Standout Schweikert to play volleyball for Carroll College
Senior Hannah Schweikert has signed with Carroll College in Helena to play volleyball next fall.
After helping lead Wildkat volleyball to a second place title at this year’s class A state tournament, Schweikert traveled to Helena earlier this fall to tour the NAIA division school’s campus and get a taste of what it’d be like playing for the Fighting Saints. It didn’t take long for her to determine it was a perfect fit.
During her recruitment tour, Scwheikert practiced with Carroll’s team, getting one of her first real previews of playing at the collegiate level.
“From what I saw I was just super excited,” she said. “They have some big girls and some strong girls, so just being in there and playing with them was just to be surrounded by great girls.”
“I mean high school is one level,” Schweikert continued. “You get a good hit every couple plays or every couple balls and it’s like whoa, but in college like every single ball is on the ground or a great dig. It’s just a great feeling.”
Through practice and the tour Schweikert said she connected not only to the players, but to the coach, Mauren Boyle, as well, whose vision and values reminded Schweikert of her Wildkat roots and her own high school coach, Jolandie Brooks.
“Just like being a family first,” said Schweikert. “[Boyle] really values her team and wants to take care of every single person and cares not only about volleyball but about school too. She cares about keeping your grades up and doing extracurriculars and things like that.”
Schweikert’s stand-out volleyball accomplishments included all-state and all conference honors and breaking the Columbia Falls record number of 162 aces during a career. She also excels as a student, with a 4.4 grade point average. Having taken at least four advanced placement courses during her high school tenure, she is on track to graduate with an honors diploma.
For Schweikert, who plans on obtaining an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, academics are just as important as athletics.
“If you’re going to put that much time into college you should get a really good degree that you can go on to live your life with. You just kind of have to set yourself up for that,” she said.
Striving for academic integrity is a value coach Boyle not only shares, but mandates, requiring all players to keep a 3.5 GPA or higher. During their last season, Carroll College volleyball won the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award.
Within a week of the recruitment tour, Schweikert had made up her mind, signing a contract to play as a setter for the Saints in exchange for a yearly $17,000 scholarship. In addition, Schweikert’s ACT scores landed her in the college’s presidential scholarship category, granting her another $21.000, which together covers a hefty chunk of Carroll’s yearly tuition costs.
Until next fall, Schweikert plans to stay focused on maintaining her grades and finishing the seasons of the other two sports she’s played throughout high school—basketball and tennis, with hopes of championships in each.
Beyond the periphery of Schweikert’s focus for the rest of the year, however, is her readiness to embrace the next chapter of her life, stating she is excited about “just getting out of the house and experiencing life on my own, and having that new family from the volleyball team. I just think that’s really exciting. And competing at a higher level sounds really cool.”