FARMINGTON, Utah (Sept. 15, 2025) – The Big Sky Conference announced its Player of the Week honors, presented by
JAMBAR, with soccer, football, volleyball, cross country, women's golf and men's golf all in full swing.
Big Sky Football Players of the Week (Sept. 15, 2025)
Offensive Player of the Week: Ty Pennington, Northern Arizona (QB, So., Sand Springs, Okla.)
Ty Pennington led NAU to a 52-49 Grand Canyon Trophy rivalry win at Southern Utah, completing 20-of-31 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. He set career-highs in passing yards and passing touchdowns, while also adding a touchdown on the ground. Pennington was impressive on the game-winning drive, leading NAU on a 13-play, 79-yard drive spanning nearly four minutes for the go-ahead touchdown with 29 seconds left. Pennington capped the drive with a two-point conversion to Jayson Raines, putting NAU ahead 50-49.
Defensive Player of the Week: Hudson Voggesser, Northern Colorado (LB, Jr., Fort Collins, Colo.)
Northern Colorado's Hudson Voggesser recorded 16 total tackles in the overtime loss at ranked South Dakota. The linebacker's 16 tackles highlighted a defensive day where he also had a tackle for loss and a QB hurry as well to help the UNC defense limit South Dakota to 17 points in regulation. UNC also held South Dakota to 99 receiving yards and forced its sixth turnover in the last two games for the defense.
Co-Special Teams Player of the Week: Sloan Calder, Weber State (K, Jr., Morgan, UT.)
Weber State's Sloan Calder was a perfect 5-of-5 on extra point attempts and pulled off a special teams touchdown in Saturday’s win at McNeese, tallying 11 points on the day. Late in the second quarter, he lined up for a field goal, but ran a fake and ran the ball in for a 10-yard touchdown run that put Weber State up 21-7 at halftime. Sloan also had seven kickoffs with four touchbacks.
Co-Special Teams Player of the Week: Ty Morrison, Montana (K/P, Jr., Valencia, Calif.)
Ty Morrison kicked what would prove to be the game-winning field goal with 4:23 to play from 42 yards out and had a strong day overall in the kicking game to help Montana beat North Dakota. In the punting game he totaled 335 yards and averaged just under 40 yards on nine attempts with two inside the 20. He also totaled 317 yards on five kickoffs with three touchbacks, and went 3-for-3 on PATs for a personal haul of six points for UM.
Others Nominated for Big Sky Football Player of the Week
Offense: Michael Briscoe (CP), Nate Bell (EWU), Art Williams (UI), Brooks Davis, (UM), Justin Lamson (MSU), Eric Gibson (UNC), Damian Henderson II (SAC), Jackson Gilkey (WSU)
Defense: Mikey D'Amato (CP), Bryce Smith (EWU), Dylan Layne (UI), Elijawah Tolbert (UM), Bryson Ross (PSU), Oscar Moore (SAC), BJ Carey (WSU)
Special Teams: Landon Ogles (EWU), Owen Forsman (UI), Ben D'Aquila (NAU), Jacob Willig (UNC), Cru Newman (PSU)
Big Sky Volleyball Players of the Week (Sept. 15, 2025)
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Hannah Stoddard, Northern Arizona (OH, R-Jr., Coeur d'Alene, ID.)
Hanah Stoddard helped lead the Lumberjacks to a triple sweep at the Lumberjack Classic, defeating UC San Diego, Texas Tech and Southern Utah. She hit to a .366 percentage with 48 kills for the tournament, including a season-high .488 average and 22 kills against Texas Tech, averaging 5.33 kills/set over the course of the weekend. The Idaho native put up 51.5 points for a 5.7 point/set average and recorded double-doubles in two matches. Stoddard was named to the all-tournament team. She leads the Big Sky in kills with 4.71 per set for the season and also leads the conference in points, averaging 5.16 per set.
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Alexis Batezel, Montana (L, Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.)
Gracie Cagle averaged 11.10 assists per set in Montana's 3-0 weekend at the Sycamores Invite to earn the Tournament MVP honors.
Montana hit .305 as a team on the weekend and set a new 25-point program record by hitting .416 in a win over Butler.
Cagle spread the ball around the court which led to four different players averaging over 2.70 kills per set. Cagle also had eight kills, four aces, and 34 digs.
Defensive Player of the Week: Paige Stepaniuk, Portland State (L, Jr., Ridgefield, Wash. .)
Junior libero Reese Ampi helped the Hornets to a 2-1 record, which included a victory over UC Riverside, a road win at Southern Utah, and a tight 3-2 road loss (16-14 in the 5th) at Utah Tech. She spearheaded a Hornet defense that limited the opposition to a .120 hitting percentage, including sub-.100 marks from both Riverside and Southern Utah.
The Redding, Calif., native had 14-plus digs in all three matches, which included a career-high 31 in Saturday’s loss at Utah Tech. The 31 digs were the most by a Hornet in three years, and she finished the week with an average of 4.54 digs per set. In addition, in 39 serves sent her way, Ampi had zero reception errors.
