The No. 1-ranked Colorado College volleyball team nearly swept every match during the 2020-21 season, and its reward was nearly a sweep of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference's major awards.
CC's list of award winners is headlined by junior middle hitter
Georgia Mullins, who was voted the Player of the Year in a ballot of the conference's head coaches. The three other recipients are senior
Isabelle Aragon-Menzel, who was tabbed Setter of the Year, outside hitter
Isabella Lipacis, who was named Freshman of the Year, and
Rick Swan, the Coach of the Year.
"The conference honors are testament to what an amazing run this team has had all year," Swan said. "I am so proud and happy for each and every one of them. It is an honor for them to be recognized by the other coaches in the conference."
Mullins, who leads the SCAC with a .424 hitting percentage and an average of 1.06 blocks per set, and is second at 3.18 kills per set, is the seventh Tiger to receive the award. She joins Emily Perkins (2010), Abbe Holtze (2014, 2016) Courtney Birkett (2015), Lizzy Counts (2017) and Marguerite Spaethling (2018) as recipients of the league's top individual honor.
A four-time player of the week during the regular season, Mullins received six first-place votes. Trinity University senior outside hitter Avery Tuggle, last season's player of the year, received the remaining three first-place votes.
Mullins also earned first-team all-SCAC honors for the second year in a row to become the eighth Tiger to be make multiple appearances on the first team. The others are Perkins (2009, '10), Amy Schornack (2010, '11), Holtze (2013,'14,'15,'16), Sophie Merrifield (2013, '15), Spaethling (2016, '18), Counts (2017, '18, '19) and Haley Harris (2018, '19).
Aragon-Menzel, the inaugural recipient of the SCAC's newest postseason honor, received seven of nine votes for the award. She ranks first in the conference averaging 9.17 assists per set while mostly running a 5-1 system and occasionally a 6-2.
Aragon-Menzel, who also helped the Tigers lead the conference with a .277 team hitting percentage and an average of 14.23 kills per set, was named first-team all-SCAC for the first time. In addition to offensive prowess, Aragon-Menzel is 10th averaging 3.63 digs per set and was named Defensive Player of the Week after leading the Tigers to back-to-back wins over then-No. 1 Trinity.
Lipacis is the seventh Tiger to be recognized as the league's top first-year player, the most for one program since the award was established prior to the 2001 season. CC's other recipients are Emily Phillips (2012), Holtze (2013), Sarah Barker (2014), Myca Steffey-Bean (2015), Spaethling (2016) and Meghan Hohman (2019).
As a six-rotation outside hitter, Lipacis led the SCAC's first-year players averaging 3.07 kills per set, which was fourth overall. She also was third in the conference at 3.5 points per set. She hit .249, which was third among first-year players and 12th overall, and added 0.32 service aces per set, which ranked fifth.
Lipacis, who received eight of nine first-place votes, was the only freshman to earn first-team all-conference honors.
Joining Mullins, Aragon-Menzel and Lipacis as first-team all-SCAC selections are senior outside hitter
Allie Freeburg and junior outside hitter
Isabella Vasquez.
Vasquez, who earned all-conference honors for the first time, ranks fifth in the SCAC and third on the team averaging 2.92 kills per set. She also was 11th in the league with a career-high 270 hitting percentage and 19th averaging 2.98 digs per set. She also was third on the team with 166.5 points and fifth with 10 aces.
One of the top all-around players in the conference, Vasquez produced nine matches with double-digit kills and nine with double-digit digs. She recorded double-doubles six times.
Freeburg, also a first-time first-team all-conference selection, ranks third in the SCAC averaging a team-leading 0.38 service aces per set, is 10th in the conference and second among CC's primary hitters with a .274 hitting percentage, and is tied for 14th in the SCAC and ranks fourth on the team averaging 2.35 kills.
Finally,
Laney Swan earned a spot on the third team for the first all-conference honor of her career. The senior right-side hitter is fifth on the team averaging 1.28 kills per set and fifth with a .248 hitting percentage. Swan hit .533 with nine kills on 15 swings with only one error in the second match against Austin College on March 28.
Rick Swan was honored by his peers for the sixth time after guiding the Tigers to a 14-0 record, the program's third perfect regular-season conference mark in the last six seasons.
Despite having to replace a pair of All-Americans and four first-team all-conference selections, Swan guided Colorado College to the top of the SCAC standings for the fourth year in a row as well as the No. 1 ranking in the AVCA's Division III Poll for the second time in program history.
CC plays host to Trinity University in the championship match of the SCAC Tournament on Saturday at noon MT at Reid Arena.