Skylights look to keep rolling

Momentum can be a crucial component in volleyball, whether its in the course of a set, a match or even a season.

And the Montana State University-Northern Skylights have a chance to build some big-time momentum tonight inside the Armory Gymnasium. Northern is looking to follow up last Saturday's thrilling win over nationally-ranked Carroll College with a win over another big Frontier Conference opponent, the Rocky Mountain Battlin' Bears. Tonight's match between the Skylights and Bears begins at 7 and is the start of a weekend which will also see MSU-N host new league member Dickinson State on Saturday afternoon.

And with two opponents in town this weekend, both of which have struggled out of the gate, the Skylights (1-0, 7-8) have a chance to really take a solid hold of the Frontier Conference standings. But more importantly to head coach Bill Huebsch, they have a chance to keep improving.

"Obviously, the kids were very excited with how the Carroll match turned out," Huebsch said. "We did play very well for much of that much. But we have a great group of veteran kids and they weren't satisfied with that one win. They came into the gym on Monday for practice and said, yes that was great, but we can be better. So that's what we're hoping for this weekend, to play really well again, improve and defend our home court."

Despite a stellar performance last Saturday night, defending their home court won't be easy for the Skylights.

The Bears (1-0, 5-9) may have had a rough preseason, but they challenged themselves with big-time opponents and are overall, a young and relatively inexperienced squad. RMC graduated six senior starters and five all-conference performers from last year's national tournament team, and the Bears return just four seniors this season.

"Rocky is a very talented team, they are well-coached and have a lot of very good volleyball players," Huebsch said. "And that's the team we're expecting to face on Friday night. They did lose a lot of great players off last year's team, and that was a team which had an amazing season. They won our conference, they went pretty deep into the national tournament and they beat us pretty good during the season.

"Right now, they seem to be a little inexperienced," he added. "Because even their four seniors didn't play a lot last year. But I think they will keep getting better as the season goes along because they are very talented and very athletic. So we expect them to come in here and play us very tough."

The Bears have some unfamiliar faces in their rotation this season, but it doesn't mean they are down. Anna DeWald, a 6-3 middle blocker is having a standout season thus far and is among the league leaders in hitting percentage and she is second in the Frontier with 55 blocks. Esther Timofeyev is a 6-1 middle who is also a force at the net, and she leads the Bears in kills with 101 on the season. Rocky also has two new setters in its 6-2 rotation, and both players are doing a good job this season. Freshman Tori Bertsch is fifth in the Frontier with 314 assists.

Northern will look to counter Rocky's size at the net, as well its strong defense with the same game-plan the Skylights executed to beat Carroll. MSU-N out-hit the Saints because the Skylights didn't get broke down by the Carroll serve, and they took the Saints out of their offense with a strong serve and solid blocking.

"It's the same for us no matter who we play," Huebsch said. "So the key for this weekend's matches continues to be being really good and having a strong serve and serve-receive game. When we do that, we get in system a lot more and we get the swings we want. We need to continue to do that against Rocky and not let them control the tempo of the match with their serve and their blocking."

And the Skylights can do that behind the outstanding serving of the likes of Joni Nagy and Kesley Williams, who have combined for 42 aces this season. Nagy leads the Frontier with 26 service aces, and she's also fourth in the conference in assists and 16th in kills. Williams leads the Skylights with 155 kills, while Hillary Isleifson is right behind Nagy with 88. Abby Nicholas is a force in the middle and is currently fifth in the league in blocks, and she too has an outstanding serve, while Holly Cartwright is coming off a 35-dig performance against the Saints.

And while tonight's match against Rocky is a big one, the Skylights won't lose focus for their first league matchup with Dickinson State on Saturday. The Blue Hawks come into the Frontier after an 0-26 season, and they are off to an 0-1 start in league play, having lost to Rocky in four sets last weekend. But Huebsch said, the goal is to defend its home court and the Skylights won't take the Blue Hawks lightly.

"I definitely think they've improved from last season," Huebsch said of DSU. "They are pretty good in the middle and they are very scrappy defensively, and those types of teams are tough to play. So the key for us will be to not get frustrated when they get some of our balls up. We just have to be patient and keep swinging against them, and not let their defense take us out of what we're trying to do offensively."

Middle hitter Shaundra Dvorak is fourth in the Frontier with 49 blocks, while Melissa Avila leads DSU in kills with 88. Avila and Chelsea Seibel have combined to lead the team in digs with a total of 349 this season, and DSU is among the league leaders in defensive categories.

But at the end of the day, no matter the opponents, the Skylights are looking to win two more home matches,

Montana State University-Northern's Joni Nagy sets a pass during the Skylights' Frontier Conference win over Carroll College last Saturday in Havre. MSU-N is back at home tonight to take on Rocky Mountain College at 7.

nothing more. And they hope to do it in front of strong crowds in the continuing-to-be-remodeled Armory Gymnasium, which has another new set of bleachers in place for this weekend's matches.

"The focus right now is on playing really well on Friday night against Rocky," Huebsch said. "We have a chance to really build some momentum if we can play well against them. Then, we hope that carries over to Saturday. In this league, you have to win at home. So that's what we're going to try and do this weekend. Play well against two quality opponents and hopefully keep the momentum we built against Carroll going."

Tonight's match between the Skylights and Blue Hawks gets under way at 7 at the Armory Gymnasium. Saturday's match between MSU-N and DSU is slated for a 2 p.m. start. The Skylights take to the road next weekend for matches at UM-Western and Westminster.