HAVRE, Mont. – Valley City State kicked off a long four match in seven days road trip with a four-set loss to Montana State-Northern. The Skylights won 27-29, 25-22, 25-14, 25-20 on Friday night in Havre, Montana.

The Vikings overcame a big comeback by MSU-Northern to take the first set. The set was back-and-forth early with neither team taking control. There were three ties and three lead changes in the first ten points. An unforced error by the Skylights gave Valley City State a point to tie the set at 5-5. That started the Vikings on a 12-4 run to take seven-point lead. A service ace by Annika Pulju capped the run and made the score 16-9 Valley City State. The Skylights would go on a 14-7 run to tie the set. An unforced error by VCSU made the score 23-23. The two teams would split the next seven points.  A kill by Danielle Hagler would make the score 27-27 and start a 3-0 set ending run by Valley City State. A kill by Eden Carrier would end the set with the Vikings up 29-27.

The second set was again back-and -forth like set one. There were five ties and five lead changes in the first 22 points. An attack error by MSU-Northern's Lexi Jones gave the Vikings a 12-11 lead. Another attack error by the Skylights gave VCSU its biggest lead of the set at 15-12. A 5-1 run by MSU-Northern tied the set at 15. The set would be tied six more times before the Skylights pulled away. A kill by Morgan Freije made it 20-19 Vikings. MSU-Northern would score six of the last eight points, including five in a row, to win the set 25-20.

The Skylights would carry that momentum into the third set when they jumped out to a 9-2 lead. A service ace by Pulju got the Vikings to within 14-11 but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way. MSU-Northern ended the set on an 11-3 run to take the set 25-14.

In the final set, Danielle Hagler's kill gave Valley City State a 2-1 lead. That was the last lead they would have. Then Skylights scored the next three points to take a 4-2 lead. The Vikings would come back a tie it at 10-10 on another Hagler kill. But a 6-2 run by Montana State-Northern would make it 16-12. The Vikings would cut it to 23-20, but the Skylights scored the last two points to take the set 25-20, and the match 3-1.

The Vikings were paced by Danielle Hagler's career high 19 kills and a .357 hitting percentage. Macy Fridgen had eight kills, Morgan Freije had seven, and Emma Lucas had six. Gracie Schumacher and Madden Bogenreif each had double-doubles. Schumacher had 20 assists and ten digs. Bogenreif had 19 assists and eleven digs. JayCee Richter had a team high 25 digs and Delani Clarke had 13. Hagler and Rosie Anderson each had three blocks (1 solo, 2 assist).

Valley City is now 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the Frontier Conference. Montana State-Northern is 4-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference.