Northern spikers fall in close matches at Western

Soon, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights will get to play a lot of matches at home. But this past weekend, Northern had to endure the tough road life of Frontier Conference volleyball.

Friday night in Dillon, the Skylights lost a tough match to the Montana Western Bulldogs, by scores of 27-25, 17-25, 17-25 and 19-25, as Western rallied after the Skylights won a thrilling first set.

Northern hit the ball as well as it has all season going .154 with 50 kills for the match. Elissa Lind and Rylee Burmester each had 14 of those kills while Alana Graves tacked on 12. MSU-N also had a great defensive outing with 86 digs, including 19 from Burmester, 23 by Shania Neubauer and 17 from Katie Murdock, while the Skylight tallied six aces, as well. But those numbers were bested by the Dawgs, who hit .241, with 94 digs and five blocks.

The Skylights got closer Saturday, but in the end, they fell to the Dawgs for the second time this season in a five-setter. Western won the first set 25-22, but Northern took a 2-1 lead after winning the next two sets 25-11 and 25-22. From there, though, the Dawgs rallied, winning the fourth set 25-22 and dominating the fifth, 15-3.

The Skylights finished with a second-high 52 kills, with Burmester tallying 17, along with 15 digs and three aces. Lind added 13 kills and 12 digs, while Emily Feller had 45 assists, and Shania Neubauer totaled 19 kills.

With the two losses to Western, the Skylights fell to 1-11 on the season. They'll now come home for four straight matches, starting with a doubleheader against Montana Tech this weekend.

Western def. MSU-Northern

25-27, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Hailie George 0-0-0; Kaitlin Murdock 0-1-0; Jessalyn Chvilicek 5-0-1; Alana Graves 12-0-2; Marlee Bender 1-0-0; Rylee Burmester 14-1-1; Emily Feller 1-0-0; Shania Neubauer 0-3-0; Elissa Lind 14-1-0; Tammy Maddock 3-0-0. Totals 50-6-2.0.

MW - (kills-aces-blocks) Morgan Kirch 1-3-0; Abby Morgan 10-2-2; Tannah Sellers 0-2-0; Katie Casagrande 0-2-0; Cady Siemion 13-0-2; Emmah Peterson 8-0-3; Abbey Schwager 2-0-0; Rylee Nickodemus 0-0-0; Morgan Stenger 10-0-1; Kaitlyn White 6-0-2. Totals 50-9-5.0.

Western def. MSU-Northern

25-21, 11-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-3

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Hailie George 0-1-0; Kaitlin Murdock 0-0-0; Jessalyn Chvilicek 6-0-2; Alana Graves 8-0-3; Rylee Burmester 17-0-1; Emily Feller 1-3-1; Shania Neubauer 0-1-0; Elissa Lind 13-0-0; Tammy Maddock 7-0-1. Totals 52-5-5.0.

MW - (kills-aces-blocks) Morgan Kirch 0-1-0; Abby Morgan 16-0-9; Tannah Sellers 0-0-0; Katie Casagrande 0-0-0; Cady Siemion 15-0-1; Emmah Peterson 9-0-2; Peyton Vogl 0-0-0; Abbey Schwager 1-1-2; Rylee Nickodemus 0-0-0; Morgan Stenger 9-0-4; Kaitlyn White 5-0-2. Totals 55-2-11.0.