DENVER - #18 Colorado School of Mines advanced to the NCAA Volleyball Championship Second Round, beating Angelo State 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 25-20) in Thursday's first round.

The Orediggers (25-5) beat the Rambelles (21-10) for the first time in NCAA play after having exited at their hands in three of the last four tournaments. Mines advances to face Regis, a 3-0 winner over St. Mary's, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. In the other first-round matches, MSU Denver outlasted Texas A&M-Commerce in five and West Texas A&M beat Tarleton State 3-1.

Mines hit .305 for the match led by the middle combo of Abby Tiesman and Madeline Behr, who hit for 15 and 13 kills, respectively, while combining for a .415 percentage. Ellie Monarch added 10 kills hitting .562 from the right side while Lindsey Jin had 10 kills from the outside.

LaRose Currie powered the defense with 24 digs as Mines held the Rambelles to .202 over the first two sets in building a 2-0 lead. The Orediggers cruised in the first set, hitting .351 behind five kills from each of its middles, and Monarch's four kills paced a .290 second set to go up 2-0.

Angelo State wouldn't go away, however, getting up early and pulling away at the tail end of the third while holding Mines to only .114, but the Orediggers responded with a clinical fourth set, hitting .500 as Marina Hansen dished out 17 assists in the set to clinch the match.

Brianna Sotello led ASU with a match-high 20 kills, and Anna Graham had 14.
 

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QUOTABLES

"All you want as a coach is for your team to come and grind it out, to keep pushing the game plan and making adjustments. I like that we came away hitting .305." - head coach Jamie Skadeland

"We're a team that loves our middles, but if we can't find our middles, we can't score. I think it's huge, especially for both of us on the right side, that even if we can't find the middle, all five of us can score." - Ellie Monarch on the play of the front row

"I think it gives us confidence going into the next round. It's huge that we're close to home, too." - Monarch on the confidence gained by beating ASU for the first time in the postseason