Skylights spike Saints on senior day

The regular season came to an end this past weekend for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team with a pair of matches at Armory Gymnasium. The weekend did not start well as the Skylights lost to Montana Tech, 3-1, by scores of 25-21, 17-25, 15-25 and 14-25 Friday night.

However, the Skylights bounced back on their senior day Saturday afternoon as they defeated Carroll College, 3-1, by scores of 25-23, 25-15, 22-25 and 25-23. After the loss Friday night and with the postseason up next, MSU-N head coach Jerry Wagner was happy with how his team played to end the regular season.

"Super excited about how we played today from start to finish," Wagner said of the win over Carroll. "After a tough, bitter loss last night, I thought the team managed to regroup and have some good thoughts going through their head and carry those forward today and that's a really big win."

On senior day, the Skylights celebrated the careers of Elissa Lind, Rylee Burmester, Shania Neubauer, Tammy Maddock, Shay Waldbillig, Jada Sudbrack and Abigail Ellison. With this match being their final at Armory Gymnasium, the win was especially satisfying.

"It's amazing," Neubauer said. "I've been here for five years and it's been pretty rough throughout the five years so just to finish strong with this group of girls was really special."

Before their senior day, the Skylights hosted Tech Friday night which they started strong. After a 10-10 tie to start the first set, the Skylights went on an 8-2 run to take an 18-12 lead. The Orediggers tried to get back into the set but MSU-N held on to win, 25-21, to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Wagner believes the Skylights took the set because they got in an offensive rhythm.

"We served them well and we were passing what we needed to to run our offense and our hitters were doing a great job," Wagner said.

The Skylights maintained momentum early into the second set. After an early 3-3 tie, the Skylights went on a run to take a 15-9 lead over the Orediggers. However, the Orediggers responded by taking momentum that would carry them through the rest of the match. Tech scored 11 straight points and ended the set on a 16-2 run to win the set, 25-17, to tie the match.

Tech's momentum carried over into the third set. After falling behind 11-9, the Orediggers went on a 16-4 run to end the set and win, 25-15, for a 2-1 lead in the match. Wagner believes that his team was unable to respond after giving up that huge run to the Orediggers in the second set.

"They had that one run in the second set and we never got back on track," Wagner said. "I didn't see it coming. That's not our normal response."

The Orediggers started the fourth set strong as they took a 3-0 lead. The Skylights were unable to battle back as Tech went on to win the set, 25-14, to win the match, 3-1. Burmester led the Skylights with 11 kills and Lind recorded 10 kills of her own.

After Friday's loss, the Skylights returned to Armory Gymnasium Saturday afternoon to face Carroll. Like Friday night, the Skylights played well to start the match. After the Saints took an early 3-2 lead, the Skylights roared back to take a 15-8 lead. The Saints kept battling and cut their deficit to 24-23. But MSU-N was able to hold on to win the set, 25-23, to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Skylights carried their strong play into the second set. After they took a 3-2 lead, the Skylights never looked back as they went on to win the set, 25-15. However, they could not carry that over into a more competitive third set. After an early 10-10 tie, the Saints took momentum this time as they built a 22-16 lead. The Skylights battled back but lost the match, 22-25, and their lead in the match was cut to 2-1.

The Skylights and Saints went back and forth to start the fourth set but the Skylights eventually took momentum. With the set tied, 8-8, the Skylights went on a 9-1 run for a 17-9 lead. The Skylights put themselves in position to win the set and the match as they held a 24-17 lead. But the Saints came roaring back as they scored six straight points to cut their deficit to 24-23. Thanks to a kill from Alyssa Pretty Weasel, the Skylights finally scored again to win the set, 25-23, to win the match, 3-1.

"We never seem to be able to finish a game right away," Neubauer said. "But when we came into our huddles, we talked about, we took a deep breath and said that's a run of however many and then we pushed to the next point."

Several seniors had strong performances in their final match at Armory Gymnasium. Burmester led the team with 24 kills and recorded 21 digs. Lind recorded 10 kills and 29 digs and Neubauer led the team with 36 digs.

With the regular season now over, the Skylights head into the postseason with a 15-12 overall record. They finished 4-6 in the Frontier Conference to finish fourth in the standings. As they head into the Frontier Conference Tournament in Helena next weekend, Wagner hopes to carry the momentum from the win over Carroll into the postseason.

"(We) absolutely can build off it," Wagner said. "I like where we're at. I like the fact that we were able to beat a good team today and celebrate a great class of seniors."

The Skylights will begin competing in the Frontier Conference Tournament this Friday in Helena.

Montana Tech def. MSU-Northern

25-21, 17-25, 15-25, 14-25

Tech - (kills-aces-blocks) - Hannah Ogerino 0-0-0; Maureen Jessop 16-1-0; Olivia Muir 9-0-0; Emma Carvo 0-3-0; Taylor Henley 7-0-7; McKenna Kaelber 3-1-2; Sarah Hopcroft 0-2-0; Emma McMillan 1-1-0; Karina Mickelson 7-0-3; Sydney Parks 9-0-5; Hudsyn Dibrito 0-0-0; Logan Reed 0-1-0. Totals 52-9-17.

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) - Alyssa Pretty Weasel 7-0-0; Shania Neubauer 0-1-0; Elissa Lind 10-1-0; Kaitlin Murdock 0-0-0; Alana Graves 4-0-2; Marlee Bender 5-0-1; Rylee Burmester 11-0-1; Emily Feller 2-0-1; Abigail Ellison 0-0-0; Hailie George 0-0-0; Olivia Isakson 0-0-0; Shay Waldbillig 0-0-0; Jada Sudbrack 0-0-0; Jessalyn Chviliceck 0-0-0. Totals 39-2-5.

MSU-Northern def. Carroll College

25-23, 25-15, 22-25, 25-23

CC - (kills-aces-blocks) - Kylie Kackman 0-1-0; Lexie Gleasman 14-0-0; Mara Lynch 0-1-0; Elizabeth Heuiser 11-0-2; Lexi Mikkelsen 2-0-2; Taelyr Krantz 14-1-2; Katherine McEuen 8-0-2; Julia Carr 0-0-0; Madde Boles 4-0-2; Hannah Schweikert 2-2-0; Maddie Wilkes 0-0-0; Bella Hawk 0-0-0; Ella Heckman 1-0-0; Jadyn Mueller 0-0-0. Totals 56-5-11.

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) - Abigail Ellison 0-0-0; Alyssa Pretty Weasel 14-0-0; Shania Neubauer 0-0-0; Elissa Lind 10-0-0; Kaitlin Murdock 0-0-0; Alana Graves 13-0-1; Marlee Bender 1-0-3; Rylee Burmester 24-0-1, Emily Feller 6-0-3, Jada Sudbrack 0-0-0. Totals 68-0-8.