GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Three Argos received national recogition in several postseason awards that were released on Tuesday.

Senior outside hitter Kelsey Shaver was named a 1^st Team All-American by the NAIA on Tuesday. This is her second year being named an All-American, as she was named to the 2^nd team last year.

She was also named the Northwest Region Player of the Year by the AVCA. Tyna William was also named Honorable Mention to the Northwest All-Region Team and assistant coach Drew Choules was also named the Northwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

"These awards are great recognition for the hard work of these individuals," head coach Arunas Duda said. "All of them worked so hard to get where they are, so it's nice to be able to step back and give them that recognition. It's exciting for our program."

Shaver, who joined the Argos from Scots Valley, California two years ago, was also named the Frontier Conference Player of the Year. She was named the Conference Player of the Week a total of six times, and was a big reason why the Argos returned to the National Tournament for the second time in school history.

"She's the player that every coach wants and dreams of," Duda said. "She's the complete volleyball player that you want in your program. She works hard in practice, she works hard as a leader and a captain. When you have a kid with that kind of talent, but also has the work ethic, character and personality, it's really awesome."

On the season, Shaver ranked 9^th in the nation in kills per game with 4.5, and was 36^th in the nation in total kills with 443, which is impressive considering she sat out several games with a back injury. She led the Frontier Conference in both stats as well, maintaining a comfortable lead over 2^nd place. She averaged 1.2 more kills per set than Maureen Jessop of Montana Tech, and had 39 more kills than Jessop in 25 less sets.

Shaver was also 4^th in the conference in hitting percentage (.239) and service aces per set (0.4). She was 5^th in service in total aces with 36, and 9^th in the conference in both digs (377) and digs per set (3.8). Shaver had eight matches over 20 kills this season, including two different matches with 29 kills on the season.

Tyna, a senior middle blocker from Castries, Saint Lucia, was named Honorable Mention to the AVCA Northwest All-Region team. William recorded seven games with double-digit kills, including an 18-kill game in the National Tournament in the team's win over Morningside. William was 3rd in the Frontier Conference in hitting percentage (.245), 4th in the conference in blocks (104), and 5th in the conference in blocks per set (1.0).

"Tyna played really well in the tournament and did some really nice things for us this year," Duda said. "She has single-handedly taken over matches for us that we wouldn't have won without her. I'm excited to see her receive some national recognition."

Drew Choules, the assistant coach for the program, also received recognition as the Northwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Choules has been with the program for three seasons and serves as the recruiting coordinator and defensive coach of the program.

"It's an honor to receive this award," Choules said. "There's a lot of good coaches in our region so it's exciting to be recognized. I'd like to thank Arunas, because you're only as good as your leader and I'm really grateful that I work for him. He's a great coach and a great leader and he's made me a better coach because he challenges our players and myself every day to be better all the time. And when you have such a great group of girls that buy into what we're doing and are so coachable, it makes it easier to do my job well and be happy while doing it. I'm really grateful for that."

"Drew's awesome," Duda said. "We bounce so many ideas off of each other. She's basically another head coach for our program which is such a luxury to have. She deserves all the recognition and all the credit that she got."