Skylight spikers open season at home
By Ryan Divish - rdivish@havredailynews.com
Havre Daily News Sports Editor
Montana State University-Northern volleyball coach Lisa Handley is starting off
the season with a simple philosophy concerning playing time:
The players who know how to win and who want win will be on the floor.
Obviously, practice doesn't offer the setting for Handley put her philosophy to
work, but this weekend will.
The Skylights open their 2004 volleyball season on Friday as they host four
teams for the Skylights Volleyball Invitational tournament at the MSU-Northern
gymnasium. The Skylights will open on Friday at
While every coach wants players on the floor
that know how to win, not every coach is in Handley's situation. She has enough
talent and depth to put another player out there if she needs to.
Northern returns 10 players from last year's squad, including five players who
all started matches at some point during the season.
Juniors Lindsay Garcia and Julie Henderson, sophomores Tera
O'Haire, Kelly Thorpe, Katy Engstrom
and Jeanna McPherson all started games last season
and spent significant time on the floor.
Also returning is back-up setter Christine Smith and redshirts
Jasmine Mitchell, Melanie Walker and Alicia Mannin.
"Katy, Tera, Jeanna
and Julie all came back much stronger than last season," Handley said.
"They didn't just play this summer, they got in the weight room and got
physically stronger it's really shown early on. Kelly also worked on her speed.
She came back much quicker than last year which is something she needed to
do."
The high number of returnees would leave most teams set in terms of personnel.
But Handley hit the recruiting path hard and added five talented recruits for
this season.
Transfers Emilee Madsen, Jordan Fox, Ashley Roth and
Heidi Fritchman are all immediate-impact players with
freshman Nicole Henderson redshirting as she recovers
from knee surgery.
"Emilee and Jordan are just solid all-around
players," Handley said. "They have played so much volleyball in their
careers. Ashley has been a bit of surprise. We knew she was good around the
net, but her defense and serve-receive have been fantastic."
That leaves 14 players fighting for six valuable spots on the floor - hence
Handley's philosophy.
"It comes down to who knows how to win and who wants to win," Handley
said. "Those will be the girls on the floor."
Handley is holding no favorites and not allowing last year's performance to
enter into her decision. Everything is based solely on how the players are
performing this season.
"Our returning starters are fighting for their spots like everyone
else," Handley said. "Just because you started last season doesn't
mean you automatically get to start this season."
Because of that type of thinking, the Skylights have been slightly driven in
practice.
"Practice has been very intense," Handley said. "They've been
working very hard because they're fighting for those starting spots. It's been
great motivation."
Unfortunately for Handley, the question of who will be on the floor hasn't been
completely answered. Northern has had just two scrimmages and neither offered
any clear answers.
Instead, Handley will use this weekend to help determine her lineup. Northern
will play four matches against solid opponents and use several different
lineups and combinations, trying to find the most effective group of players.
"We will be testing things out," she said. "We will be looking
for who has the ability to win. I don't care if they're not the prettiest
technical player, if they go hard on every point, they will be out there."
It's not like the Skylights can take points off this weekend. If they do, they
will get beat. because the teams coming in our quality
squads. A pair of conference foes will be in Havre. UM-Western was one of the
top teams in the Frontier Conference last season, but Northern upset the
Bulldogs in the first round of the conference tournament.
"Western is going to be out for blood," Handley said. "They
weren't exactly happy about losing to us last season and they will want to come
in prove a point early on.
"UGF is going to be much better. Their coach is so enthusiastic and
positive that his girls are going to play hard for him at all times. He also
brought in some good players, so they will be much improved. Western and UGF
are the only two conference teams we're going to play in the preseason so these
matches are important for us to see where we're at in comparison to other teams
in the conference."
There is also an added bonus of playing conference foes early - send a message
to other teams. Handley and her players felt more than a little slighted after
being picked second to last in the conference preseason coaches' poll.
"The players are definitely motivated by that," Handley said.
"We want to prove that Northern can get it done in the conference all year
long."
Regardless of who is across the net, Handley expects her team to play the same
way.
"We need to come out and play to win," she said. "Our team motto
has been: 'Believe.' We need to believe in ourselves, in each other and in our
team."
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