KANSAS CITY, MO – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced its All-MIAA teams and postseason award winners for the 2026 women’s soccer season. Fifty-two student-athletes earned postseason honors, highlighted by the league’s eight major award winners.
 
Fourteen student-athletes were named All-MIAA First Team selections, 15 were named All-MIAA Second Team selections, and 23 were All-MIAA Honorable Mention selections. Nebraska Kearney, the 2026 MIAA regular season champion, and Emporia State led the league with nine postseason honors each. Washburn and Central Oklahoma totaled eight honors apiece, followed by Missouri Western, the regular season’s runner-up, with seven total honors.
 
Emporia State’s Lavra Krizanic highlighted the Association’s postseason awards with the 2026 Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year accolades. The 5’10 outside hitter from Ljubljana, Slovenia, started 27 matches and played 97 sets for the Hornets in the regular season. Krizanic, the reigning league’s Freshman of the Year, totaled an MIAA-leading 338 kills to rank second in the league with 3.48 kills per set. She added 22 service aces and 59.0 total blocks (52 assisted, 7 solo) to rank second in the MIAA with 4.05 points per set. Her 316 digs and 3.26 digs per set also ranked in the league’s top 15.
 
Pittsburg State’s Crystal Smith was a unanimous selection for the MIAA’s Blocker of the Year after leading the league and all of NCAA Division II with 188 total blocks and 1.74 blocks per set. With the addition of her 314 total kills, the 5’9 sophomore from Jasper, Missouri, collected an MIAA-leading 435.5 points in the regular season (4.03 points per set/108 sets). Smith also owned an impressive .386 hitting percentage, which ranks second among MIAA hitters.
 
Central Oklahoma’s Riley Roberts was selected as the league’s 2026 Setter of the Year. The 5’10 senior setter and right side hitter from Washington, Oklahoma, led all MIAA setters with 9.58 assists per set, totaling 939 assists in 98 sets played. She also added 114 kills in the regular season and ranks fifth in the league with a .342 hitting percentage.
 
Nebraska Kearney’s Ellie Spang and Missouri Western’s Anna Weberg were named Co-Liberos of the Year. Spang, a 5’6 senior from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, leads the MIAA regular season champions with 443 digs and ranks fifth in the MIAA with 5.03 digs per set. Weberg, a 5’7 senior from Omaha, Nebraska, leads the league and ranks in Division II’s top 10 with 5.46 digs per set. Her 524 total digs rank second in the MIAA.
 
Emporia State’s Piper Bahr was honored as the 2026 Freshman of the Year. The 5’10 outside hitter from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, ranked in the league’s top 16 in both kills and points with 3.04 kills and 3.27 points per set. In 81 sets played, Bahr totaled 246 kills, 14 service aces and 9.0 blocks. She also collected 138 digs for 1.7 digs per set.
 
Lopers Head Coach Rick Squiers was selected as the MIAA Coach of the Year by his peers. In his 27th season at Nebraska Kearney, Squiers led the Lopers to an undefeated conference record and the program’s ninth MIAA regular season title since joining the Association in 2012. The Lopers lead the league in almost every offensive stat category and rank within Division II’s top 10 in team hitting percentage (sixth—.291) and kills per set (eighth—14.13). This is Squiers’s fifth MIAA Coach of the Year award, also earning the honor in 2024, 2019, 2016 and 2012.
 
All 52 MIAA volleyball postseason award honorees are listed below.

The top eight teams from the regular season advanced to the 2026 MIAA Volleyball Championship, hosted by the St. Joseph Sports Commission November 12-16 at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Missouri. To purchase tickets, view the official bracket, or find more information on the 2026 MIAA postseason volleyball tournament, visit theMIAA.com/volleyballchampionship.
   
ALL-MIAA FIRST TEAM
OH    Maya Fergerson – Central Missouri
OH    Lavra Krizanic – Emporia State
OH    Carly Purdy – Nebraska Kearney
OH    Brynn Stowell – Nebraska Kearney
RS    Maddi LaPointe – Pittsburg State
RS    Tanith Roush – Missouri Western
RS    Taylor Russell – Missouri Western
MB    Sydney Davis – Nebraska Kearney
MB    Crystal Smith – Pittsburg State*
S    Brailee Bogle – Emporia State
S    Riley Roberts – Central Oklahoma
L/DS    Taylor Rottinghaus - Washburn
L/DS    Ellie Spang – Nebraska Kearney
L/DS    Anna Weberg – Missouri Western
*Indicates Unanimous Selection
 
ALL-MIAA SECOND TEAM
OH    Piper Bahr – Emporia State
OH    Maliyah Johnson – Pittsburg State
OH    Hayden Meats – Washburn
OH    Sky Miller – Newman
OH    Lydia Pitts – Arkansas Fort Smith
OH    Emma Siron – Washburn
OH    Brynne Topolski – Washburn
RS    Ella Goodwin – Fort Hays State
MB    Kaelyn McDonald – Central Missouri
MB    Mackenzie Peters – Missouri Western
MB    Ashlyn Reeves – Fort Hays State
S    Annie Eaton – Fort Hays State
S    Ellie Eckman – Nebraska Kearney
L/DS    Kaitlyn Parrott – Central Oklahoma
L/DS    Miyu Tsurumaki – Emporia State
(team reflects ties in voting)

ALL-MIAA HONORABLE MENTION
Arkansas Fort Smith – Mayli Whetter, S
Central Missouri – Ragin Corwin, L/DS
Central Oklahoma – Sawyer Franz, OH; Myla Unterweger, OH; Kate Wells, MB; Georgia Ahlert, MB; Morgan Manning, L/DS
Emporia State – Maja Ciosek, OH; Brooklynn Weaver, MB
Missouri Southern – Grace Gardner, OH
Missouri Western – Holly Heldt, OH; Katelyn Diani-O’Day, S
Nebraska Kearney – Grace Schmedding, OH; Callie Squiers, S
Newman – Isabella Lamb, MB
Northwest Missouri – Gabby Gartner, RS; Sophia Gartner, OH; Mya Karrick, S; Ellery Luhring, L/DS
Washburn – Natalie Hedlund, OH; Brooklyn Morrissey, MB; Shannon Frakes, S; Autumn Gibbs, L/DS