The MSU-Northern Skylights volleyball team began conference play in Dillon on Friday night, taking on defending Frontier champion Montana Western. After winning the first set, (25-23), the Skylights would drop the next three, (24-26, 21-25, 12-25).
The first set was close, but the Skylights sent a message, leading wire-to-wire and winning by a razor-thin margin. The Bulldogs responded, racing out to a (9-3) lead in the second set, but the Skylights fought back to make it close from the midpoint on, including going on a (6-1) run to lead, (19-16). UMW woke back up and were able to force a win-by-two scenario before taking the last two points on borrowed time.
Western went up by as many as 10 points in the third set, but again the Skylights batted, scoring 11 of the next 12 points late to make it interesting. The Bulldogs finally snuck over the line to limit the damage and reset up two sets to one. Northern trailed by three points in the fourth set, (9-6) before Western rattled off five straight points, forcing a timeout from the visitors. The Bulldogs then finished the set on a (11-6) run to close out the match.
The Skylights (5-5) will be back home to host Montana Tech next Thursday before hitting the road again to face Rocky Mountain College in Billings.
