Frontier Notebook: Frontier women's games, including Skylights canceled

The coronavirus pandemic just isn't loosening its grip on sports, including Frontier Conference men's and women's basketball.

After a successful first two weeks of the 2021 season, COVID issues have started to creep back into the schedule, and that now includes the Montana State University-Northern Skylights. The Frontier Conference announced earlier this week that Northern's doubleheader at the University of Providence has been canceled due to a COVID issue within the MSU-N program. But the cancellations didn't stop there, as this weekend's women's games between Rocky Mountain College and Carroll College have also been canceled.

So, that means this week on the women's side, only Montana Tech and Western will play, while the other four teams hope to resume play next week. For the Skylights, who are just coming off a home sweep of Rocky, they are set to travel to Carroll next weekend, while the Providence women are scheduled to play Western Wednesday, and host the Orediggers next weekend.

Rivalry Returns

COVID also interrupted the University of Providence and MSU-Northern men last week. The Argos and Lights were supposed to meet in Havre back on Jan. 20, but positive cases within the Argos canceled that game. Now though, the Lights and Argos will get their first look at each other, as they meet twice this weekend in Great Falls.

Northern is coming off a sweep of Rocky at home last weekend, with David Harris and Mascio McCadney having combined to average nearly 40 points per game.

Meanwhile, the Argos men, who moved up to No. 10 in the new NAIA Coaches Poll, haven't played since they swept Carroll Jan. 9-10. So, there might be some rust for the Argos, who are led by All-American Zach Darko-Kelly. But Northern head coach Shawn Huse knows his team will have to play at a high level in Great Falls despite UP's long layoff.

"They are a very explosive team with many weapons," Huse said of the Argos. "And they are also very disruptive with their defense. We need to be sharp on defense to get stops, and we will have to be ready to capitalize on the short window of opportunities we have on offense."

The Lights and Argos will meet Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. in the McLaughlin Center in Great Falls, as part of Northern's current four-game road trip.

Moving Up

The Argos rose three spots in the new NAIA Men's Coaches Poll, while the Carroll College women also moved up in the new poll, as the Fighting Saints rose to No. 6. Carroll is now the only Frontier women's team ranked in the Top 25, with Providence and Western receiving votes.

On the men's side, the Argos are the only team in the Top 25, while the Fighting Saints are also receiving votes in the poll.

Tech picked to win

Speaking of polls, the Frontier released a belated Frontier Conference Preseason Volleyball Poll Wednesday, where Montana Tech was picked to win the title.

The league is starting its 2020 season, which was moved to the spring semester of 2021, this weekend.

The Orediggers just edged out defending Frontier champion Providence. The Argos are picked second, followed by Carroll College, Rocky Mountain College, Montana Western and MSU-Northern.

The volleyball season started this weekend and will run through early April.

NAIA Women's Coaches Poll

1 1 Campbellsville (Ky.) [14] 9-0 584

2 3 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 6-0 557

3 2 Westmont (Calif.) [3] 1-1 554

4 4 Thomas More (Ky.) [1] 17-1 539

5 6 Marian (Ind.) 17-4 492

6 7 Carroll (Mont.) 15-2 471

7 5 Oklahoma City 1-0 469

8 8 Clarke (Iowa) 13-1 460

9 11 Morningside (Iowa) 17-2 435

10 10 Vanguard (Calif.) 1-0 399

11 12 Indiana Tech 14-1 398

12 9 Shawnee State (Ohio) 14-3 390

13 13 St. Francis (Ill.) 14-2 367

14 15 Sterling (Kan.) 18-0 352

15 16 Southeastern (Fla.) 14-2 347

16 17 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 12-3 314

17 18 MidAmerica Nazarene 11-3 259

18 22 Lyon (Ark.) 7-0 231

19 23 Indiana Wesleyan 14-4 227

20 20 Saint Xavier (Ill.) 7-1 214

21 24 Dakota State (S.D.) 14-3 211

22 19 College of the Ozarks 0-0 202

23 NR Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 6-3 141

24 25 Loyola (La.) 7-1 123

25 NR Concordia (Neb.) 13-7 119

Receiving Votes: Rust (Miss.) 115, Cumberlands (Ky.) 87, Providence (Mont.) 67, LSU Shreveport (La.) 48, Benedictine (Kan.) 40, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 34, Montana Western 34, Talladega (Ala.) 32, Taylor (Ind.) 20, Bryan (Tenn.) 17, Columbia (Mo.) 16, Northwestern (Iowa) 13, Grand View (Iowa) 11, Pikeville (Ky.) 5, Concordia (Mich.) 3, The Master's (Calif.) 3.

NAIA men's Coaches Poll

1 1 Indiana Wesleyan [14] 21-1 585

2 2 LSU Shreveport (La.) [7] 11-0 577

3 3 William Penn (Iowa) 15-1 554

4 4 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 12-1 524

5 6 Arizona Christian 16-2 502

6 7 Shawnee State (Ohio) 16-2 498

7 10 Faulkner (Ala.) 15-1 486

8 12 Science & Arts (Okla.) 9-1 448

9 15 Morningside (Iowa) 17-2 416

10 13 Providence (Mont.) 6-0 411

11 19 Bethel (Ind.) 18-3 389

12 5 Loyola (La.) 9-2 380

13 9 The Master's (Calif.) 9-1 376

14 18 Talladega (Ala.) 15-2 276

15 RV SAGU (Texas) 4-1 263

16 11 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 14-4 256

17 17 Georgetown (Ky.) 10-3 254

18 8 Marian (Ind.) 9-4 244

19 21 Texas A&M Texarkana 7-0 243

20 NR Thomas More (Ky.) 10-4 232

21 20 LSU Alexandria (La.) 10-2 207

22 25 Bethel (Kan.) 12-4 173

23 RV Stillman (Ala.) 7-1 164

24 RV Dillard (La.) 3-0 141

25 RV Point (Ga.) 16-3 99

Others Receiving Votes: Xavier (La.) 94, Oklahoma Wesleyan 69, Holy Cross (Ind.) 66, Cumberlands (Ky.) 65, Texas Wesleyan 58, Jamestown (N.D.) 53, Warner (Fla.) 53, Benedictine (Kan.) 49, Columbia (Mo.) 43, Grace (Ind.) 20, Saint Francis (Ind.) 15, Park (Mo.) 14, Indiana Tech 9, Carroll (Mont.) 8, CIU (S.C.) 5, William Carey (Miss.) 5, Valley City State (N.D.) 4, College of Idaho 3.