Skylights fall at Rocky, Western to close Frontier Conference play

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights knew their season-ending road trip to Rocky Mountain College and Montana Western would be a tough close to the volleyball season.

But what the Skylights couldn’t know was just how heartbreaking the final day of the regular season would be.

Saturday in Dillon, Northern fell to Montana Western in five sets, which was the second time the Bulldogs got the Skylights in five this season. Only Saturday, the match went to volleyball’s version of quadruple overtime. After dropping the first two sets 25-20 and 25-23, Northern stormed back to win 25-21 and 25-21 to even the match at 2-2.

But in the decisive fifth set, which normally goes to 15, the Skylights pushed and pushed until Western prepaid 24-22 in a marathon match.

In the crushing defeat, Northern head a season-high 61 kills, led by Rylee Burmester with 18. Elissa Lind added 14 kills, while Katia Michelotti and Tammy Maddock combined for 21 more. MSU-N was also great defensively, with 145 digs, led by Katie Murdock with 35 and Burmester with 31. MSU-N tallied a season-high 11 blocks, too, with Michelotti racking up two solo as the Skylights bested the Dawgs in every category but the final score.

Northern started the road trip at Rocky Thursday night, where the Skylights fell by scores of 25-10, 25-11 and 25-18. Burmester had 13 kills and 12 digs in the loss.

The Skylights finished the regular season at 0-12 in the Frontier and 6-19 overall. Northern will now play in the 2019 Frontier Conference Tournament Friday in Great Falls. The Skylights, the No. 7 seed, take on second-seeded Providence Friday at 5 p.m.

Rocky Mountain def. MSU-Northern

25-10, 25-11, 25-18

MSU-N - Hailey Warren 2-0-1; Katia Michelotti 0-0-0; Shania Neubauer 1-0-0; Shay Waldbillig 0-1-0; Abigail Ellison 1-0-0; Rylee Burmester 13-0-0; Marlee Bender 0-0-0; Kaitlin Murdock 1-1-0; Elissa Lind 7-2-1; Tammy Maddock 4-0-1. Totals 29-4-2.0.

RMC - Daniella Russell 6-1-0; Natalie Hilderman 2-2-0; Monique Rodriguez 5-0-1; Miranda Gallagher 8-1-2; Morgan Allen 8-0-2; Addy Valdez 0-1-0; Kailey Thomson 0-0-0; Ayla Embry 0-0-0; Taylor Wolf 4-0-3; Tori Cybulski 0-3-0. Totals 33-8-5.0.

Montana Western def. MSU-Northern

25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 24-22

MSU-N - (kills-aces-blocks) Katia Michelotti 10-0-6; Tammy Maddock 11-1-3; Shania Neubauer 5-0-1; Elissa Lind 14-1-3; Kaitlin Murdock 0-1-0; Hailey Warren 2-2-4; Rylee Burmester 18-0-1; Abigail Ellison 0-0-0; Marlee Bender 1-0-0. Totals 61-5-11.0

MW - (kills-aces-blocks) Morgan Kirch 1-1-0; Abby Morgan 3-0-3; Tannah Sellers 1-1-0; Madison Richtmyer 3-1-0; Abbee Croninger 8-0-7; Emmah Peterson 9-0-9; Jessie Weber 14-0-0; Talyn Pitcher 0-1-0; Cady Siemion 3-0-1; Morgan Stenger 9-0-4; McKenna Fink 1-2-0; Kaitlyn White 7-0-3. Totals 59-6-16.0.