Complete All-MIAC Team

WINONA, Minn. — With her sixth assist of the first set against Carleton on Oct. 24, Saint Mary's University's Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) reached a career milestone, recording her 2,000th career assist.

On Wednesday, Assimos reached another milestone, as the Cardinals' junior setter was named to the All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference First-Team.

Assimos was the Cardinals' floor general this season, helping SMU to a 5-6 MIAC record and a 14-14 overall mark. She boasted a team-leading 816 assists this season — including a season-high 45 assists against Concordia on Sept. 29. Assimos boasted five matches with 40 or more assists, and enters her senior year with 2,066 career assists — ranking her seventh all-time.

Along with her ability to dish the ball off, Assimos also proved to be a valuable threat on the attack, compiling 113 kills and hitting a team-best .264. She also recorded 23 service aces, 196 digs and 46 blocks.

Kelly Foley and Thanh Pham of MIAC regular-season champion St. Thomas, were named the conference's Player and Coach of the Year, respectively, while Bethel's Val Smith was tabbed the MIAC Defensive Player of the Year and Olivia Wangensteen of Concordia earned MIAC Rookie of the Year honors.

As part of the conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC also announced the seventh annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for volleyball, which included SMU's Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn.).