2018 All-RMAC Volleyball Teams

COLORADO SPRINGS – True freshman setter Drew Stokes was named RMAC Setter of the Year and RMAC Freshman of the Year Tuesday as the RMAC champion Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team placed six Orediggers on the 2018 All-RMAC teams.
 
Stokes also earned First-Team All-RMAC honors as did Lindsey Jin and Abby Tiesman. Fellow freshman Amanda Donais was named Second-Team All-RMAC while Taylor Hicken and Elle Duis earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC distinction. The Orediggers; six honorees tied for second most in the conference across all three teams. The announcement also marks the second straight year Mines has had the conference setter of the year on its roster after Marina Hansen earned the award last season.
 
Stokes' two awards were fueled by her RMAC-leading 11.76 assists per set which ranks #11 in all of NCAA Division II. She finished the regular season with 1,141 total assists which ranks #9 on Mines' single-season list – just nine assists behind Danielle Johnson-Hazlewood's freshman campaign. The Illinois native was named RMAC Setter of the Week five times and she recorded five double-doubles. Stokes was also named to the 2018 Oredigger Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team. Mines' setter capped off her impressive freshman regular season with 160 digs, 74 kills, 35 total blocks and 16 service aces while hitting .409 on the attack.
 
Tiesman was named to the top team for the second time in her career after a stellar season in all facets of the game. During the regular season, Tiesman racked up 339 kills, 93 total blocks, 105 digs and 24 service aces. She led the team in kills, kills per set, attacking percentage, total blocks and blocks per set. The junior ranked #4 in the RMAC in kills per set, #5 in hitting percentage, #7 in blocks per set and #3 in points per set. She also led the league in solo blocks. The first-team honor adds to an already lengthy list of 2018 accolades that includes RMAC First-Team All-Academic, RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (8/27, 9/10), Oredigger Volleyball Classic MVP and All-Tournament team, and Preseason All-RMAC.
 
Lindsey Jin bolstered her RMAC reputation with the second First-Team All-RMAC honor of her career after taking home the same distinction as a freshman in 2017. Lindsey Jin was second on the team with 252 kills while adding 32 total blocks and 22 service aces. The Colorado Springs native hit .224 for the Orediggers with 2.60 kills per set as she was also named RMAC First-Team All-Academic, RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (10/15), Oredigger Volleyball Classic All-Tournament and Preseason All-RMAC. Lindsey Jin's 2018 honors add to her AVCA South Central Freshman of the Year and AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region awards from 2017.
 
Donais took home second-team honors as a freshman after establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with defensively, on the attack and in the service game. The highlight of Donais' freshman campaign was a team-high 33 service aces. She led the RMAC with 0.38 aces per set and finished the regular season second in total service aces. Donais also racked up 200 kills and 205 digs – the only Oredigger with over 200 in both categories. The California native also added 37 total blocks in her first regular season at Mines.
 
Hicken earned her honorable mention distinction thanks to 203 kills at 2.28 kills per set. Her .325 hitting percentage was second on the team and #7 in the RMAC – as a true freshman. Hicken was also dominant on defense, knocking down 59 total blocks including a seven-block outing against UCCS in the regular-season finale. Her 18 kills in that same match netted the Littleton, Colo., native RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.
 
Elle Duis rounded out the Orediggers' six-woman contingency thanks to 444 digs, 82 assists and 24 service aces. She closed the regular season ranked #7 in the RMAC in total digs and digs per set – as a true freshman. The Texas native was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week twice. With the postseason left to play, Elle Duis needs just eight more digs to break into Mines' single-season top-10.
 
As a team, Mines (22-4, 16-2 RMAC) clinched its second straight RMAC regular-season crown with its four-set win over UCCS in the regular-season finale. It marks the Orediggers' sixth title in program history and possibly the most impressive with nine freshman on a 15-person roster. Despite sharing the title with Dixie State, Mines claimed the #1 seed for the RMAC Tournament thanks to its win over the Trailblazers in regular-season play. The Orediggers led the conference in hitting percentage, assists per set and kills per set. Mines' hitting percentage of .271 also ranks #8 in all of NCAA Division II.
 
Mines opens RMAC Tournament play tonight (Tuesday), hosting Fort Lewis in a quarterfinal showdown inside Lockridge Arena at 7 p.m. Live stats and video of all the RMAC Tournament matches will be available at www.MinesAthletics.com.
 
Keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.