NORTH BOSTON, N.Y. (Mar. 25)- The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference has announced its 2025-26 All-Conference awards, and six Bearcats have made the list.
 
Junior Skyy Nicholls and sophomores Mara Pilyih and Brooke Street have been named to the First Team, marking the first time since the AMCC went to a First/Second team system ten years ago that three members of the same squad have achieved the honor.
 
Sophomore Kaylie Kurland joined her teammates on the award list, named All-AMCC Second Team. Freshman Savannah Douglass has earned the conference's Newcomer of the Year award, while head coach Jeff Zidek has been honored as the AMCC Coach of the Year.
 
Nicholls (North Versailles, PA/East Allegheny) is now a two-time First Team performer, having earned the honor last season as well, which followed a freshman year where she was All-AMCC Second Team.  Nicholls has averaged 192 this season, and was twice named AMCC Player of the Week this season.  Earlier this year, she set a new school record with a five-game total of 1077 pins (215.4 average) in the Grapevine Classic in Erie.
 
Pilyih (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) followed a strong freshman campaign which saw her earn two top national honors, as she was named Rookie of the Year by both the National Tenpin Coaches Association and the US Bowling Congress.  This season, she has averaged 192 while finishing in the top-10 in nearly every tournament in which she competed.  She established a new school record for a four-game series, with an 898 (224.5 average).
 
Street (Titusville, FL/Space Coast) earned her initial First Team honor, after being named to the conference's Second Team last season.  She was a 3-time AMCC Player of the Week this year, while averaging 188.  Street set a Saint Vincent record for the highest two-game series total (482, 241 average) and threw strikes or spares in 45 consecutive frames at Intercollegiate Team Sections last month, also a school record.
 
Kurland (Littlestown, PA/Littlestown) earned her first All-Conference honor.  She led all bowlers in the AMCC's first round robin tournament this season with a 206 average, and carries a 186 overall number for the year.  She has one of the highest single-pin spare percentages in the conference, at 86%.
 
Douglass (Huntingtown, MD/Huntingtown) has had a strong first college season, averaging 185.  She was named the Tournament MVP in the Collegiate Shootout in Las Vegas in December, outscoring a field of more than 240 bowlers with an average of 211.  She was named AMCC Player of the Week in late November after averaging more than 215 at the Hilbert Hammer Classic.
 
For Zidek, wrapping up his ninth year as the Bearcats' head coach, it was his fourth AMCC Coach of the Year award.  This season, his Bearcats once again have the highest winning percentage in the entire NCAA (93.7%), with a record of 45-3.  
 
The Bearcats still have two events remaining for the season.  Next week they will be competing in the NCAA National Tournament's Regional round, at a location yet to be determined, as one of 19 teams earning a post-season bid.
 
On April 15, the Bearcats will begin competition in their first-ever US Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships, one of 16 teams competing in Green Bay, Wisconsin.