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Skylights getting ready for a new season

MSU-N volleyball team looks sharp in preseason scrimmage

The fall sports season officially got underway Wednesday night as the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team took the floor for its annual Maroon/White game at the Armory Gymnasium.

The scrimmage comes ahead of the Skylights first match of the year, which will take place on Aug. 21 when the team travels to Spokane for the Sports Travel Northwest Invitational.

The Skylights played a total of three games, two with teams that were equally divided and then a third game that featured the first team against the second team. In the first game, the Maroon team defeated the White by a score of 25-23. In game two, the White team got the upper hand and earned a 25-18 win. In the third and final game, it was the first team that came out on top with a 25-18 win over the second stringers.

"Overall I think it went really well," Northern head coach Bill Huebsch said. "Both sides were very competitive and it was good for them to get aggressive before we got to Spokane next week. They were a little bit nervous, you could tell early on but I couldn't be more happy with their level of play right now. We only missed four serves all night long, we had a good presence at the net, I thought we splayed outstanding defense behind the block and had a lot of game saving digs by both sides. Overall, I think it was a really good night for the girls."

The Skylights enter the 2014 season as the defending Frontier Conference regular season champions, but after losing several key players from last year's team, they are looking to establish the identity of a team that is without a single senior. Yet, a number of individuals stood out in the scrimmage such as junior outside hitter Danya Jensen, sophomore outside hitter Erin Jensen and sophomore setter Janelle Hoff.

"Without going through the stats individually, I thought everyone had their moments and made a positive contribution one way or another," Huebsch said. "There were not a lot of unforced errors tonight and in the early going that is something you worry about with kids getting to know each other and playing with each other for the first time. Overall, for new group and this early in the season, I thought that we played at a very high level. We are doing a lot of things well and for right now that is a good start."

Northern kicks off the 2014 season next Friday in Spokane where they will participate in the Sports Travel Northwest Invitational, which is a three day event. They will begin play on Aug. 21 when they square off against Evergreen State College from Washington at 12 p.m. The Skylights will then play four more games the same weekend against Walla Walla University, Northwest University, Eastern Oregon and Simpson University. The Skylights will play their first home game of the season on Sept. 19 when they play host to Rocky Mountain College.

 

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