Northern volleyball falls in Frontier semifinals

Playing on their home floor in the 2024 Frontier Conference Volleyball Tournament, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights made a strong run.

Last Friday, the Skylights beat rival Carroll College in the opening round of the tournament at the Armory Gymnasium.

Skylights won in four sets (27-25, 19-25, 25-21, and 25-17). The first set was anyone's game, as the Skylights were able to finish strong going on a 5-2 run to take the set. Carroll pushed the lead in the second set and never gave it up to take the set. Carroll took the lead in the third set 11-7. Northern went on a 9-1 run to take the lead and then some (21-16). They were able to finish it out going up 2-0. Fourth set went back and forth, until the Skylights went on a 9-1 run to finish the fourth set and take the match.

The Skylights were led by Alana Graves with 19 kills and a hitting percentage of .485. Alyssa Pretty Weasel had 13 kills. Baily Egan led the team in digs with 25. Macee Murphy led the Skylights with 31 assists.

The win propelled Northern into the semifinals where the Skylights had to face top-seeded Providence Friday night. Northern lost to the Argos in three 25-17, 27-25, and 25-19. Providence went ahead 14-7. The Skylights went on a 6-1 run to cut the lead, but it wasn't enough to take the set. In the second set, Providence took the lead early. Northern battled back to take the lead. Providence went on a 7-4 to end the game. The third set was a battle and was close to the end, but Providence to the third set to take the match.

The Skylights were led by Alana Graves with 13 kills and a hitting percentage of .360. Macee Murphy had 12 kills. Baily Egan led the team in digs with 11. Macee Murphy led the Skylights with 17 assists. The Argos were led by Cabry Taylor with 13 kills hitting a percent of .500. Ava Saiers led the team in digs with 12, as Bella Thompson led in assists with 38.

The 1-1 showing in the postseason had Northern finish the year with a 13-16 overall record.

Northern also saw three players honored for Frontier Conference awards at the tournament.

Senior, Alana Graves was honored with First Team All-Conference. This is her fourth time receiving the award. In 2020, she made the All-Freshman team as well. Graves had highs of 20 kills against Rocky Mountain College and nine blocks against Arizona Christian. She now holds Northern's all time kill record with 1,157 and Northern's all time block record with 326.

Junior Macee Murphy was honored with Second Team All-Conference. In 2022, Murphy was honored with selected on the All-Freshman Team. This year Macee accounted for 15 double-doubles with assists and digs and one double-double with assists and kills. She added nine triple-doubles with kills, assists, and digs.

Freshman, Emily Bird made the All-Freshman team this year. She had 21 Aces this year, which gave the Skylights 5 of 6 servers with 20 or more aces.