Skylights knock off No. 22-ranked DSU
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
It's funny how a win can make a long drive seem just a little shorter.
After traveling around a good portion of the state of Montana and picking up a
pair of losses along the way, the Montana State University-Northern volleyball
team made the trip a little better by defeating No. 22 Dickinson State
University 25-30, 30-18, 30-28, 30-26, 15-10 in nonconference
action Sunday in Glasgow.
Northern's trek began with a trip to
In front of a hostile crowd, the Skylights took the opening game of the match
30-27 and fought point-for-point with the Saints in the next three games before
falling 27-30, 30-27, 30-22, 30-27.
"We played them tough for the whole match," said Skylights head coach
Lisa Handley. "It easily could have gone the other way. We made a few
mistake late in the game and some close calls went against us."
Beating Carroll is tough when you are getting breaks, but nearly impossible
when you're not.
"They just play really sound,"
Handley said. "They know how to finish teams off, which is something we
don't know how to do yet."
Northern shined at the net, accumulating 18ð blocks in the match, led by
Jasmine Mitchell's match-high 11. Jeanna McPherson
had eight and Ashley Roth added seven.
"I was pleased with how we blocked," Handley said. "It was our
best blocking performance of the season. We didn't hit as well as I had hoped.
Some of our hitters weren't as productive as we needed them to be."
Jordan Fox finished with a team-high 18 kills, while Mitchell chipped in with
nine. Emilee Madsen dished out 21 assists and picked
up 15 kills.
Carroll was led by senior Lena Mortenson with 22
kills.
The Skylights were rewarded for their solid play with a nice van ride to
"The toughest part about playing in Rocky's gym
is how quiet it is in there," Handley said. "Against Carroll, the gym
was packed and loud and cheering against us; the girls really fed off that. We
didn't have that at Rocky."
Besides the lack of emotion, Northern had a lack of offense. The Skylights
committed 34 hitting errors and hit a .074 percentage, which is far below
decent.
"They did a nice job of taking us out of our offense with their
serving," Handley said. "They served so well. It got us frustrated
and took us out of our game. We averaged 12 unforced errors in each game."
Mitchell led Northern with 14 kills and four blocks, while Fox finished with 10
kills and 12 digs. Freshman Kelly Fox led Rocky with 12 kills, while Courtney Arthurn had 10 kills and four blocks.
Sometime after the loss to Rocky, possibly on the scenic drive from
Handley went from the two-setter to rotation to a single setter and five
attackers. She left Madsen at setter and moved her other setter, Kelly Thorpe,
to the libero position.
The move worked wonders, as Madsen dished out 58 assists and recorded 14 digs.
The main drawback with the new rotation meant that Madsen, who stands at 5-3,
would have to play at the net at times. But Northern's
defense responded to the mismatch, picking up 104 digs, led by Thorpe with 32.
Katy Engstrom added 20 digs and looked sharp after
missing two weeks with an injury.
"Our defense really picked it up," Handley said. "We even
switched our defense, and they didn't miss a beat. Everybody did their job and
stepped up. We never gave up once in the match."
Handley used Mitchell as the example of her team's tenacity. After starting
slowly with four hitting errors early in the match, Mitchell fought back to
rack up a career-high 24 kills and committing just two hitting errors in the
last three games.
"Jasmine got herself out of that funk and played fantastic," Handley
said. "She really played great all weekend."
Fox had yet another consistent performance with 20 kills and 13 digs and not a
single error in the match.
"That's unreal," Handley said. "To not have an error of any type
in a five-game match is unbelievable."
The win was Northern's first in six matches and much
needed for the Skylights' psyche.
"I hope this helps us confidence-wise," Handley said. "They are
the no. 22 ranked team in the country and usually a top 10 team. The girls just
played hard the entire match and kept fighting when we got down."
The Skylights will be in action at home for the first time in a month Friday
and Saturday, when they host
27-30, 30-27, 30-22, 30-27
MSU-N - Kills 46 (Jordan Fox 18, Jasmine Mitchell 9), Assists 36 ( Emilee Madsen 21, Kelly Thorpe
13), Aces 9 (Julie Henderson 3), Digs 78 (Emilee
Madsen 15, Alicia Mannin 14), Blocks 18ð (Jasmine
Mitchell 11, Jeanna McPherson 9).
CC - Kills 66 (
Rocky Mountain def. MSU-Northern
30-20, 29-31, 13-30, 22-30
MSU-N - Kills 42 (Jasmine Mitchell 14, Jordan Fox 10), Assists 38 (Emilee Madsen 22, Kelly Thorpe 12), Aces 5 (Alicia Mannin 2), Digs 60 (Jordan Fox 12, Julie Henderson 10 ),
Blocks 6 (Jasmine Mitchell 4).
RMC - Kills 51 (Kelly Fox 12, Courtney Arthurn 10),
Assists 41 (Hailey Pearce 33), Aces 10 (Laura Morrison 4), Digs 60 (Jen Buening 21), Blocks 10 (Arthurn
4).
MSU-Northern def.
25-30, 30-18, 30-28, 30-26, 15-10
MSU-N - Kills 70 (Jasmine Mitchell 24, Jordan Fox 20), Assists 59 (Emilee Madsen 58), Aces 12 (Jordan Fox 3, Lindsay Garcia 3,
Tear O'Haire 3), Digs 104 (Kelly Thorpe 32, Katy Engstrom 20), Blocks 4 (Jeanna
McPherson 3, Julie Henderson 3).
DSU - No stats available
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