GOLDEN – The No. 16 Colorado School of Mines volleyball team rebounded from a 13-10 deficit in the fifth and deciding set to post a 16-14 victory en route to a 3-2 match win over visiting Western New Mexico in front of a raucous crowd at Lockridge Arena on Friday evening.
The win allowed the Orediggers (17-4, 11-1 RMAC) to increase their lead on the rest of the league atop the RMAC standings, while also allowing the team to tie a program-record with its 10th straight victory.
Mines has now won 17 of its last 18 matches and grabbed some revenge over the Mustangs (17-5, 9-4 RMAC), who snapped the squad's program-record win streak last season with a 3-2 victory in Silver City, N.M.
Senior Melanie Wannamaker notched her fourth 20-plus kill effort of the season, and her second over the past three matches, with a 21-kill effort on Friday.
She added seven digs and three blocks defensively while hitting .275 on the offensive end after entering the weekend as the reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.
Rookie Alanna Winfield inched closer to the 300-kill plateau with 17 kills on a .288 attack percentage in Friday's win. The Houston, Texas, product now has 293 kills on the season, and added a pair of blocks on the defensive side.
Sarah Pekarek notched her eighth double-double of the season with a 16-kill, 16-dig effort in the win, while freshman Samantha Fischer added a career-high 13 kills on a .550 attack percentage while also leading the team with five total blocks.
Sophomore Danielle Johnson-Hazlewood, the reigning RMAC Setter of the Week, dished out a career-best 72 assists – good for the third-most in program history during the Division II era – en route to her 11th double-double of the season with 19 digs on Friday.
Senior Hannah Margheim once again led the back line with 22 digs while the duo of Cassie Vick and Taryn Huber combined for 30, including 17 by Vick.
Margheim's 22-dig effort put her over 1,700 for her career.
The Mustangs took the first lead in the match after outlasting the Orediggers during a competitive first set by a score of 28-26 before the hosts rattled off two-straight set wins with matching 25-17 scores.
Mines faltered late in set four to allow the visitors to capture a 25-23 victory to push the match to a fifth set and used the momentum to take an early 5-1 lead in the deciding game.
Mines clawed its way back by capturing four of the next five points to trim the deficit to 6-5, but the Mustangs rebounded to push their lead back out to 12-9.
A kill by Angelina Pulu put WNMU up 13-10 before Mines captured six of the final seven points to capture the set, 16-14, and the match, 3-2.
The squad will close out its current four-match home stand tomorrow with a 5 p.m. matchup against New Mexico Highlands at Lockridge Arena.
