Skylights earn top Frontier honors

The volleyball season just keeps getting sweeter for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights. Not only is Northern nationally ranked and poised to make a run in this weekend’s Frontier Conference Tournament in Great Falls, but now the Skylights also have some postseason accolades, too.

Thursday night, the Frontier Conference announced its 2013 All-Conference Team, as well as its postseason awards, and Northern garnered plenty of attention. MSU-N senior right side-hitter Abby Nicholas was named Frontier Conference Player of the Year, along with earning First-Team All-Conference, while Skylight head coach Bill Huebsch earned Coach of the Year honors.

Nicholas, a 6-0 standout from Sandy, Utah, who leads the Frontier and is ninth nationally in kills, was one of five Skylights to be honored. It was the second straight season that she earned First-Team honors. Fellow seniors Kelsey Williams and Joni Nagy also earned First-Team All-Conference honors, while senior Holly Cartwright was named a Second-Team All-Conference libero for the second straight season, and freshman middle-hitter Erin Jensen was named to the Frontier All-Freshman Team.

Williams is the only other player in the Frontier besides Nicholas to have over 400 kills on the season. She’s also among the Frontier leaders in digs and service aces. Nagy, a senior setter, leads the Frontier and is 11th nationally with 1,234 assists, and she’s also in the Top 15 in the league in digs. Cartwright has 472 digs on the season, while Jensen has tallied 59 blocks to go along with 170 kills.

Meanwhile, Huebsch, in his fifth season at MSU-N, has orchestrated a remarkable turnaround. Before he took the reigns in 2009, MSU-N had finished last in the Frontier for two straight seasons. In the last two years, he’s guided Northern to a Frontier-best 25 conference wins, including this year’s 15-1 league mark, which is the best Frontier winning percentage by any team in four seasons. Huebsch has also presided over the best two-year stretch by a Northern team in more than a decade, and last week, the Skylights wrapped up their first Frontier Conference regular season championship since 1991.

“It’s amazing. It was a very special night for our program,” Huebsch said. “All of these things are an affirmation of how hard these kids have worked and how dedicated they are to our program and to each other. Abby, Kelsey, Joni, Holly, Erin, they all deserve the recognition. They’ve worked very hard for this.

“To be named Coach of the Year is truly an honor. I’m humbled by it,” he added. “But it’s not all about me. To win an award like that, what it really means is I have great players, a great team, great girls who do things the right way. So it’s really about the players and the assistant coaches I have.”

Other awards handed out Thursday night included Kimmy Kavran of Montana Tech being named Libero of the Year, Rocky Mountain College middle-blocker Yang Yang named Newcomer of the Year; and University of Great Falls outside-hitter Madison Wilhelm named Freshman of the Year.

Northern takes on UM-Western in the first round of the Frontier tourney today at noon in Great Falls.

Frontier All-Conference Volleyball

First Team

Elli Graff, Carroll College, Sr, MB; Bozeman, Mont.; Kathleen Mulligan, Carroll College, Jr., OH; Des Moines, Wash.; Keisha Kennedy, Lewis-Clark State, So., MB/OH; Vancouver, Wash.; Niurka Toribio, Lewis-Clark State, Sr, OH; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Joni Nagy, Montana State-Northern, Sr., S; Chattaroy, Wash.; Abby Nicholas, Montana State-Northern, Sr, MB/RSH; Sandy, Utah; Kelsey Williams, Montana State-Northern, Sr., OH; Helena, Mont.; Kimmy Kavran, Montana Tech, So., L; Missoula, Mont.; Korey Krumm, Montana Tech, Jr., MB; Anaconda, Mont.; Anna Dewald, Rocky Mountain College, Jr., MB; Windsor, Colo.; Yang Yang, Rocky Mountain College, Jr., MB; Yongan, China; Alexis Aalona, Westminster College, Jr., OH; Salt Lake City, Utah; Myra Ramirez, Westminster College, Jr., MB; Cali, Colombia.

Second Team

Chelsea Strong, Lewis-Clark State, Jr., MB; Gresham, Ore.; Holly Cartwright, Montana State-Northern, Sr, DS/L; Havre, Mont.; Ahlea Billis, Rocky Mountain College, So., OH; Bozeman, Mont.; Madison Wilhelm, University of Great Falls, Fr., OH; Long Beach, Calif.; Jovana Sisovic, Westminster College, Sr., OPP; Belgrade, Serbia.

All-Freshman Team

Jonni Dorr, Carroll College, Fr., S; Spokane, Wash.; Jenna Loheed, Lewis-Clark State, Fr., OH; Junction City, Ore.; Erin Jensen, Montana State-Northern, Fr., OH; Lewistown, Mont.; Haley Druyvestein, Montana Tech, Fr., MB; Missoula, Mont.; Kylie Nielsen, Rocky Mountain College, Fr., OH; Billings, Mont.; Madison Wilhelm, University of Great Falls, Fr., OH; Long Beach, Calif.