Skylights fall to the Battlin' Bears in conference opener

The start of Frontier Conference play was a rocky one for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team — literally.

On Friday night in Billings, Northern opened league play with a 3-1 loss at Rocky Mountain College. The Battlin’ Bears won by scores of 25-16, 26-28, 25-14 and 25-16.

Aside from an exciting second set, the Bears dominated the Skylights, who fell to 8-6 on the season.

Rocky had 59 kills to Northern’s 45, while the Bears had six blocks and a match-high 108 digs on defense. Northern did serve up three aces and had seven blocks, but the Skylights hit just .099 for the match.

Jessica Chvilicek led the way for Northern with 21 kills, 18 digs and two aces. Alana Graves had five blocks, while Emily Feller had 36 assists and Baily Egan tallied 18 digs and Macee Murphy totaled 16.

The loss dropped Northern to 0-1 in league play ahead of this Wednesday’s home match against Providence. The Skylights also travel to Montana Western this Saturday.

RMC def. MSU-Northern

25-16, 26-28, 25-15, 25-16

MSU-N - Kills 45 (Jessa Chvilicek 18), Aces 3 (Chvilcek 2), Assists 43 (Emily Feller 36), Digs 89 (Chvilicek 18), Blocks 7 (Alana Graves 5).

RMC - Kills 59 (Mackenzie Bushman 18), Assists 59 (Blythe Stealy 50), Aces 3 (3 with 1), Digs 108 (Ayla Embry 26), Blocks 6 (Kyra Oakland 3).