Northern spikers face more road challenges in Dillon

When you play a lot of road matches in the first half of a season, then it's going to be the other way around in the second half. And that's what the Montana State University-Northern Skylights are about to see.

Northern starts the second half of the Frontier Conference spring volleyball season with a pair of matches at Montana Western this weekend. But from there, the Skylights will play six of their final eight matches in the Armory Gymnasium.

This weekend's matches in Dillon mark the end of another long road stretch for the Skylights, who started the season with a home win over Western, but have lost nine matches since. Still, Northern head coach Jerry Wagner continues to see plenty of improvements in his sqaud.

"We're making progress," Wagner said after Northern's last home matches against Providence two weeks ago. "I see the things we're doing better, and that's what we're striving for, to just keep building this up."

Northern (1-9) will get another chance to do that as the Skylights face Western. The Bulldogs are also 1-9 with their only win coming back on Jan. 30 when they beat the Skylights in a five-setter.

Since then, both teams have had their share of ups and downs, but the Skylights are hitting better than Western coming in, with Rylee Burmester and Elissa Lind leading the way. Northern also does need to hit better, but defensively, the Skylights have been coming on strong. Northern has 654 digs this season with Burmester and Shania Neubauer each tallying 100 so far. Marlee Bender and Tammy Maddock are also leading the Skylights with 11 blocks apiece as Northern continues to battle the strong hitting teams of the league.

And that battle continues this weekend as the Skylights meet Western tonight at 7 and again Saturday at 1 p.m. in Dillon. MSU-N then returns home for a pair of home stands against Montana Tech March 12-13 and Carroll College March 19-20.

Frontier Conference Volleyball Standings

Conf.

W-L

Rocky Mountain 9-1

Providence 8-2

Carroll College 7-3

Montana Tech 4-6

MSU-Northern 1-9

Montana Western 1-9

Friday-Saturday

MSU-Northern at Western

Rocky Mountain at Montana Tech

Carroll College at Providence