Skylights split with Lewis-Clark State, Montana Tech
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News Sports Editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
The Montana State University-Northern volleyball team is finding out just how
tough the Frontier Conference is going to be the rest of the season. A week
removed from a victorious road trip to
On Friday night, MSU-N was put to the test early against last-place LC State.
In the first game, the Warriors caught the Skylights a little off guard and
found a way to pull the game out 30-27.
It didn't take Northern long to bounce back. Over the next two games, the
Skylights took control of the match with solid passing and timely hitting.
Northern cruised to victories in games two and three by scores of 30-22 and
30-17.
“I thought the biggest thing about our win over
LC State was that once we got up, we didn't have any letdowns,” Skylights head
coach
Indeed, after the 30-17 thumping in game three, the Skylights finished the
Warriors off in the fourth game, 30-24. Northern capitalized on a mountain of
errors by LC State, but Handley also credits her team for staying focused.
“After the first game, LC State made quite a few mistakes,” Handley said. “But
we played very smart. We passed the ball well and had key people step up and
hit the ball well.”
The trio of Jasmine Mitchell, Jordan Fox and Tera O'Haire combined for 45 of
Northern's 56 kills. Mitchell led the way with 14 kills and a pair of blocks.
Fox added 11 kills and led the team in digs with 11.
The Warriors got 10 kills from Lindsay Scott in the losing cause. Julie
Maciboba added eight kills and three blocks.
Saturday night the Skylights honored their seniors before the start of their
match with Montana Tech. The ceremony seemed to ignite the Skylights as they
came out and took the first game of the match, 30-28.
From there, it was the Orediggers, and not the Skylights, who seized control of
the match. Montana Tech hitters Maria McNeil, CoreyAnne Russell and Krystle
Spang took advantage of Northern's poor passing and ended up hurting the
Skylights at the net.
Tech took the lead at 4-3 of game two and never trailed again in the match,
winning three straight games by scores of 30-25, 30-26 and 32-30. The only real
drama of the match came when the Skylights rallied from a huge deficit in game
four to pull even at 30-30. Tech would not be denied and ended the match two
points later.
“Our serve-receive game was very poor tonight,” Handley said. “That was the big
difference in the match. Tech is one of the best serving teams in the
conference, and they were on tonight.
“As a result of that, we passed the ball very poorly and that allowed their
hitters to really get going,” she added. “This was a totally different Tech
team than they were in the first half of the season, and they played really
well tonight.”
Mitchell tried to keep Northern in the match with a team-high 17 kills. Fox and
O'Haire also played admirably, with 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Former Havre
High standout Jeanna McPherson was also solid, with four solo blocks on the
night.
“Jasmine just continued to play really well all weekend,” Handley said. “She is
really leading our team right now.
“I thought Tera also had a great weekend,” she added. “She played very smart in
both matches and did the right things when she had the ball.”
McNeill was dominant for Tech. She had 25 of her team's 75 kills. Russell added
13 kills, and Lindsay Balfour had 66 of Tech's 69 assists. The Orediggers also
served nine aces on the night.
Although Northern earned a split, which is always good in the rugged Frontier
Conference, Handley found it tough to swallow the fact that Tech earned a
season sweep of the Skylights.
“It's disappointing to lose to Tech twice because it breaks the tie between us
now,” she said. “But we did get a split this weekend, and that is never easy to
do. That is what makes this league so tough right now. Anybody can win on any
given night.”
The Skylights (5-6, 10-10) will host the
MSU-N def. LC State
27-30, 30-22, 30-17, 30-24
LC State - Kills 44 (Lindsay Scott 10, Julie Maciboba 8); Blocks 6 (Maciboba
3); Digs 49 (Dawn Ingrham 15); Assists 37 (Mindy Meyer 28); Aces 6 (Ingrham 3).
MSU-N - Kills 56 (Jasmine Mitchell 14, Jordan Fox 11, Tera O'Haire 10); Blocks
14 (Mitchell 2); Digs 56 (Fox 14, Kelly Thorpe 13, Tracee Tesch 10); Assists 44
(Tesch 23); Aces 5 (Jeanna McPherson 2, Emilee Madsen-Summers 2).
28-30, 30-25, 30-26 32-20
MSU-N - Kills 63 (Jasmine Mitchell 17, Jordan Fox 15, Tera O'Haire 10); Blocks
10 (Jeanna McPherson 4); Digs 65 (Kelly Thorpe 22, Fox 11); Assists 58 (Emilee
Madsen-Summers 26, Tracee Tesch 22); Aces 8 (Tesch 3, Fox 2, Madsen-Summers 2).