PRESQUE ISLE, ME
The North Atlantic Conference released the annual postseason awards on Thursday afternoon as the 2025-26 NAC season has officially wrapped up. On the men's side, Akhe McMichael was a second-team choice, and Doug McCalla was a third-team selection while Joelle Hodge took home sportsmanship-team honors. On the women's side, Cady Stairs was named to the sportsmanship team.
Akhe McMichael ran back his dominant season from a year ago in which he took home first-team all-conference and first-team all-state honors. McMichael averaged 16.2 points per game, and was the Owls leading scorer consistently throughout the year. While the Owls struggled to a 2-10 start, McMichael sacrificed some scoring to run the offense at the point-guard position to get UMPI back on track. As the facilitator, the Owls did exactly that, going 13-2 en route to a NAC championship berth for the first time in program history. McMichael had his biggest game of the year in the first-round home playoff game versus Thomas College. He dropped 33 points, shooting 10-16 from the field, and 11-12 from the free throw line. He had another great performance in an upset win over Husson in the next round, scoring 23. McMichael did much more than score however, as he averaged 5.7 rebounds per game, which was UMPI's second leading rebounder despite being a 6'0 point guard. He averages 3.7 assists per game entering the Owls' ECAC tournament appearance slated for this weekend. McMichael eclipsed 1,000 career points this season also, becoming the 22nd player in program history to reach the mark, while he currently sits in 9th place on the Owls all-time scoring list.
For Doug McCalla, it was a more unconventional All-Conference year. To start the season, he inched closer on his recovery journey from the devastating knee injury that ended his season prematurely last January. 51 weeks to the day, he made his return to the court when the Owls opened up their second semester at home. His impact was immediate, as the Owls put together one of the best semesters in program history after going 2-9 without him in the lineup in the first semester. He started every game but senior day for the Owls the rest of the way, averaging 13.1 points per game and led the team in rebounds with 5.9. The Owls had their second leading scorer back and were much better on the defensive end, as their 6'5 forward was back roaming the paint. McCalla was instrumental in the Owls comeback win over SUNY Cobleskill that kept their home playoff hopes alive and served as a true turning-point to the run they would go on the rest of their NAC schedule and into the playoffs. He had 25 points and seven boards as well as four steals in the win. McCalla was the heart and soul of the Owls' historic stretch of wins, bringing his leadership back to the court.
McCalla and McMichael were both named to the NAC All-tournament Team as well for their postseason heroics across three games—the most postseason games UMPI has played in since the 1990's.
Joelle Hodge and Cady Stairs each were awarded the All-Sportsmanship team nod. Hodge is in his senior season and played his biggest role on the court of his career, while also displaying great leadership off the court and in practice which was instrumental to UMPI's success. Cady Stairs is in her first year and stepped up when the UMPI women's program needed her, improving steadily throughout the season behind a great work ethic and attitude making her very deserving of the award as well.
