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Skylights win Medicine Hat tourney, Bruski named Frontier Conference
player of the week
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team continued its solid
play by winning the Medicine Hat Rattler Invitational volleyball tournament.
Northern finished the weekend with a perfect 6-0 record and picked up a
decisive win over the RAGE squad in the championship match. Mitsu Phillips
led Northern in the championship with 10 kills while Kelly Thorpe dished out
17 assists. Nicole Kruse finished with a game-high 16 digs.
"It was a lot of good playing experience," said Skylights head
coach Lisa Handley. "We got plenty of games in. I was really happy with
the way they responded in the later games."
Northern opened the tourney with a 25-16, 25-20, 25-19 win over a Medicine
Hat club team. The Skylights got a combined 17 kills from Lindsay Garcia and Tera
O'Haire, 29 assists from Thorpe and 29 kills from Nicole Kruse and Brandi
Snell in the win.
The Skylights then defeated the Medicine Hat second squad, as Garcia had 13
kills and Thorpe had 20 assists and 11 digs.
Northern's only test of the tournament came in its third match. The Skylights
were forced to go five games with with the Rage, picking up a 25-17, 25-27,
25-27, 25-21, 15-8 win.
The tandem of Garcia and Phillips had 19 and
15 kills respectively. Thorpe had another solid match with 48 assists and 13
digs while Kruse had a match-high 25 digs.
Northern then picked up a pair of easy wins over a Medicine Hat College
alumni squad and the Medicine Hat College varsity squad. Tanja Bruski picked
up 16 kills and 5ð blocks in the two matches while Phillips added 19 kills.
"I wanted to get some playing experience for our younger players,"
Handley said. "We got to work on some things and our serving started
coming around. Also playing four matches in one day let me see how good of
shape they were in."
For her efforts this past week, Bruski was named the Frontier Conference
player of the week. The senior from Billings helped lead Northern to a 7-0
record on the week with a key conference win over the University of Great
Falls. Bruski had 35 kills, 10 aces, 20 digs and 13 kills for the week.
"Tanja had a nice week," Handley said. "She has really started
getting comfortable with Kelly and her blocking has been huge for us."
Northern returns to conference action this weekend with a pair of critical
home matches against UM-Western and Westminster on Friday and Saturday night
at the MSU-Northern gym.
MSU-Northern def. Medicine Hat
25-16, 25-20, 25-19
MSUN - Kills 40 (Lindsay Garcia 9, Tera O'Haire 8), Assists 36 (Thorpe 29),
Aces 5 (Snell 2), Digs 58 (Nicole Kruse 19, Snell 10), Blocks 6 (Jeanna
McPherson 3).
MSU-Northern def. Medicine Hat #2
25-13, 25-15, 19-25, 18-25, 15-9
MSUN - Kills 39 (Garcia 13), Assists 36 (Thorpe 30), Aces 8 (Bruski 3), Digs
105 (Kruse 21, Thorpe 11), Blocks 15 (Tanja Bruski 5).
MSU-Northern def. RAGE
25-17, 25-27, 25-27, 25-21, 15-8
MSUN - Kills 62 (Garcia 19, Mitsu Phillips 15), Assists 60 (Kelly Thorpe 48),
Aces 3 (O'Haire 2), Digs 108 (Kruse 25, Emmy Olson 16, Kelly Thorpe 13),
Blocks 14 (Bruski 5).
MSU-Northern def. Old Rattlers
25-13, 25-22, 25-21
MSUN - Kills 26 (Bruski 7, O'Haire 7), Assists 27 (Thorpe 22), Aces 9
(Engstrom 4), Digs 43 (Kruse 14), Blocks 4 (Bruski 1.5).
MSU-Northern def. Rattlers
25-19, 25-17, 25-11
MSUN - Kills 27 (Phillips 9, Bruski 9), Assists 27 (Thorpe 15, Christine
Smith 8), Aces 4 (Engstrom 3), Digs 55 (Kruse 18), Blocks 10 (Bruski 4).
MSU-Northern def. RAGE
25-14, 25-11
MSUN - Kills 23 (Phillips 10), Assists 23 (Thorpe 17), Aces 3 (Engstrom 2),
Digs 51 (Kruse 16, Snell 10), Blocks 14 (Bruski 1.5).
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