George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
It's finally time for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team to take the floor at the MSUNorthern Fieldhouse. After a month on the road, and some struggles along the way, the Skylights make their home debut tonight when they host Carroll College at 7. MSU-N will also host Rocky Mountain College on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Skylights have had a difficult start to their second season under head coach Greg Ryan. But despite going 2-7 overall, and dropping their first two conference matches last week at Westminster College and Lewis-Clark State, MSU-N is hoping that playing at home will spark the Skylights. And Northern has the talent to get its season jumpstarted this weekend. Tonight, the Skylights will play host to Carroll College, a team that MSU-N has had some close battles with the last two years. Carroll has posted a 7-7 overall record this season, and the Saints are 1-1 in conference play. The Saints have a bevy of talented hitters, led by sophomore Christina Smentana, who leads the team in kills with 126. Nicole Rowan and Sammy Priddy have also gone over the century mark in kills this year, and Liz Harden is both the setter and defensive stopper for the Saints. MSU-N is like Carroll in many ways. The Skylights are young, but talented, especially up front. Kaylee Bossert leads MSU-N with 73 kills and Brittany Baker has 43. The Skylights are also getting good production from Jennifer Rohl and Jody Berglund at the net, and veteran setter Brittni Sesler is one of the premeier setters in the conference. And while the Saints present plenty of challenges for MSU-N tonight, on Saturday, the Skylights welcome in a struggling, but talented RMC team. Rocky (6-9, 1-1) has been somewhat of a mystery so far this season. The Bears were picked to finish near the top of the league this year, but they have struggled offensively at times. Still, RMC has some of the best hitting talent in the league, led by Jessica Eliasson who has a team-high 188 kills. Sarah Madinger and Kelly Fox are also productive hitters and Hailey Pearce has 573 assists on the season. Tonight's match between Carroll and Northern gets under way at 7, and Saturday's match between RMC and MSU-N also begins at 7 p.m. All of the action will take place at the MSUNorthern Fieldhouse.
