Skylights swept at home by tough rivals

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights look like a team that can compete with, and beat, anybody in the Frontier Conference. The Skylights are playing that well. They just need to find ways to get over the hump.

But Friday night inside the Armory Gymnasium, it didn’t quite happen as Northern lost in three sets to No. 21 Montana Tech. The nationally ranked Orediggers edged the Skylights by scores of 25-23, 25-23 and 25-23.

On Saturday, the Skylights had another crack at breaking through with a Frontier conference victory but ultimately were swept by Carroll College by the scores of 25-11, 25-11 and 26-24.

“We are good enough to beat anybody, and we played well enough tonight (Friday) to win every one of those sets, and that’s against the number 21 team in the country,” said Northern head coach Bill Huebsch. “But until we quit beating ourselves in those critical points, it’s not going to happen.

“I told the girls after the match I’m proud of them. I’m not upset at all. They give everything they have every point, every set and every match,” he continued. “I’m just frustrated for them and hurt for them because I know how hard they work every day, and I know how badly they want to win these close matches.”

And Friday night’s match was close. After a slow start in the first set, Northern went toe-to-toe with the Orediggers the rest of the way. MSU-N rallied from 10-3 down early in the opener with a flurry of kills and tough serving by Jessica Wilcox. MSU-N also went on a 7-2 run sparked by more tough serving and kills from Cassie Krueger and Korrie Stephenson. And on four occasions, the Skylights found themselves tied with the Orediggers. But, at 23-23, MSU-N made two straight hitting errors which finished the set.

The Skylights, though, had seemingly built some momentum, and they got off to anything but a slow start in the second set. Behind the hard hitting of Krueger and Stephenson, the Skylights built a 14-7 lead, and looked to be in control the entire way. And when Erin Jensen and Cydney Auzenne teamed up for a huge block, Northern was just three points way from evening the match at 1-1.

Then, however, it was Tech’s turn to rally. The Orediggers would win four straight points to tie the match at 22-22 and, though trailing 23-22, they would win three straight points, with Jordan Danz serving an ace and Sydney Norris finishing the set with a solo block.

“The first set, we kind of started slow, but I thought the kids showed a lot of character and heart to battle back the way they did, and they gave themselves a chance,” Huebsch said. “The second set, we really played well, I thought we dominated for much of that set. But it’s when we get to those points inside 20, we just make some really critical errors, and that really hurt us again tonight.”

While the first two sets were very tight, the third was even closer. The two Frontier rivals traded leads seven times, but on three straight MSU-N errors, it looked like Tech might break away when it led 20-16. However, Northern has shown some tremendous fight early in the season, and the Skylights fought hard yet again. Stephenson had back-to-back kills and an Emily Russell tip pulled the Skylights to within 22-20. Later, kills by Krueger and Stephenson would help knot the set up at 23-23, but Danz, who had a huge match for the Diggers, smashed two balls in a row to stymie the MSU-N rally and put the match to bed.

“I’m proud of the way we fought,” Huebsch said. “There’s absolutely no quit in this team. I just think we need to be more consistent at those key moments where we have a chance to put a team away. Montana Tech is very good, and we had chances to finish all three sets. So, I think, in those situations, we just need to be a little mentally tougher. But I’m very proud of the way this team fought again tonight. They showed a lot of heart and character.”

The sets were very close, and so were the final stats. The Skylights tallied 38 kills and hit a solid .207, with Stephenson finishing with 12 kills and Krueger nine. Tech had 42 kills and hit .257, with Danz totaling a match-high 13 kills. Defensively, Northern was also nearly as strong. While Tech had 54 digs and seven blocks, Northern had 50 digs and seven blocks of its own. Krueger added to her totals with 10 of those digs, as well two blocks, while Russell had 11 digs to go along with 28 assists. Auzenne had two blocks, while Wilcox served up four aces.

After falling to Tech Friday, the Skylights attempted to rebound against the Saints, but early on they were simply overwhelmed and beaten thoroughly in the first two games by the score of 25-11. In the third set, Northern finally showed signs of life and built up a 23-17 lead after a kill by Krueger.

Yet, needing just two points to extend the match to a fourth game, Northern struggled to shut the door. First, the Saints went on a 4-0 run to trim the lead to 23-21, but that spurt was answered by Erin Jensen, who notched a kill to bring the set to game point at 24-21. However, a slew of hitting errors ended up costing MSU-N as Carroll scored the next five points in the match to win the game and sweep the match with the 26-21 victory.

“Carroll just flat outplayed us in the first two sets, we just didn’t show up,” Huebsch said. “We were a completely different team than we were (Friday). We didn’t hit very well and we didn’t defend very well. Third set, I was proud of our girls, they actually showed up and battled. But, once again we get to point-20 and for some reason we locked up. When you go up 24-21, you expect to move on to the next set. So for us to not be able to stop them and counter was pretty disappointing.”

Throughout the match, Carroll was lights out when hitting the ball. The Saints finished with 51 kills and hit an impressive .313. Meanwhile, the Skylights struggled to put the ball away and finished with 30 kills as well as a dismal .120 hitting percentage. Emily Sullivan and Crystal Schmidt each had a game-high 11 kills to lead the Saints.

Krueger led the way for Northern with seven kills and two aces. Emily Russell had a solid game for MSU-N with 24 assists, and Jacy Vining also pitched in with 15 digs.

“We have mental block right now we need to get over,” Huebsch said. “You can teach every skill in the world, but you can’t teach toughness or an unbreakable will. We have proven that we can play with anyone in this conference, they just need to get the will to win and not be denied when they get close. They are a great group of girls, they just need to figure this out and hopefully sooner, rather than later.”

The Skylights will be back in action Saturday when they will pay a visit to the University of Montana-Western is search of their first Frontier conference win of the season.

Note: Havre Daily News sports writer Chris Peterson contributed to this story.

Skylights are 0-4 in Frontier, 8-12 overall; Next Up: at UM-Western

Montana Tech def. MSU-Northern

25-23, 25-23, 25-23

MT – Kills 42 (Jordan Danz 13, Karina Mickelson 11), Assists 41 (Mackenzie Bauck 38), Aces 7 (Danz 3), Digs 54 (Bauck 15, Sydney Norris 14), Blocks 7 (Bailie Cortner 2).

MSU-N – Kills 38 (Korrie Stephenson 12, Cassie Krueger 9), Assists 35 (Emily Russell 28), Aces 6 (Jessica Wilcox 4), Digs 50 (Russell 11, Krueger 10), Blocks 7 (Cydney Auzenne 2, Krueger 2).

Carroll def. MSU-Northern

25-11, 25-11, 26-24

Carroll – Kills 51 (Emily Sullivan 11, Crystal Schmidt 11), Assists 46 (Jonni Dorr 30), Aces 5 (Dorr 2), Digs 54 (Rebecca Sweeney 18, Madeleine Fey 18), Blocks 3 (Brielle Bumgarner 2).

MSU-N – Kills 30 (Cassie Krueger 7, Korrie Stephenson 6), Aces (Emily Russell 24), Aces 1 (Kylie Pasieka), Digs 42 (Vining 15, Jessica Wilcox 8), Blocks 2 (Korrie Stephenson, Erin Jensen)