Skylights hanging tough at the Frontier's halfway point

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team is halfway through head coach Rose Obunaga's first Frontier Conference, as the league is in the midst of its annual bye week.

And thus far, the Skylights are making plenty of noise. Northern sits at 3-4 in conference play, and is alone in fourth place. The Skylights also only trail third-place Carroll College by a half game, so, with this week off, and then five Frontier matches remaining, MSU-N is in a very good place under their first-year leader.

"I think the ladies have played very well," Obunaga said after a recent Frontier match. "They've done a good job of adjusting to the new things we're doing, and they've done a good job of adjusting to the different styles of play from the teams in our conference."

One thing the Skylights have done an outstanding job of is winning on the road. Northern is 2-1 in Frontier road matches thus far, and they'll have to continue that type of play in the second half of the season because they will finish the regular season with three straight road matches.

As for where MSU-N sits in the league, offensively, the Skylights have been up-and-down hitting, as they are sixth in the conference with a .174 hitting percentage. The Skylights do have 760 kills on the season though, and they are fifth in the conference with 84 aces. Defensively, Northern has been trending upward. MSU-N is fourth in the conference in blocks and fourth in total digs.

Individually, senior Cassie Krueger is having a monster season for the Skylights. She is first in the Frontier with 248 kills, averaging 3.4 kills per set. Krueger is also playing extremely well in the back row, as she's ninth in the Frontier with 219 digs, while she has a team-high 19 aces. Sophomore hitter Timi Severson has also been instrumental. She is 10th in the Frontier in hitting percentage, 13th in kills with 162, and perhaps most importantly, she's fifth in the conference in total blocks with 72, including 12 solo. Setter Shania Neubauer, who was thrust into duty after an injury to starter Hailey Warren, is coming on strong as well. The true freshman has 283 assists, to go along with 118 digs.

Blocking has been a big part of the emergence of Mikayla Virostek as well. She's currently 12th in the Frontier with 51 blocks, including 14 solo. On the defensive end, libero Hannah Amtmann has been phenomenal, totaling 305 digs, which is fourth in the Frontier. Ashley Ponce and senior Kylie Pasieka have also been outstanding in the back row, while Pasieka has shown her versatility, as she also has 20 kills. Sophomore Haley Yoder, who moved to the outside early in conference play, has also been a key offensive weapon, as she's tallied 124 kills, which is third in Northern's lineup.

So while the Skylights started the year picked to finish sixth in the Frontier, they've certainly made a lot more progress than that. And when conference play resumes next week, Northern has a chance to make even more progress, as the Skylights get back-to-back home matches against rivals Rocky Mountain College and University of Providence.

Northern hosts the Battlin' Bears Oct. 20 and the Argos Oct. 26. The Skylights will then finish the regular season with road matches at Carroll, Lewis-Clark State and Montana Tech.