Saints spike Skylights in their home finale

Following their final home match of the season, Montana State University-Northern Skylight's volleyball coach Jerry Wagner said, the past 48 hours had been emotionally draining.

First, the Skylights played their hearts out in a four-set Halloween not loss at nationally-ranked Providence. Then, Northern came home to honor dedicated seniors Katia Michelotti and Hailey Warren before taking on a Carroll College Fighting Saints' squad Friday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

And while Northern put up a great fight in the first set, it was all a bit too much for the young Skylights, as they fell to the Fighting Saints by scores of 25-20, 25-14 and 25-15.

"A lot of emotion went into this last couple of days," Wagner said. "A lot of emotion went into that match in Great Falls. It was very draining. We're not making excuses, but that match took its toll on us, and then, again, a lot of emotion went into today and tonight. So it was tough, and our girls played as hard as they could tonight. They emptied the tank so to speak, and that's what I told them they were going to have to do."

Whatever the Skylights did have in the tank, they likely burned most of it up in a heated first set. With Carroll up 16-9 midway through the game, via a 6-0 run, the Skylights caught fire. A couple of Elissa Lind kills, a few unforced errors by the Saints, and a big smash by Rylee Burmester helped MSU-N chip away at Carroll's big lead, and when Lind served up an ace, the Skylights had come back to within 23-20. Carroll did manage to end the set, but, the Skylights played at a high level.

Unfortunately, they couldn't keep it up, and in the end, they had no answers for Carroll star hitter Lexi Mikkelson, who had four straight kills to begin the second set, and who finished with a match-high 16 kills on the night. Mikkelson and Carroll absolutely controlled the next two sets as well, as Carroll hit a scorching .324 in the second frame and an even better .333 in the third.

"Sometimes you just have to tip your cap," Wagner said. "They (Saints) came in here playing really well, and they played really well tonight. Anytime we got going too, they had a response for it."

Carroll did indeed have a response. The Saints had 45 kills to just 25 for Northern, while they had 57 digs and out blocked the Skylights a whopping 9-3.

On the other side of the net, Northern did hit .143 in the first set, but, the offense dropped off from there. Burmester and Lind would combine for 15 kills, while Lind and Shania Neubauer each had 11 digs. Neubauer, Tammy Maddock and Lind also each had a solo block, while Katie Murdock finished with 17 digs.

And while the loss was a tough one for the Skylights, especially on an emotional senior night, Wagner said, he can't be disappointed, as his team continues to fight and continue to improve.

"They're giving us everything they've got," Wagner said. "And we've checked off a lot of goals this season. We've gotten better and better. We just have to get more consistent now."

The Skylights (0-10, 6-16) have two chances left to win a Frontier Conference match. Northern closes out the regular season at Rocky Mountain College Thursday night, and at Montana Western Saturday night in Dillon.

Carroll def. MSU-Northern

25-20, 25-14, 25-15

CC - Kills 45 (Lexi Mikkelsen 16), Assists 43 (Ali Williams 32), Aces 4 (Laurel Kassa 3), Digs 57 (Ayla Carpenter 14), Blocks 9 (Sophia Spoja 2).

MSU-N - Kills 25 (Rylee Burmester 8), Assists 22 (Hailey Warren 21), Aces 1 (Elissa Lind 1), Digs 50 (Katie Murdock 17), Blocks 3 (Lind 1, Shania Neubauer 1, Tammy Maddock 1).