(Editor’s note: Carroll College athletics release)
HELENA — Carroll College head volleyball coach Maureen Boyle announced the signing of Billings Senior High School outside hitter Kelsey Sargent and Lexi Mikkelsen, also an outside hitter, from Nine Mile Falls, Washington.
Sargent played an integral role in Senior’s back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Montana Class AA volleyball championship each of the last two seasons and a semifinal finish in 2015. She earned honorable mention all-conference honors last year.
She was named the most improved player on her team and received the tenacity award. She plays her club ball with Montana Mix.
Academically, she carries a 3.8 GPA and was named Academic All-State and was named to the honor roll all four years.
“Kelsey is a tremendous athlete and comes from a highly-respected program at Billings Senior,” Boyle said. “She has a very high ceiling because of her athleticism and her blue-collar attitude will help her fit in immediately. I am excited to watch Kelsey and see what she can do over the next four years.”
Sargent is excited to join the Carroll family and felt comfortable the minute she stepped on campus.
“It felt amazing to be recruited by a coach that knows where I come from and sees my love for and knowledge of the game,” Sargent said. “I began to fall in love on the campus tour, and as soon as I stepped into the gym to scrimmage, I felt right at home. Not to mention that the girls that I had the opportunity to meet are spectacular people and athletes.”
Mikkelsen is a three-sport athlete from Lakeside High School, just west of Spokane. Sargent led Lakeside to the Washington state championship in 2016 and was a two-time Class 1A all-state honoree and earned league MVP honors in both 2016 and 2017. She was named first-team all-league in 2015. She was also a team captain for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
She plays club with Splash U18.
Mikkelsen also played basketball and golf. She carries a 3.91 GPA and is a four-year first-team all-league academic honoree. She is currently the Associated Student Body President and was one of 17 student ambassadors in the entire state of Washington on the WIAA LEAP Committee.
“As soon as I got to campus, I knew that Carroll could be a place where I did more than just play volleyball and earn a credible degree,” Mikkelsen said. “I loved the basis of what the program was built on, that so much of the community is involved in the college and that I felt like I would graduate from Carroll with a second family because of the intimate feel at Carroll.”
As far as Boyle is concerned, she got a hitter that has the potential make an immediate impact and a great student and leader.
“We are fortunate to get such a quality ‘student-athlete,'” Boyle said. “She is a strong hitter and at 6-2 will be a big presence at the net. She is a tremendously hard worker, and she takes nothing for granted which is incredible considering how gifted of an athlete she is. She has the potential to help us right away.”
The duo will be key leaders on the squad for the next four years, but Boyle is just as excited about what they can do off the court.
“Our team has established a strong foundation of academic excellence, and these two are going to build on that foundation,” Boyle said. “They are great students and tremendous young women. I can’t wait to add them to our team dynamic and see how they fit in and make us better. They chose Carroll for all of the right reasons. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to coach them.”
