Battlin' Bears spike Skylights in Frontier opener

The Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears made it a less than happy homecoming for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team.

Saturday night inside the Armory Gymnasium, the Bears swept the Skylights by scores 28-26, 25-19 and 25-18 in a hard-fought match by both teams. It was also the Frontier Conference opener for both squads as the Skylights fell to 0-1.

The first set was anyone's game. Rocky was able to put together three scores at the end to take and end the set.

In the second set the game went back and forth until Rocky went on an 8-1 run to take the lead 16-10. The Battlin' Bears didn't give up the lead the rest of the set. In the third set, the Skylights couldn't hold on to the lead. The Battlin' Bears went on a 9-3 run to take the lead and extend it. The Skylights battled but couldn't catch up.

The Skylights were led by Alana Graves, who tallied 11 kills and a hitting percentage of .474. Alyssa Pretty Weasel added eight kills. Shania Neubauer and Rylee Burmester led the team in digs with 15. Emily Feller led the team in assists with 33.

The Battlin' Bears were led by Makenna Bushman, who had 11 kills. Morgan Allen had 10 kills hitting a percentage of .214. Blythe Sealey led the team with 21 assists in the match. Ayla Embry led the team with 34 digs.

The Skylights are now 10-8 overall this season and continue Frontier Conference play Wednesday night at nationally rankled Providence in Great Falls.

Rocky Mountain def. MSU-Northern

28-26, 25-19, 25-16

RMC - Kills 49 (Makenna Bushman 11), Assists 46 (Blythe Sealey 21), Aces 4 (Ayla Embry 3), Digs 74 (Embry 34), Blocks 4 (Weiying Wu 3).

MSU-N - Kills 38 (Alana Graves 11), Assists 36 (Emily Feller 33), Aces 1 (Rylee Burmester 1), Digs 63 (Shania Neubauer 15), Blocks 7 (Graves 5).