BILLINGS — Maureen Boyle pulled up the Frontier Conference volleyball leaders from last fall on the league web site and began ticking off the number of Montana players for each category.
“One … two … three … four … one … two … three … four …,” she began, checking the key statistical categories like hitting, hitting percentage, digs, etc.
“The top five in most every category, and they aren’t all the same, are Montana kids,” Boyle continued. “And that’s not what it used to be.
“I can’t help but think that the number of Montana kids on that (leaders) page is way different than the number of Montana kids that were there 15 years ago.”
For the previous 15 minutes, Boyle, the 20-year Carroll College volleyball coach, had been discussing the Frontier Conference and the increasing role and impact Montana players are having on the league.
Last season, the six schools that played Frontier Conference volleyball listed 64 Montanans on their collective rosters. Three of those teams reached the final site for the NAIA national tournament and wound up in the final top 25 poll: Montana Western at No. 8; the University of Providence at No. 10; and Montana Tech at No. 21.
Eleven incoming Frontier Conference players will be showcased at the Midland Roundtable Volleyball Classic, a match of Montana all-stars, to be held Friday at Lockwood High School. It’s the fourth year for the event, and the fourth time Boyle will coach one of the squads. Rocky Mountain College coach Aubrey Beaumont will participate for the second year in a row after becoming the Battlin’ Bears coach ahead of the 2024 college season.
Each of the 18 high school graduates selected to play in the event are slated to play for college programs, and the event has come to reinforce the importance of Montana players to the Frontier Conference.
“I think there is kind of a taste in a lot of kids’ mouth that it’s like, ‘Oh, I really want to go (NCAA Division I) or D2,” Beaumont said. “But they don’t understand that for us in the Frontier Conference, the NAIA is insanely competitive, and I think they’re starting to see that more and more.”
Beaumont should know. After starring at Great Falls High, Beaumont played at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota and helped the Jimmies to two NAIA national tournament appearances before graduating in 2017. Including previous coaching stops at Jamestown, McPherson (Kan.) College and Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College before landing at RMC, Beaumont has made six trips to the NAIA national tournament as a player and coach.
Having seen multiple times what it takes to succeed at the national level and now getting reacquainted with the Montana high school volleyball scene, Beaumont is convinced Frontier Conference teams can not only thrive with Montana players filling the roster, but with Montana players leading the way.
“Some of the kids are starting to come to us because they know we have fun, it’s a great time,” she said. “You get support from not only your college, but from your community and from your family that’s close (by). I hope it continues to trend towards us being top choices for some of the best kids.”
In 2017 (that’s as far back full rosters for all six of the Frontier Conference teams are available on school web sites), just 44 Montana players were in the league. That rose to 45 the next season and then 52 players before the 2020 COVID season hit.
Then, in 2021, rosters showed 70 Montana players in the Frontier Conference, and it has stayed in that range since.
Boyle and Beaumont said some of that increase can be attributed to the comings and goings of junior varsity teams in the league, but Boyle also sees more players setting the Frontier as a college goal.
“I know when I first took this job (in 2005) somebody had said to me that the first thing you want to do is reach out to the best Montana high school players,” Boyle said. “In your mind, you’re thinking, ‘OK, I’ll reach out to the best, but they’re looking above and beyond.’ And then you get one or two, and then you think, oh, so maybe you do have a chance at getting some of these Montana kids.
“Because you’re not initially thinking necessarily that they want to stay in Montana or that they want to be at this level, when really, in their eyes, this is the level. This is kind of the (place to be), you know, which is pretty cool because I don’t think that that’s always been the case.”
Frontier Conference volleyball, like a lot of sports in the league, has become a grind-it-out, tough-to-predict league with a lot of parity. A team can get swept one night and turn around and win in five sets against the same team just a week or so later.
A lot of that has to do with Montana high school teammates becoming rivals in college, or the opposite; high school rivals becoming college teammates. Familiarity can help foster competitiveness and playing in a league like that is appealing.
And the league is about to become even tougher. Beginning this season, the Frontier Conference will double to 12 teams with Dakota State in South Dakota, and North Dakota’s Mayville State, Valley City State, Bismarck State and Dickinson State joining the league.
Let’s not forget Bellevue University of Nebraska, which was last season’s NAIA national runner-up, coming into the Frontier, as well.
Dickinson State is coached by former Huntley Project and Montana State Billings standout Stormy Siemion. The Blue Hawks had nine Montana players on their roster last season.
“We do have a lot of (Montana) kids getting some quality experiences in college,” Boyle said, citing an explosion in the state of club volleyball, in quantity and quality, as one factor. “There’s Division I players. There’s Division II. We have some in junior college and a bunch going Frontier that we didn’t have years ago. There’s a lot more role models for our young girls growing up in Montana showing that you can play. It might not be at Montana or MSU, but you can play.”
The jostling for Montana players to join Frontier Conference rosters has ticked up in recent years. It might get even more frantic now.
What: Midland Roundtable Volleyball Classic
When: Friday, 6 p.m.
Where: Lockwood High School
Blue Team
Roster: Addie Falls Down, Billings Senior (MSU-Northern); Avaree Thompson, Billings Senior (Dickinson State); Taylor Speake, Gallatin (Central Washington); Sofia Kimmel, Bozeman (Carroll College); Juliana McFarland, Belgrade (Dordt, IA); Jaycee Cleveland, Butte (Dickinson State); Claire Hoadley, Missoula Big Sky (Rocky Mountain College); Ellie Reinertson, Gardiner (Montana Tech); Cadence Lundgren, Gallatin (Kansas State).
Coach: Aubrey Beaumont, Rocky Mountain College
Red Team
Roster: Ella Goeltz, Florence-Carlton (Providence); Taiya Guptill, Hardin (Miles Community College); Birdie Heuiser, Helena (Carroll College); Kennedie Noseep, Billings Skyview (Central Wyoming); Morgan Jones, Bozeman (Southern Illinois); Gianna Ruprecht, Columbus (Rocky Mountain College); Hope Gonsioroski, Baker (Lubbock Christian, TX); Lauren Fox, Bozeman (Carroll College); Nora Dominick, Shields Valley (Montana Western).
Coach: Maureen Boyle, Carroll College
