Skylights fall in home opener

As the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team headed into its Frontier Conference opener on Friday night, it was hoping for a strong start to conference play. Unfortunately for the Skylights, they lost, 3-0, to Montana Western at Armory Gymnasium.

In the first set, the Skylights started strong as they took a 9-5 lead over the Bulldogs. But they could not hold onto momentum as the Bulldogs surged past them to win the set, 25-21, for a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Bulldogs carried that momentum into the beginning of the second set where they raced out to a 12-4 lead. The Skylights began to play better as they found themselves only trailing, 20-14, at one point. But the Bulldogs went on a 5-0 run to win, 25-14, for a 2-0 lead on the night.

The third set saw the Skylights and Bulldogs go back and forth. And at one point, the Skylights took a 20-17 lead over the Bulldogs. However, the Bulldogs took momentum with an 8-2 run to win the set, 25-22, and win the match.

The Bulldogs remain hot this year as they started conference play 1-0 and they improved to 14-1. Meanwhile, the Skylights drop to 0-1 in the Frontier Conference and fall to 8-8 overall. In the loss, Alana Graves led the Skylights with ten kills. Emily Feller recorded 17 assists and Josei Hasler led the team with 13 digs. As a team, the Skylights finished the night with an attack percentage of .075.

The MSU-N volleyball team will next play the University of Providence in a conference match at Armory Gymnasium this Wednesday at 7 p.m.