Erickson selected to top team in junior college volleyball

Skyler Erickson
Skyler Erickson

December 16, 2014 12:05 am • By Kyle Cummings / kcummings@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS -- As Skyler Erickson watched Glendale Community College -- the team that knocked Central out of the national title conversation -- come back to win the national championship, she could have been bummed.

Instead, she was pretty excited. It was fun volleyball to watch, she said.

"It was pretty cool seeing them never give up," she said. "As an outsider and as a volleyball player, you like to see that."

Though the Raiders didn't take home the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II championship, her Central Community College farewell was just as sweet anyway.

"There's no better way (to leave Central)," Erickson said. "We were expecting higher at nationals as a team, but I wouldn't have changed any of it. I'm definitely excited going out like this. I can't complain about an ending like that."

After Erickson helped boost the Central Community College volleyball team to a fifth-place finish at the national tournament, she was named an NJCAA Division II First-Team All American.

A few days later, she received an even bigger honor: becoming Central Community College's first-ever player to be named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team.

The honor is so prestigious, Erickson didn't know much about it.

"(Central head) coach (Mary Young) texted me and goes, 'Are you ready for another honor?' I was like, 'Well, jeez, the first one was pretty good, but I guess,'" Erickson said. "Then she texted me that I got first team AVCA. I didn't really know about that, so she explained what it was."

The AVCA selects 30 players out of every two-year junior college in the country -- 15 on the first team, 15 on the second team. That includes all Division I, Division II and Division III junior colleges in the NJCAA, as well as the California Community College League and Washington Community College league, which are not part of the NJCAA.

"I think she was pretty blown away (about the honor)," Young said of Erickson's reaction.

A better word might be shocked, Erickson explained.

"I was like, 'Wow, that's pretty awesome,' especially because the only other (Central volleyball player to be named to AVCA -- Katie Beiermann) made second team was awesome," Erickson said. "So that makes me feel good."

Erickson became a consistent crutch for the Raiders to lean on throughout the season, recording 460 kills, 42 aces and 435 digs in her senior season -- leading the team in kills and aces, while recording only eight fewer digs than team-leader Molly Gotschall.

"She was always going to be one of our go-to's for the past two years," Young said. "Skyler could really deliver."

In particular, Erickson delivered in Central's last game, helping the Raiders take the fifth place win over Des Moines Area Community College in five sets. Erickson rose to another level in her Raider finale, tallying a team-high 19 kills, including a number of clutch swings in the fifth set.

"I thought in that fifth-place match, she took us on her back and carried us," Young said. "When you needed a big play, she was right there."

It was certainly a memorable one for Erickson, too.

"I think that we just all came together (before the match and said), 'We all worked so hard for this,'" Erickson said. "(We said), 'We can't give up and it's our last game playing together and for some of us, the last game ever playing.' So, we just said, 'We need to leave it all on the floor. Whatever happens, happens.'"