How It Happened
Playing against a determined and motivated Colorado Christian squad, the #19 Colorado School of Mines (23-5, 16-2) volleyball squad got a dominant team-centric shutout at CCU to lock up their fourth straight RMAC Regular Season Championship – outright.
Hitting a collective .310 as a team, Mines defeated the Cougars on their home court 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-21) in match that had CCU won would have got them into the RMAC Tournament.
Mines left little doubt in the opening game that they were in Lakewood determined to win as they hit a sizzling .415 and threw down 20 kills for the 25-19 win. Senior Megan Peterson blasted five kills on eight attacks while junior Alanna Winfield, senior Frannie Cormier and freshman Janice Jin each drilled four.
As dominant as that first set was, the Orediggers won the second set by the comfortable margin of 25-16. Carrying a slight 5-3 lead, Mines went on an 8-0 run to essentially put the frame out of reach at 13-3. Four different Orediggers supplied at least one kill during that key stretch.
Now with their backs against the wall, CCU came out determined in the third set to not go into the night quietly. The Cougars would stay within three most of the frame and even got within one (16-15) midway through the game, but CSM did just enough to get the 25-21 victory.
Notables
- Mines simply had a strong offensive night as four different Orediggers hit at least .300 on the afternoon.
- Alanna Winfield had a game-high 12 kills while hitting .333, but Megan Peterson wasn't far behind with 10 kills while hitting a game-high .429.
- For the second consecutive game, Mines held its opponent to under a .100 attacking average as they held CCU to .083. They held Regis to .073 this past Thursday.
- Leading that defensive charge was junior Taryn Huber who a team-best 24 of Mines' 66 digs on the day.
- Senior setter Danielle Johnson-Hazlewood came up one dig shot of what would have been her 17th double-double of the season with 43 assists and nine digs. Her 43 assists tied her season-high for assists in a three-set match.
- CSM has now won six consecutive matches and have won 14 of its last 16 matches overall.
Up Next
With the RMAC Regular Season Championship in hand, Mines will now turn its attention to the RMAC Tournament. The Orediggers will likely host eighth-seeded CSU-Pueblo this coming Tuesday, November 17 in the first round of the tournament.
