MSU-N volleyball set to compete this fall

After just finishing their most recent season back in April, the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team is already starting the next chapter of their program as they head into the Ouaz Volleyball Tournament in Prescott and Surprise, Arizona this weekend.

While the Skylights finished 3-19 in the spring, they finished strong last season as they defeated Carroll College in the Frontier Conference postseason tournament. As they return all their players from last season, MSU-N head coach Jerry Wagner hopes that their late-season momentum can carry over to this season.

"I want to have the team progress into the upper half of this conference and do everything we can to stay there and then at the end have a shot at getting to the match that we were in last year and maybe having a different result," Wagner said.

Thankfully for the Skylights, all their seniors will be returning to the team this fall. Rylee Burmester hopes to continue leading the Skylights on offense, as she was fifth in the Frontier Conference with 241 total kills last season. Another returning senior hoping to make an impact is Shania Neubauer, who was sixth in the conference with 373 total digs last season. Another senior that Wagner believes can make an impact for the Skylights this season is Elissa Lind. Unfortunately, the team's leading blocker from last season, Tammy Maddock, will not be able to be on the court for her senior year as she suffered an injury at the end of last season.

Emily Feller also returns for the Skylights after a season where she was third in the conference with 698 total assists and led the team with 19 service aces. Alana Graves returns after being third on the team with 165 kills this past spring. Wagner also looks forward to the return of Abigail Ellison, who had to sit out the siginifanct part of last season because of an injury.

With the new season starting just four months after last season's end, Wagner made sure to tell his girls to rest during the summer to keep their bodies fresh and ready. During a normal offseason, he would have told them to get on the court more during the summer.

Wagner hopes that the team's freshmen can help his returners rest during the season as well. He believes that Emily Adkins from Bridger can run the team at a high level as their setter. He also believes that Alyssa Pretty Weasel from St. Xavier can help the team's outside hitters become better.

The addition of these newcomers has added more depth to the roster than Wagner is used to. It is already coming in handy, as one of the team's starters got dinged up during fall camp the past few weeks. Outside of that injury, Wagner has liked what he has seen from his newcomers as well as his veterans.

"It's gone fantastic. I tell them every day, 'You guys are exceeding some high expectations I had for this group when it came together,'" Wagner said.

The Skylights will begin their season with a tournament in Prescott, Arizona, this weekend. They will open the tournament against Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Friday before playing Wayland Baptist University, Ottawa University-Arizona and Benedictine University at Mesa through the weekend.

Over the next month, MSU-N will play the rest of their non-conference schedule. After their tournament this weekend, they will head to Gilbert, Arizona for a doubleheader against Park University-Gilbert. On Aug. 27, the Skylights will head to Glendale, Arizona, for the Arizona Christian University Tournament. They will then head to Dickinson, North Dakota, for the North Star Conference Challenge beginning on Sept. 10. With a month of play before the conference schedule, Wagner hopes to use that time to get his veterans some time together on the court as well get his freshmen some quick experience.

"I could put a veteran lineup out there that all have two plus years of experience and I should be able to expect the level of play that was not too bad," Wagner said on what he expects from his veterans. "By the time we come back, I'm going to be able to try those under fire and we're going to be able to evaluate just where we are depth wise which we've always lacked but we have plenty of that now."

Once their non-conference schedule is done, the Skylights will return to Havre, where they will host the preseason Frontier Conference Tournament on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18. They will then begin their conference schedule on Sept. 25 when they host Rocky Mountain College at home.

In the preseason coaches poll, MSU-N was picked to finish fifth out of six teams in the conference. The University of Providence was picked to finish first after winning the conference this past spring. The Skylights will play them twice this season, on Sept. 29 and Oct. 27. MSU-N will hope for better results this time as they went 0-5 against the Argonauts last season, including a 3-0 loss in the Frontier Conference postseason tournament in the spring.

Montana Tech was picked to finish second in the conference and was the only team to earn a first-place vote other than Providence. MSU-N will play them in Butte on Oct. 9 and at home on Nov. 5 after going 0-4 against the Orediggers last season.

On Sept. 29 and Oct. 23, MSU-N will play against Rocky Mountain, who was picked to finish third in the conference. The Skylights again hope for a better showing against them after going 0-4 in the season series during the spring.

The Skylights will play against Carroll College on Oct. 8 and Nov. 6 this fall. MSU-N should look forward to this matchup as two of their wins last season came against the Saints, including a 3-2 win in the Frontier Conference postseason tournament.

University of Montana Western, who was picked to finish last in the conference, will be the Skylights' opponent on Oct. 2 and Oct. 30. Even though MSU-N picked up a win against the Bulldogs during the spring, they still lost the series 1-3.

If the Skylights are going to carry over their momentum from the end of last season and become a competitor in the Frontier Conference, Wagner believes his team will just need to unite as a team and find that competitive spirit that stays with them throughout the fall.

"Just keep coming together like we are. It's my only goal when I even do this. We got to become a team," Wagner said. "Roles will be defined. What people make of those roles is going to be critical as we stay together and a successful season is going to be coming back and being one of the better defensive teams in this conference."

The MSU-N volleyball team begins their season on Friday at the Ouaz Volleyball Tournament in Prescott, Arizona. They will start the tournament with a match against Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University starting at 1 p.m.