NEW BEGINNINGS

Not only had the Montana State University-Northern Skylights had to endure an entire year without competitive volleyball, they also were sitting on a streak that no one likes to talk about.

That's right, Northern, like the rest of the Frontier Conference, missed out on the entire 2020 season due to the pandemic, but, unlike the rest of the Frontier, the Skylights had also gone more than three years without a win, of any kind. But all of those waits, for a new season, for a home match, and for the streak to be over, came to an end Friday night inside the Armory Gymnasium, as the Skylights beat the Montana Western Bulldogs in four sets.

In the first match of a special spring Frontier season, and with no fans in attendance, the Skylights beat the Bulldogs by scores of 19-25, 25-15, 25-15 and 25-21. The victory was Northern's first in its last 31 matches, dating back to October of 2017 when the Skylights won at Western. Northern's last home win was also against the Dawgs, all the way back on Sept. 16, 2017, a full two years before head coach Jerry Wagner came home to his alma mater.

So, no doubt, Friday night was a long time coming.

"Very excited," an emotional Wagner said. "The enthusiasm and energy was there from beginning to end tonight, and they stuck with it, and eventually, good things started to happen. That's how this whole process has been. They just knew if they stuck together and stuck with it that things would start to happen, and they certainly did that tonight."

Good things really started to happen for the Skylights, who were down several starters, and also playing a handful of true freshmen, in the second set. Northern had fallen behind in the match after Western won 25-19 to start things off.

From there, however, things changed quickly. Rylee Burmester was on the attack offensively, and when former Havre Blue Pony Jessa Chvilicek, one of four true frosh playing in the match, got a kill to put the Skylights up 7-3, they were off and running. Northern later went on a 6-0 run, and freshman Alana Graves finished the set off with a kill to tie the match at 1-1.

The Skylights' 25-15 win was followed by the same dominant performance in the third, as Burmester and Jada Sudbrack sparked a pair of 7-0 scoring runs, with Burmester finishing the game off with a cross-court winner.

"They stayed focused and stayed positive after that first set," Wagner said. "And things just got better and better for us as the match went along. I thought we just really did a good job of sticking with it and then taking advantage of the momentum once we (got) control of it."

The Skylights were certainly ready to take advantage and finish the night off in the fourth, but Western didn't go quietly. After a 7-0 run, capped by another Chvilicek kill, the Skylights led 14-7 and later led 17-11. From there, Western tightened the match and got as close as 20-18 and 23-21, before Northern got back-to-back points from freshman Emily Feller to seal the exciting win, a win that came by way of just eight players suited up for the match.

The win also came on the heels of an outstanding offensive performance, as the Skylights hit .294 in the second set, got 38 kills and six blocks as a team. Burmester finished with 12 kills, 10 digs and two blocks, while Graves had seven kills and Sudbrack added six. Northern also served extremely well, with eight aces, including two from Hailie George, two by Katie Murdock and two more from Feller, who also had 12 assists in her first-ever college start at setter. Defensively, MSU-N tallied 87 digs, with Murdock getting 18, Graves racking up 17 and Marlee Bender adding 11 on what was an emotional and fun night for the Skylights.

And one emotional win almost turned into two, as the Skylights met the Bulldogs again Saturday afternoon. This time, however, Western was able to pull off a five-set, come-from-behind win in the Armory.

The Skylights won the first set 25-16, but the Dawgs evened things up with a 25-19 win in the second. Northern bounced right back with a 25-17 win in the third to go up 2-1, but Western dominated the fourth set, 25-11, setting up a decisive fifth, which the Dawgs prevailed in, 15-10.

Despite the loss, Northern still out hit Western 53-50, with Burmester racking up 19 kills with 14 digs. Graves tallied 15 kills and 26 digs, while Chvilicek had seven kills. Northern hit .129 for the match, while defensively, the Skylights had 92 digs, with 16 each from Murdock and Feller, who also had 38 assists.

And while Saturday's loss was a heartbreaker, it was still a successful weekend for the Skylights (1-1), who will take to the road for matches at Montana Tech this Friday and Saturday.

Skylights def. Western

19-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-21

UMW - (kills-aces-blocks) McKenna Fink 0-1-0; Kaitlyn White 3-0-1; Morgan Stenger 9-0-2; Cady Siemon 5-0-0; Emmah Peterson 5-0-3; KayLee Kopp 5-1-2; Tannah Sellers 0-4-0; Abby Morgan 3-0-3; Morgan Kirch 0-1-0; Ramyia Wendt 0-0-0; Abbey Schwager 0-0-0; Peyton Vogl 1-0-1; Katie Casagrande 0-0-0. Totals 31-7-7.0.

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Hailie George 0-2-0; Shay Waldbillig 0-0-0; Shania Neubauer 1-0-0; Jada Sudbrack 6-0-0; Kaitlin Murdock 2-2-0; Jessalyn Chvilicek 5-0-0; Alana Graves 7-0-1; Marlee Bender 0-1-1; Emily Feller 5-2-2; Rylee Burmester 12-1-2. Totals 38-8-6.0.

Western def. Skylights

16-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-11, 15-10

UMW - (kills-aces-blocks) McKenna Fink 0-0-0; Kaitlyn White 9-0-0; Morgan Stenger 12-0-3; Cady Siemon 11-0-0; Emmah Peterson 7-0-4; KayLee Kopp 2-0-2; Tannah Sellers 0-0-0; Abby Morgan 2-0-1; Morgan Kirch 0-1-0; Abbey Schwager 2-1-1; Peyton Vogl 5-0-0; Katie Casagrande 0-0-0. Totals 50-2-6.0.

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Hailie George 1-0-0; Jada Sudbrack 5-0-0; Kaitlin Murdock 0-0-0; Jessalyn Chvilicek 7-0-0; Alana Graves 15-0-0; Marlee Bender 4-0-0; Emily Feller 2-2-0; Rylee Burmester 19-1-0. Totals 53-3-0.0.