MSU-Northern opened the first match of the 2024 Frontier Conference Volleyball Tournament, taking on Carroll College on Friday morning into the afternoon. The No. 5 seeded Skylights were able to knock off the 4-seeded Saints, (27-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-17).
Set No. 1 provided back-and-forth action as the Saints got out to a (4-1) lead, but the Skylights battled back to take their first lead of the match at (7-6). After Northern got a cushion in the middle, Carroll went on a run to close the gap to one point. From there, no team led by more than two points until Alyssa Pretty Weasel provided a kill and the Saints hit the next point into the net for no return.
In the second set, Carroll raced out to an (8-5) edge, but again, MSU-N battled back with a run to tie it before the Saints took the lead again. From that point on, it was (15-9) and the Saints took the second set comfortably with dominant hitting and the benefit of attacking errors by the opposition.
There were no outstanding shifts in the third until more than halfway through when the Skylights broke a tie and win four in a row to go up (19-15). Carroll closed the gap to within two late, but MSU-N ultimately prevailed by winning the last three points of the set.
Northern was able to establish its first good run of the match in the fourth, taking a (12-8) lead after the second stoppage. The Saints fought back to make it competitive down the stretch, but it was ultimately too much as the Skylights won nine of the last 10 points to put it away.
Alana Graves was one kill shy of a season high at 19, while Alyssa Pretty Weasel provided 13, including the match-ender. Baily Egan was all over the place with 25 digs, while Macee Murphy led the team with 31 assists.
The Skylights will play their next match later on Friday night as they face No. 1 seed Providence with first serve scheduled for around 5pm.
