Times Volleyball Player of the Year: Ana Nicksic, Andrean

MERRILLVILLE | Ana Nicksic was pulled out of class to meet a candidate for the Andrean volleyball coaching position.

After Nicksic and Julie Wiejak had their five-minute conversation about the school and the sport, Wiejak looked and Nicksic and said, "I feel like I should hug you right now."

In that short embrace, Wiejak turned her confidence and her offense over to Nicksic, who was about to start her senior year as the 59ers setter.

With five confident hitters and a senior-laden team, Nicksic didn't disappoint. She matched or exceeded most Division I setters with 1,009 assists for regional champion Andrean and her size up front made her difficult to defend against as she picked up 31 blocks and another 70 block assists.

"She was the size of most of the hitters I had on my team at Loyola, so when I saw her I thought, 'If this is my setter, I can't wait to meet the rest of my team,'" Wiejak said as the Times named Nicksic the girls volleyball Player of the Year. "Immediately with her I felt a connection and I knew that she was something special."

At 6-foot, Nicksic is one of the shortest children in her family -- her older brother is 6-8 and her younger sister is 6-4, only her still-growing youngest brother is shorter -- but one of the tallest setters in the area. Her height would typically make her a tough enough outside hitter, but using Nicksic as a setter gives the offense the best of both worlds.

"Offensively, I'm able to tip over a block and I can jump set and get the offense going a little quicker," Nicksic said. "Also, I can block and just play front row, so I'm very fortunate for my height."

"I was lucky that nobody tried to make her a hitter and that's the thing, she's a marvelous hitter," Wiejak said. "Because of her height, instead of always tapping short and fast, she can pass high and tight and give hitters a different option. ... I saw blocking schemes based around her and she finished on our team with the second-most blocks. For a setter, that's pretty unbelievable."

Wiejak saw Nicksic shine in an early-season match against Chesterton. The senior found every hitter at exactly the right moment in the three-game sweep.

"It was the best I've ever seen a high school setter play, from matches I've watched, matches I've played in and matches I've seen scouting players," Wiejak said. "She controlled the entire game. I loved the way she sprinkled the ball to every hitter, it was the first time I'd seen a setter take that much control in a high school game. It puts a defense so off kilter because they couldn't figure her out. I was just in awe of her that night."

Nicksic worked over the summer to learn her hitters and where each of them likes to hit the ball. When a pass from the back row is ready for a set, Nicksic keeps one eye on the defense and another on her hitters.

"I'm looking for the middle blocker and they're usually right next to me, so I'm looking to see if they're cheating this way or that way and I'm trying to do the opposite of what they do," Nicksic said. "I'm looking for mismatches from the blockers to our hitters. If they have a short blocker, I'll go to the taller hitter every time."

Nicksic play college volleyball at Elon University, a Division I school in North Carolina. Nicksic plans to major in biology to become a pediatrician or a pediatric physical therapist.

"She's one of those kids -- Ana is just special," Wiejak said. "She's got something going on upstairs and she just gets sports. She can play volleyball, she can play basketball, she can excel at everything she does. And that's it. She's not only gifted at sports, she's gifted at everything and that's just who she is."