Skylights on early-season road trip

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights are off and running in the 2023 college volleyball season. And now Northern will take its first long road trip of the new year.

After going 1-2 at the Big Sky Challenge last week in Butte to open the season, head coach Jerry Wagner's Skylights head to Arizona for four more matches this weekend.

MSU-N will open the ACU Tournament with matches against Park-Gilbert University and Ottawa University Friday before taking on NAIA powerhouses Arizona Christian and Lewis-Clark State Saturday. LC State is a former member of the Frontier Conference and a longtime foe of the Skylights.

The four matches in Arizona will be a good test for Northern to close out the first month of the season. The Skylights then begin September with Frontier-North Star Challenge Sept. 8-9 in Valley City, North Dakota, before finishing non-conference play with the Frontier Conference Preseason Tournament Sept. 15-16 in Dillon.

Northern then opens league play at home against Montana Western Sept. 22 in the Armory Gymnasium.

This weekend's road trip to Arizona starts with Park-Gilbert at 3 p.m. Friday, and Ottawa at 8 p.m. Friday. MSU-N plays LC State at 9 a.m. Saturday and ACU at 2 p.m. Saturday. Northern also has a non-conference scrimmage against Medicine Hat on Sept. 1 at the Armory Gymnasium.