By Tiffany L. Rehbein
The MSU-Northern Skylights match against Rocky Mountain College Friday is as vital as a heartbeat.
For the first time in seven years, the Skylights (4-6, 6-15) have a shot at the playoffs.
But, it is a must-win situation for the Skylights in order to make the playoffs. To help matters, a Montana Tech (0-9, 6-16) win over Rocky next weekend would also be beneficial to the Skylights.
We are doing great, first-year head coach Lisa Handley said. We need to shake off the loss (Wednesday night) and be ready to play.
Carroll College, the second-ranked Frontier Conference team, downed the Skylights, 15-1, 12-15, 14-16, 15-1, 15-5, at Helena Wednesday.
Senior Melanie Baack had a team-high 13 kills in the match.
Baack and Jennifer Sanders will be honored Friday, along with the rest of the Skylights, at senior night and parents night. It is the final home game for Skylights volleyball this season.
Sanders, who leads the Frontier Conference with a 98.6 serving percentage, served 100 percent against Carroll College.
Jessica Gerenz, Baack, and Heather Hammonds joined Sanders in the perfect-serving club.
The Skylights, as a team, lead the conference with a 94 percent serving accuracy.
The Bears downed the Skylights 15-13, 15-9, 15-2 at Billings on Oct. 2. However, the Bears will be playing without All-American Christine Schmitt, who is out of play with a stress fracture injury.
Schmitt tallied 13 kills against the Skylights when the two teams met earlier this season.
In the midst of the Skylights serving aces, Havre native Marca Compton is second in the conference with a 97.6 percent at the serve to lead Rocky.
Bears Rachel Behen led the Bears with 10 digs against the Skylights and leads the conference with 49 aces on the season.
Northern sophomore Lyndi Hostetter is third in the conference with 31 aces and Gabrielle Chambliss is sixth in the conference, with 30 aces on the season.
At the net, sophomore Adrienne Poplawski and freshman Jaley Wacker tallied nine kill each Wednesday. Wacker also notched three blocks.
The match is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at the MSU-Northern gymnasium.
