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Phillips
feels at home vs. UGF By GEORGE GEISE |
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Two years away from
volleyball didn't dim Mitsu Phillips' talent or enthusiasm for the sport. Phillips, a former Great
Falls High track and volleyball standout, pounded home 18 kills Wednesday
night to spark Montana State University-Northern to a 3-1 victory over the
University of Great Falls. About 400 fans attended
the Frontier Conference match at McLaughlin Center and many of them were
there to watch local athletes like Phillips and Julie Henderson of Great
Falls, Tera O'Haire of Vaughn and ex-Lewistown star Lindsay Garcia. "It felt great to
have this support," said Phillips, the former Mitsu Frazier who missed
one year of competition when she transferred to the University of Montana,
and then took last year off to have a baby. "This is the first
time we've really come together as a team," said the 5-10 Phillips, who
along with Garcia (14 kills) dominated play at the net. "We weren't
missing anything tonight." Northern won the first
game 30-20, then UGF came back to knot the match with a 30-23 victory as
Stephanie Smith had several key kills. The Skylights finished up
with 30-18 and 30-25 victories to improve to 1-2 in league play. The Lady
Argos are 0-3. "We played all right
but we were inconsistent," said UGF coach Dick Scott. "That's been
our story all year." Smith, a 6-foot junior
who played at C.M. Russell High, led the attack with 18 kills and 11 digs. UGF is idle until Oct.
3-4 when Westminster and UM-Western come to town. Northern will play the same
two opponents. |