Northern spikers drop two at Rocky Mountain

The road has not been kind to the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team, as the Skylights have reached the halfway point in the 2021 spring season. And this past weekend, Northern was sept by first-place Rocky Mountain College.

Friday night in Billings, the Skylights fell by scores of 25-13, 25-20 and 25-17 as Rocky tallied 45 kills on 41 assists in an efficient night. The Skylights did hit well in the second game, and overall, they did have 36 kills, including 10 by Alana Graves and nine from Rylee Burmester. Shania Neubauer led the way on defense with 13 digs.

Saturday afternoon’s rematch didn’t go much better for the Skylights, who fell to the Battlin’ Bears by scores of 25-15, 25-9 and 25-17. Rocky dominated on both sides of the net with 41 kills on offense, 69 digs and 10 blocks on defense. Northern meanwhile, got seven kills by Elissa Lind, while Neubauer had 18 digs and Emily Feller had 18 assists and 10 digs.

The two road losses dropped the Skylights to 1-9 in the spring Frontier season. The Skylights finish a four-game road trip with a pair of matches at Montana Western this weekend in Dillon.

Rocky Mountain def. MSU-Northern

25-13, 25-20, 25-17

MSU-N - Kills 22 (Alana Graves 10), Assists 28 (Emily Feller 27), Aces 4 (4 with one each), Digs 36 (Shania Neubauer 13), Blocks 4.

RMC - Kills 45 (Weiyig Wu 11), Assists 41 (Natalie Hilderman 39), Aces 1 (Hilderman 1), Digs 47 (Ayla Embry 10), Blocks 8.

Rocky Mountain def. MSU-Northern

25-15, 25-9, 25-17

MSU-N - Kills 25 (Elissa Lind 7), Assists 20 (Emily Feller 18), Aces 1, Digs 54 (Shania Neubauer 18), Blocks 8 (Tammy Maddock 2).

RMC - Kills 41 (Weiyig Wu 12), Assists 34 (Natalie Hilderman 33), Aces 5 (Ayla Embry 3), Digs 69 (Embry 23), Blocks 10 (Morgan Allen 4).