Skylights ready to face
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
As much as they would like to forget it, the Montana State
University-Northern volleyball team and head coach
But maybe that's not a bad thing. It certainly offers a little motivation for
the Skylights in tonight's match against the
"We want to show them that wasn't us," said junior setter Emilee Madsen. "No one was feeling up to par that
game. We just didn't show up ready to play."
If it wasn't the worst loss of the season, it was in the top three. Handley was
so upset with her team, she rewarded them with a
"They've got to do it for themselves," Handley said. "I don't
want to have to hold threats above their head. I shouldn't need to threaten
them. It's
Ah, there are the magic words. The Skylights and
Under the direction of Duda,
the
"They're a dangerous team," Handley said. "They certainly have a
mental edge, knowing they beat us in three games and we needed five to beat
them."
To be fair to the Skylights (5-6 in conference, 10-14 overall), they were beset
by a flu bug and some injuries. But Handley isn't allowing that as a reason for
the way they played.
"We need to be better at staying at home on defense," Handley said.
"We got sucked in and they just hit sharp angle shots and got kills every
time."
UGF (2-9 in conference, 8-18 overall) also hit very well in the match. With a
balanced attack led by freshman middle blocker Ashley Harris and outside
hitters Becky Radiel and Carolina Hapke,
the
But it wasn't just the
"That's ridiculous," Handley said. "Our blocking needs to be
better. We looked totally lost out there the last time we played. We didn't
know who to block. We need to a better job of anticipating where the ball is
going to be set to."
Besides the defense and blocking, Northern didn't help itself out by committing
34 hitting errors for a paltry 0.010 hitting percentage.
"We need to play much cleaner than we have lately," Handley said.
"We can't win matches by committing so many unforced errors."
"There was just a complete breakdown," Madsen said. "No one was
ready to play. We weren't very healthy at the time, but we just weren't
mentally ready to go."
Health won't be a problem this time for Northern. The Skylights are as close to
100 percent as they have been in a few weeks.
"We're much more healthy this time," Handley
said. "I fully expect to play much better."
Conversely, the
"It's too bad they won't be at full strength," Handley said.
"But sometimes other people really step up when there are injuries."
Regardless of who is on the floor and who isn't, the Skylights aren't about to
take UGF lightly.
"We always get more fired up to play them," Madsen said. "It's a
rivalry. The fans are more into it. Anything can happen."
Hopefully for Handley, what happens is that the newly reinstated 6-2 offense
flourishes against the
"We're definitely better off blocking-wise," Madsen said. "We're
still trying to get used to different setters running the offense. It's taking
a little time but we're getting better with it every game."
Handley and Madsen are just hoping the Skylights are better tonight than their
last game against UGF.
"We need to go in there with confidence and prove to them we can play
better," Handley said.
Said Madsen: "Everyone's been preparing to play them
again since right after that match ended."