Skylights swept in final Frontier regular season matches

The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team knew that playing its last three matches of the Frontier Conference regular season on the road wouldn’t be easy. And it wasn’t.

Northern closed the 2017 regular season with losses at Lewis-Clark State and nationally ranked Montana Tech over the weekend. The Skylights, who lost their last five Frontier matches, finish the regular season at 3-9 and in sixth place in the conference standings.

Thursday night, Northern fell in three games at LC State, by scores of 25-19, 25-17 and 25-20. Cassie Krueger led the MSU-N offense with 11 kills, while Timi Severson had seven kills and two blocks. Things got even tougher Saturday as MSU-N traveled to Butte to face the Montana Tech Orediggers, who are not only an NAIA Top 25 team, but were also out to clinch the Frontier championship.

And the Orediggers did just that, beating the Skylights 25-23, 25-15 and 25-13 to win the Frontier title outright. In the loss, Northern got eight kills and a block from Krueger, while Severson and Mikayla Virostek combined for 13 kills, and Severson added three blocks.

MSU-N will now prep for this weekend’s Frontier Conference Tournament in Helena. The Skylights will face third-seeded Carroll College in the opening round on Thursday.

LC State def. MSU-Northern

25-19, 25-17, 25-20

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Kylie Pasieka 3-0-0; Mikayla Virostek 5-0-0; Cassie Krueger 11-1-1; Hannah Amtmann 0-0-0; Timi Severson 7-1-2; Katia Michelotti 3-0-0; Ashley Ponce 0-2-0; Shania Neubauer 0-0-1. Totals 29-4-2.0.

LCSC - (kills-aces-blocks) Maya Williamson 9-0-1; Natalie Batiste 11-0-0; Rachel Gregg 15-0-1; Alexa Van Vleet 6-0-1; Justine Cota Culp 1-0-0; Jordan Phelan 0-0-0; Lauren West 2-1-0; Aubrey King 1-0-1; Luana Thompson 0-3-0; Hannah Lien 0-3-0; Hayley Alvarez 4-0-1; Unknown 0-0-0. Totals 49-7-3.0.

Montana Tech def. MSU-Northern

25-23, 25-15, 25-13

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Kylie Pasieka 2-0-0; Mikayla Virostek 5-0-1; Cassie Krueger 8-0-1; Hannah Amtmann 0-0-0; Timi Severson 7-0-3; Katia Michelotti 2-0-4; Ashley Ponce 0-0-0; Shania Neubauer 0-1-4. Totals 24-1-7.0.

MT - (kills-aces-blocks) Hannah Liss 0-5-0; Allison Kelly 0-1-0; Sabrina Hopcroft 0-1-0; Kamaile Moody 0-0-0; Heather Thompson 3-0-3; Haley Druyvestein 9-0-2; Nicole Peacock 9-1-1; Angela Molesworth 10-0-1; Masha Korol 8-0-2; Gena McMillan 10-0-2. Totals 49-8-5.5.