MIAC hands out volleyball, soccer awards
The 2011 MIAC Volleyball, Men's Soccer and Women's Soccer Awards were handed out last week with awards such as Player- and Coach-of-the-Year, All-Conference teams and All-MIAC Sportsmanship teams announced. The conference co-champs - Concordia and St. Thomas - split the volleyball awards, as the Cobbers' Jenna Green earned Player-of-the-Year honors and coach Tim Mosser was vote the Coach-of-the-Year. Meanwhile, Tommies' freshman Kelly Foley was named MIAC Rookie-of-the-Year and libero Kaitlain Wachter was named Defensive Player-of-the-Year.

In soccer, Saint Benedict's Colleen Bouchard and Concordia's Sarah Rounds shared MIAC Women's Soccer Player-of-the-Year honors, and Bouchard's coach, Steve Kimble, was named the MIAC Coach-of-the-Year. St. Olaf swept the men's awards with David Rosenthal winning Player-of-the-Year honors, and Kurt Anderson receiving the coaching award.

Use the links below to see the complete All-Conference teams and more for volleyball and soccer.

| 2011 MIAC Volleyball Awards |
| 2011 MIAC Men's Soccer Awards |

| 2011 MIAC Women's Soccer Awards |

St. Thomas picked to win both basketball titles in 2011-12

The MIAC released its 2011-12 Basketball Previews and Preseason Coaches' Polls Monday, and the league coaches selected St. Thomas to finish atop both the men's and women's standings. The Tommie men - fresh off their NCAA Division III National Championship - received six first-place votes to claim the top spot in the men's poll, with St. Olaf and Augsburg also receiving first-place votes. Meanwhile, the Tommie women were a unanimous pick, receiving 11 first-place votes (coaches could not vote for their own team) while Gustavus got the other first-place vote. The 2011-12 season tipped off with nonconference games on Tuesday, with the first MIAC contests scheduled for Nov. 30.

| 2011-12 MIAC Men's Basketball Preview and Preseason Coaches' Poll |

| 2011-12 MIAC Women's Basketball Preview and Preseason Coaches' Poll |

Two MIAC teams advance to Women's Soccer Sweet 16
Both Saint Benedict and Concordia won a pair of NCAA Women's Soccer playoff games last week to advance to the Sweet 16. Sarah Rounds scored in the first overtime to give Concordia a 2-1 win over UC-Santa Cruz on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cobbers will now advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the second time in the past three seasons. CC will play SUNY-Cortland on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 12:30 p.m. at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. It was the ninth overtime game for the Cobbers this season. CC is now 2-1-6 in those extra session games. Overall, Concordia is now 13-3-6 on the season.

The College of Saint Benedict Blazer Soccer team (13-6-3 overall) will play Washington University from St. Louis (16-4) in the third round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:30 pm on November 18 in Wheaton, Illinois. The Blazers are coming off of a 2-1 win over ninth ranked Loras College. Sophomore forward Colleen Bouchard and first-year midfielder Heidi Hanson added goals for the Blazers to secure the win. Washington University is coming off of a 2-0 win over the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The winner will play on Saturday, November 19 at 5 pm, versus the winner of Wheaton and University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

St. Thomas volleyball, football set for postseason play this weekend

The No. 11-ranked Tommie volleyball team (32-4) stormed to their second consecutive region championship last weekend in Moorhead. The Toms topped UW-Eau Claire, 3-0, in round one; rallied from a 2-1 deficit to outlast St. Scholastica in five games in the semifinals; then topped No. 7-ranked Concordia, 3-0, for the crown. UST, which has won 19 of its last 20 matches, will face Eastern (Pa.) in Friday's national quarterfinals in St. Louis at 5:30 p.m. Senior setter Ashley Maher, in her first season as a starter, made second-team AVCA All-America; junior libero Kaitlain Wachter, who recently surpassed 2,000 career digs, made third-team All-America. Freshman Kelly Foley was named AVCA National Freshman of the Year.

The No. 3-ranked Tommie football team (10-0) is home Saturday for a noon kickoff against St. Scholastica (10-0)in round one of the 32-team NCAA Division III playoffs. The Tommies, 3-0 all-time in NCAA playoff first-round games, and are 11-1 in November games under Coach Glenn Caruso. For St. Scholastica, it will be its first NCAA playoff game in the four-year history of its football program. It will be the 918th all-time game for Tommie football -- as it moves alone into second place for most games played by a Minnesota university -- but just the 39th game in program history for the Saints. UST's Fritz Waldvogel has tied a Division III record by catching a pass in each of his 40 career regular-season games. He has at least one reception in all 46 career games. He needs 84 yards to reach 4,000 career receiving yards.

MIAC sends three teams and six individuals to cross country nationals

The MIAC will be well-represented at this weekend's NCAA Division III Cross Country championships with three teams and six individuals all competing. The MIAC has two women's teams - Carleton and St. Olaf - in the field, with one team - Hamline - on the men's side. The Piper men will be joined by St. Thomas' Ben Sathre - the top returner after last year's second-place finish at nationals - as well as Concordia's Tom Sederquist and Bethel's Zach Haskins. The individual runners in the women's field are St. Thomas teammates Taylor Berg and Erin Statz and Gustavus' Brooke Beskau. UW-Oshkosh will host the championships on Saturday at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wis. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. followed by the men's race at noon.

This year, the MIAC enters its second season with weekly television exposure in the Twin Cities and beyond thanks to GameON! The weekly sports show features "The MIAC Minute" each week, where host/producer Rod Simons sits down for an interview with a coach, student-athlete or administrator from the conference.

This week, Simons' guest will be Wright Walling, attorney and co-founder of Walling, Berg & Debele professional association, which sponsors the weekly MIAC Minute. Walling is a friend of the MIAC and will talk about his love for the conference and Division III athletics, along with some other adoption initiatives through his firm. Next week's guest will be first-year Saint Benedict hockey coach Jennifer Kranz.

Tune in to GameON! every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on MY29 in the Twin Cities. For MIAC fans outsite the metro area, visit the show's home page to watch full archived episodes. Fans are also invited to attend the weekly tapings, which are Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at Seven Steakhouse/Sushi/Ultralounge & Skybar on the corner of Hennepin and 7th in downtown Minneapolis.

In addition to the MIAC home page, stay connected to the conference through its various social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.