A smash hit in the Armory

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team had built up some momentum at the close of the non-conference schedule. Last Thursday, though, Rocky Mountain College took all that away in the Skylights' Frontier Conference opener.

Then, in their home opener, it looked like UM-Western was about to do the same thing to the Skylights, despite playing in front of a raucous Armory Gymnasium crowd for the first time this season, and for the first time in new head coach Rose Obunaga's career.

However, the Skylights had other ideas. Instead, they didn't let a 2-1 Western lead deter them from making the most out of their home match of the season. And in the end, Northern rallied for a five-set victory over the Bulldogs, by scores of 25-20, 21-25, 14-25, 25-23 and 15-7.

"Our teamwork and our chemistry was really clicking tonight," Northern senior Cassie Krueger said. "This is a great win. We are proud to play in our home gym and this will motivate us to come back on Friday night and try to do it again."

Things were certainly clicking early on for Northern. In the first set, the Skylights got back-to-back kills from Mikayla Virostek and Timi Severson to stay in a back-and-forth affair. Then, at 19-19, Haley Yoder smashed a ball, Severson had a solo block and Yoder tapped another kill to give Northern a 24-20 lead. Two points later, Krueger killed the set with a thunderous smash.

But, as well as Northern played in the first, the much-improved Bulldogs, who beat Providence Friday night, came right back. A 7-2 run early in the second set, and a 6-0 run late helped Western tie the match at 1-1. And in the third, the Bulldogs dominated from start to finish in a 25-14 victory.

That left the Skylights trailing 2-1, and, as the fourth set waged on, things got intense, as neither team would budge. The two squads traded points on 19 straight balls, with Western holding leads all the way up to 22-21.

From there however, Northern showed its resolve. Kylie Pasieka had two huge kills during the final stretch of the set, while Severson added one of her own. And with the match tied at 23-23, Krueger finished things off with back-to-back kills.

"I think we just started playing together again much better," Krueger said of the fourth-set rally. We were supporting each other and we were going to fight together to the end. We just got our chemistry working again. So that, and a couple of really incredible plays, were the biggest difference."

Indeed, during a wild fourth set, the Skylights got plays all over the floor. Severson had aces, Pasieka and Hannah Amtmann made some incredible defensive plays, and Krueger and Virostek were ferocious at the net, all of which helped the Skylights even the match at 2-2.

And once Northern was into the decisive fifth set, there was no turning back. The Skylights took a quick 3-0 lead, and jumped in front 5-4 on a Krueger tip kill. At that point, the Skylights never trailed again, and back-to-back kills by Virostek and Krueger finished the Bulldogs off for good, also giving Northern its first Frontier win of the young season.

Krueger had a huge match with 23 kills and 14 digs, while Virostek tallied a career-high 15 kills to go along with a block. Severson finished with 11 kills three aces and two blocks, while Pasieka had five kills and 20 digs. Amtmann added 23 digs, while freshman setter Shania Neubauer totaled 55 assists and one of Northern's eight blocks. Northern was outstanding defensively with 86 digs on the night, while offensively, the Skylights hit a strong .205.

"I have to give a ton of credit to our freshman setter (Neubauer)," Krueger said. "She really stepped it up tonight and played great. All the girls played great tonight too. It was a lot of fun. We just had a lot of fun as a team out there and it was a big win for us."

A big win indeed. The Skylights improved to 1-1 in league play and 7-9 overall. Northern will return to action Thursday night when it travels to Great Falls to take on Providence. MSU-N is back in the Armory this Friday night to host nationally-ranked Carroll College.

MSU-Northern def. UM-Western

25-20, 21-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-7

UM-W – Kills 52 (Tessa Miller 15), Assists 49 (McKenna Fink 44), Aces 4 (Miller 2, Jessica Weber 2), Digs 71 (Dylan Fowler 27), Blocks 8 (Kylie McCree 2).

MSU-N – Kills 64 (Cassie Krueger 23, Mikayla Virostek 15, Timi Severson 11), Assists 58 (Shania Neubauer 55), Aces 6 (Severson 3), Digs 86 (Hannah Amtmann 23, Kylie Pasieka 20, Ashley Ponce 16), Blocks 8 (Severson 2).