Northern spikers take a road trip to Arizona for four matches

Last weekend was a tune-up that included a season-opening road win and some exhibition volleyball. Now however, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights begin the full-time grind.

Northern (1-0) opens its full preseason schedule at this weekend's OUAZ Volleyball Tournament in Surprise, Arizona, where head coach Jerry Wagner's club will play four matches in two days. The tournament in Arizona is Northern's last out-of-state trip for the season, as the Skylights prepare the Frontier/North Star Challenge at the Armory Gymnasium in two weeks.

First thing's first though. The four matches in Arizona will be a great test for the Skylights, who opened the season with a win over Valley City State last Thursday.

"I think we played very well in the match and had everyone step up and play at another level," Wagner said.

Now Northern will look to take it further. The Skylights face host Embry-Riddle to start the tourney Friday at 4 p.m. The Eagles are a Top 30 team that went to the NAIA national tournament a year ago. MSU-N then plays Ottawa University-Arizona Friday at 9 p.m.

Saturday will feature two more tough matches for the Skylights. At 12:30 p.m., Northern will take on Cascade Conference power College of Idaho. The Yotes are always a strong team in the Cascade and will be a great test to see where Northern is at. MSU-N then concludes the Arizona trip with a match against Park University-Gilbert Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Following the road trip to Arizona, Northern makes its official home debut with the Frontier/North Star Challenge Sept. 9-10, where the Skylights play four matches and host teams from the Frontier and the North Star Athletic Conference. MSU-N wraps up non-conference play with the Frontier Preseason Tournament Sept. 16-17 in Billings.