The junior had 14 digs against both UC Riverside and Southern Utah, and added 31 at Utah Tech. She remains second in the Big Sky with an average of 4.46 digs per set this season.
Others Nominated for Big Sky Volleyball Player of the Week
Offense: Kalista Lukovich (EWU), Ada Isik (UI), Cayton White (UI), Alayna Tessena (UNC), Willow Watson (PSU), Ashlynn Archer (SAC), Rose Moore (WSU)
Defense: Judith Bolomboy (EWU), Sydney Pierce (UM), Reese Ampi (SAC), Brielle Rueckert (WSU)
Big Sky Soccer Players of the Week (Sept. 16, 2025)
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Delani Walker, Eastern Washington (F, Sr., Missoula, Mont.)
Walker led the Eagles to an unbeaten swing trip in Hawaii this weekend as she combined for three goals over the weekend, one against Hawaii and two against Hawaii pacific.
Sunday’s game against Hawaii Pacific was Walker’s first multi-goal game of the season. After scoring three goals this weekend, the senior now has five on the season.
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Micala Boex, Northern Arizona (F, Jr., Aurora, Colo.)
Micala provided one goal and one assist in each game this week to help NAU to an unbeaten 1-0-1 stretch in two away games.
The Junior now leads the Lumberjacks in points (14), goals (5) and assists (4). With the two results on the road this weekend, Northern Arizona has extended their unbeaten streak to six games.
Defensive Player of the Week: Izzy Palmatier, Sacramento State (GK, R-Jr., Folsom, Calif..)
Izzy Palmatier went the distance and finished with seven saves in a 1-0 shutout of CSUN – only the fourth by the Hornets in 12 all-time meetings with the Matadors and the first-ever in Northridge. Palmatier made four of her seven stops in the first half to help Sacramento State to the lead at the break, and made her final three saves in the last 11 minutes to preserve the shutout. The seven stops inched her closer to the No. 4 spot on the school's career list, while her 14th career shutout gave her sole possession of third on the all-time chart.
Others Nominated for Big Sky Soccer Player of the Week
Offense: Eliza Bentler (UM), Anneliese Wong (UNC), Ocean Rideout (PSU), Tea Reyes (SAC)
Defense: Ashlyn Dvorak (UM), Finley Crabtree (PSU)
Big Sky Cross Country Athletes of the Week (Sept. 16, 2025)
Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week: Zachary Giesch, Montana (So., Newberg, Ore.)
Securing a top-ten finish at the Washington State Cougar Classic, Montana’s Zachary Giesch has been named Big Sky Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week. Giesch ran the 8K course in 24:16.7 (lifetime best) to finish in ninth place and secure his spot as the top Big Sky athlete in the field.
Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week: Emma Stolte, Portland State (RJr., Townsend, Mont.)
Securing the first individual victory by a Portland State cross country runner since 2022 has earned Emma Stolte Big Sky Conference Women’s Athlete of the Week honors. Stolte had a wire-to-wire victory at the Ash Creek Festival on Friday, finishing in a tie of 17:21.6. The redshirt junior finished 19 seconds ahead of the next closest finisher. Stolte now has two top 10 finishes out of two races this season. She also placed sixth at the Lewis & Clark Opener on Aug. 29, which had been a career-best finish for Stolte until Friday’s win.
Others Nominated for Big Sky Cross Country Athlete of the Week
Men’s: Nick Moore (PSU, Ryan Martin (SAC)
Women’s: Nattie Ruzauskas (EWU), Kayla Ingraham (UM), Sophia Dudley (SAC)
Big Sky Women's Golfer of the Week (Sept. 17, 2025)
Women’s Golfer of the Week: Eva Heinz, Montana State (So., Goodyear, Ariz.)
After earning her first career individual victory and leading the Bobcats to their first team title since 2002, Montana State’s Eva Heinz has been named Big Sky Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week. Additionally, Heinz set what is believed to be a Big Sky record for lowest individual round in a regular season tournament, as she carded a 10-under 62 in the opening round of the Yellowstone Intercollegiate. Heinz totaled 14 birdies and two eagles across 54 holes and led an effort where the Bobcats shot a school-record 16-under 848 (282-285-281) to earn the victory by 15 strokes.
Others Nominated for Big Sky Women’s Golfer of the Week
Raina Ports (UM), Timbre Shehee (UNC), Maddie Dustin (PSU), Jade Gruher (WSU)
Big Sky Men's Golfer of the Week (Sept. 17, 2025)
Men’s Golfer of the Week: Cooper Tate, Northern Colorado (Sr., Palm Bay, Fla.)
After securing a runner-up finish at the Bluejay Invitational, Northern Colorado’s Cooper Tate has been named Big Sky Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week. Tate carded an 8-under 208 (74, 66, 68) to finish just one shot behind the event champion. He is in his second season with the Bears after transferring from UCF ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Others Nominated for Big Sky Women’s Golfer of the Week
Simon DiMaggio (FMU), Gabriel Smith (SAC), Matthew Wison (WSU)
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