By Heidi Boyum
In the first game of her last match as a Skylight, senior setter Gabrielle Chambliss surpassed her personal goal of one thousand assists for the season.
Chambliss, three-time Frontier Conference setter-of-the-week finished the match with 43 assists in the Skylights 3-1 loss against Rocky Mountain College.
"Our serve receive is what hurt us," Skylight coach Lisa Handley said. "We didn't pass well so we couldn't get our middles going. We've known that's the key all year, and it's been up and down too much."
The Skylights' dominated game one because of effective serve receive. The back row passed well to Chambliss who was then able to set up Stephanie Lanfear, Tanja Bruski and Jasmine Mitchell at the net.
Lanfear, Bruski and Lyndi Hostetter had one ace each in the 30-14 game one victory.
With the score at 3-2 in game two, the Skylights gave up six points in a row to the Bears. RMC was later called in the net three consecutive times bringing MSU-N within seven, but another three unanswered points for the Bears sealed their 30-20 win.
The Skylights gave up four aces in game three, but Hostetter answered with two of her own in a five-point rally that cut the Bears' lead to 25-24. The Skylights matched each RMC point with a kill from Laura Munson, tip from Bruski and dig from Hostetter. However, three kills hit long and a pair of RMC kills left the Bears with the 30-28 win.
The Skylights lost game four 30-23.
"Janelle had some key defensive digs for us," Handley said. "Jasmine had a solid game offensively with her blocking and Tanja came back from Friday's match to play well tonight."
Bruski led the Skylights in kills with 12 followed by Mitchell with 9 and Lanfear with 8.
Hostetter led the digs with 16 followed by Knox with 15 and Chambliss with 13.
"We only have one senior digging," Handley said. "The others are a sophomore and freshman. We're asking a lot of these young players and I feel like they are doing a good job. The more they play, the more confidence they'll have."
Handley credits the seniors with starting a new tradition at MSU-N. A tradition of being respected and feared in the conference.
The Skylights 5-9 record ties them for fifth in the conference with Montana Tech.
The Skylights head to Butte for Frontier Conference action this upcoming weekend.
MSU-N fell to the Carroll Saints in four games Friday night 21-30, 29-31, 30-27, 28-30.
Knox led the Skylights in kills with 21 followed by Hostetter with 12 and Mitchell with 11.
Lanfear led the Skylights in digs with 22, Hostetter finished with 17 and Bruski 12.
