Skylights get votes in NAIA Coaches Poll

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team took some major steps last season, and the Skylights are off to a great start in 2013.

Now however, Northern can add getting some national respect to its list of recent achievements.

Tuesday, the first regular season NAIA Coaches Poll was released and the Skylights, while not quite in the Top 25, received 11 votes in the poll. It is believed to be Northern’s first appearance in the NAIA poll in at least a decade.

Northern (9-4) is currently rated second among Frontier Conference teams, while Rocky Mountain College is the only Frontier team to sit in the Top 25. The Battlin’ Bears come in this week at No. 25. Carroll College, which began the season ranked No. 25 after winning the Frontier title last November, dropped all the way out of the poll this week. The Saints went 7-7 in the pre-season.

The Frontier poll has RMC at No. 1, followed by Northern, Carroll, Montana Tech, UM-Western, Westminster, Lewis-Clark State, Great Falls and Dickinson State.

The Skylights open the Frontier season at home against the Fighting Saints Friday at 7 p.m. at the Armory Gymnasium. For a complete Frontier Conference volleyball preview, see Thursday’s Havre Daily News.

NAIA Coaches Volleyball Poll

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts.

1 1 Concordia (Calif.) (22) 7-0 653

2 3 Texas at Brownsville (1) 8-0 631

3 2 Columbia (Mo.) 4-1 602

4 4 Biola (Calif.) 7-0 598

5 8 MidAmerica Nazarene 8-0 566

6 11 Madonna (Mich.) 13-0 544

7 7 Georgetown (Ky.) 9-1 527

8 13 Midland (Neb.) 13-0 499

9 16 Westmont (Calif.) 11-0 467

10 5 Oklahoma Baptist 9-3 445

11 14 Park (Mo.) 8-1 431

12 23 Northwestern (Iowa) 12-1 414

13 15 Viterbo (Wis.) 11-2 383

14 10 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 5-4 371

15 19 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 10-0 358

16 21 Eastern Oregon 10-2 356

17 12 Bellevue (Neb.) 8-3 305

18 T17 Missouri Baptist 8-1 285

19 RV Vanguard (Calif.) 9-2 253

20 T17 Indiana Wesleyan 8-3 225

21 RV Dordt (Iowa) 8-2 177

22 9 The Master's (Calif.) 10-2 157

23 NR Concordia (Ore.) 7-2 151

24 RV Wayland Baptist (Texas) 8-2 145

25 NR Rocky Mountain 8-2 123

Others receiving votes: Cal State San Marcos 119; Hastings (Neb.) 80; Davenport (Mich.) 78; Spring Hill (Ala.) 73; College of Idaho 63; Menlo (Calif.) 61; Tabor (Kan.) 59; Grand View (Iowa) 57; Jamestown (N.D.) 37; Bryan (Tenn.) 33; Baker (Kan.) 30; St. Francis (Ill.) 18; Montana State-Northern 11; Point Park (Pa.) 8; Bethel (Ind.) 6; Evangel (Mo.) 5.