The Frontier Conference will plan to participate in the post-season whenever the NAIA championship dates are set for next spring."

The Frontier season had it been played in the fall would have had to do so without the University of Providence, which became the first school in the league to announce that it will have online classes only for the fall semester. The Montana University System thus far, has stated it intends to have students on campuses this fall, with the several universities beginning classes as early as next week.

A new volleyball schedule, as well as plans for fall practices at schools like Montana State University-Northern will be announced at a later date.

Also Friday, the Frontier announced yet another adjustment to its football schedule. It was just two weeks ago that the league announced it intends to play an eight-game, Montana-only fall season even though the NAIA championships have been moved to spring. However, the league announced the start date for football season has been pushed back from Sept. 12 to Sept. 19. The schedule will remain in place with the season scheduled to end one week later than originally scheduled.

The Frontier's statement Friday read:

"At this time the Frontier Conference still plans to play an eight-game round-robin conference schedule among the five Montana schools beginning in the fall of 2020. Practice at our institutions may begin on August 15, 2020, with the first contests now having been delayed a week to September 19, 2020. This delay was recommended by league administrators to give returning students more time to adjust to new health protocols that have been instituted on every campus. The Frontier Conference will plan to participate in the post-season whenever the NAIA championship dates are set for next spring."

For the Lights, this means their first game will be at Montana Tech Sept. 19. Northern's first home game will be played Oct. 3 against Rocky Mountain College, while the season will now end with the Lights' final home game Nov. 14 versus Carroll College and finals game at Montana Western Nov. 21.

No official announcement has been made about exactly when the Frontier playoffs would begin this spring.

"The Frontier Conference will continue to closely monitor and adjust as necessary to protect the health and safety of all involved in our athletic programs," the league's statement Friday said.

Lights 2020 Football Schedule

Sept. 19 at Montana Tech

Oct. 3 vs Rocky Mountain

Oct. 10 at Carroll College

Oct. 17 vs Montana Western

Oct. 24 vs Montana Tech

Nov. 7 at Rocky Mountain

Nov. 14 vs Carroll College

Nov. 21 at Montana Western