The MSU-Northern Skylights volleyball team played their last set of games in Butte for the 2024 Big Sky Challenge on Saturday. The doubleheader featured a clean sweep of Bushnell University (Oregon), (25-22, 25-19, 25-23), while the back end was a four-set victory over Loyola (Louisiana), (27-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-14).
In the morning, the Skylights battled back and forth to win the first set. The second set swung back in the direction of Bushnell, but Northern would fight back from a (12-7) deficit to rattle off 11 straight points and flip flop for the second. With the third set tied at 23, Northern closed out the match with kills by Jessalyn Chvilicek and Alana Graves. The duo led the team in kills for this one with 12 and nine, respectively. Graves also had a team high five blocks, while Emily Feller and Macee Murphy put up a combined 37 assists. Murphy also led the squad in digs with 16.
In the afternoon, the Skylights started the way they had finished earlier i in the day. Tied at 25 in the first set, Loyola had a service error and then an attacking error, paving the way for a first set victory. After dropping the second set, the teams played a pretty tight third before Northern went on a (9-0) run to close the deal and then cruising in the fourth set. Murphy recorded 16.5 of the 71 points scored by the Skylights while dishing out 22 assists to lead the team.
The Skylights (3-1) will head back to Havre to practice before going on a bus ride to Great Falls to play in the University of Providence tournament next week. The opponents and times for the games are in the sports tab under “Scoreboard!”.
