On Monday, the Horizon League announced its postseason award honorees, though much of the Cleveland State community was focused on a player who didn’t win: specifically, Vikings center Izabella Zingaro, who lost out on the HL’s Player of the Year award to Green Bay’s Jenna Guyer.
Zingaro led the Horizon League in scoring, finished third in rebounding, and placed among the national top ten for field goal percentage.
Later that evening, on Chris Kielsmeier’s weekly radio show, host Al Pawlowski was a bit fired up about the situation, calling the results of the vote an “absolute mystery.”
“Jenna Guyer got it from Green Bay,” he began. “Hey, nice player. But Izzi averages almost three more points per game than she does. Almost two more rebounds per game. She shoots better from the field. I have no idea how Izzi Zingaro is not the MVP, because she was the best player in the Horizon League.”
Pawlowski coming in hot put Kielsmeier in a pretty tough position, since the coach then had to thread a needle somewhere between agreeing with his inquisitor and sticking up for his player, without broadcasting sour grapes around the Cleveland area and, thanks to the internet, beyond.
“It is kind of hard to understand,” Kielsmeier said. “For one, how many players in the country led their league in scoring and were top three in rebounding? That’s a select group right there, in itself. You’re probably talking two, three, four players in the entire country that probably have that distinction. And I bet if they do, they’re going to get player of the year in their league.”
Zingaro wasn’t on the show, but all indications are that she took things in stride. After all, though she missed out on the big prize, the Bolton, Ontario native was still the HL’s Newcomer of the Year and a first team all-conference pick.
“Izzi was ecstatic about the awards that she got, and we just move on,” Kielsmeier said. “It’s about winning. It’s about playing deep into March, and playing meaningful games, and those are the things that we’re focused on. Those are the opportunities that we have ahead of us.”
Where’s Macey?
Another, less discussed omission involved Macey Fegan, who was left off of the three all-conference teams, despite finishing sixth in the Horizon League in rebounding and fifth in assists, while averaging 10.8 points per game.
Her impact, to Kielsmeier, goes well beyond statistics.
“Macey’s the heart of our team, and if there was a heart and a toughness award, she would get it,” he said. “And I don’t think it would be close, because that’s just who she is and how she drives our program.”
“There’s very few people in the country that do as much as what Macey does for our program. And I really hope that she knows that because she deserves it.”
The Horizon League’s postseason awards are decided by a vote of the conference’s 11 coaches, with participants barred from selecting their own players.
Forgetting Sarah Hurley
Asked which of his players has been undervalued by outside observers, Kielsmeier didn’t hesitate with an answer.
“I think Sarah Hurley has really stepped up for us on both ends of the floor,” he said. “She just fills her role. She shoots the ball really, really well, which is something we really need because of how much attention Izzi and Laurel [Rockwood] draw on the inside.”
Really though, it’s Hurley’s defense that stands out.
“When she’s at her best defensively, she’s one of those wings that just shuts that side of the floor down,” Kielsmeier continued. “When we moved her in the starting lineup a while ago, it kind of solidified what we were doing defensively.”
The coach eventually hedged a little bit later in the show, saying that he just as easily could have answered the question with Rockwood, Paula Pique, Ella Van Weelden, or Shey Magassa – essentially, a list of his non-starting rotation players.
Staring Into the Abyss
Given how last offseason started for Cleveland State, it’s hard to avoid peeking ahead just a bit, to the inevitable end of the Vikings’ run within the next couple of weeks.
Will CSU have more continuity in 2026-27 than it did this year? Kielsmeier is cautiously optimistic. For one thing, there’s Pique, whose sister Emma has signed for the coming fall. That lends to the natural assumption that Paula plans on sticking around.
“[Emma] is a similar-type player, 5-11, really long, lengthy,” Kielsmeier said. “You get those two on the floor in that zone, flying around and creating havoc. They’ll be able to do a lot. So we feel like we’ve got a strong core that’s in position to help us continue to keep this thing rolling, but you never know.”
No, you don’t, if last April proved anything.
“That’s the world that we’re living in right now,” he continued. “We certainly think [the players with remaining eligibility] will stay and we hope they do, but we know we’re going to have spots to fill this spring.”
In particular, Kielsmeier mentioned the need to find a couple of dynamic scorers, a logical assessment, given that graduating players Zingaro and Colbi Maples average roughly 32 of the Vikings’ 71 points per game.
For now though, he’s going to savor whatever time he has left with his current squad – one that’s been fulfilling enough to draw a comparison to his undefeated 2008 Division III national championship team at Howard Payne.
“This one’s rewarding because it was completely different than anything we’ve ever had to go through, anything I’ve ever had to go through,” Kielsmeier said, referencing the near-total rebuild he had to conduct in the spring. “And you have some nights where you doubt yourself, and doubt what you’re doing and you just got an incredible support system around you that reminds you to be you and just dig in.”
“You’ve always figured it out. You’re going to figure it out again. So just keep doing what you’ve done, and you’ll find a way. And that’s what we ultimately did up to this point.”
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