Cottey wins A.I.I. Player, Coach of the Year honors

Cottey College junior Lily Miller (2) rises for a spike while head coach Marla Kannady Foreman, left, looks on during a match this season. The Association of Independent Institutions named Miller its Player of the Year and Kannady Foreman its Coach of the Year after the Comets won the conference tournament and advanced to their first NAIA national championship.

File Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

Winning the Association of Independent Institutions conference tournament didn’t just book the Cottey College volleyball team its first-ever trip to the NAIA National Championship.

It also garnered the Comets the conference’s top postseason awards.

This week, junior outside hitter Lily Miller was named the 2020-21 A.I.I. Player of the Year, and Marla Kannady Foreman was selected as the league’s Coach of the Year.

In addition to those honors, Miller joined teammates Mackenzie Green, Emily Killion, Briannah Quick, and Jocelyn Tidwell on the All-Conference list.

Other top A.I.I. honors went to Jordan Price (Defensive Player of the Year) and Leigh Cleggett (Setter of the Year) of Lincoln Christian University, with Price and Cleggett also being named to the All-Conference team along with their teammates Sam Hazzard, Karis Horton, and Phoebe Olden.

Crowley’s Ridge College’s Olivia Deckelman, Emi Elms, Kaitlyn Perkins, and Kaitlyn Stebelton rounded out the All-Conference selections.

Cottey will open the NAIA tournament at Central Methodist University at 5 p.m. on Saturday in Fayette.