How It Happened
The 18th-ranked Colorado School of Mines shook off a slow start to dominate visiting New Mexico Highlands by the final of 3-1 (20-25, 25-13, 25-15, 25-8) on Friday, September 16 in Lockridge Arena.

After shrugging off a slow start, Mines (7-2, 1-0) showed why they are the perennial top program in the RMAC as they got a complete team effort to easily dispatch NMHU (3-2, 0-1) in the conference opening match for both programs.

That slow start for the Orediggers cost them the opening set as the Cowgirls were able to capitalize on Mines' .049 team hitting to take the frame, 25-20. 

The celebration wouldn't last long for Highlands though as Mines came alive in the second set. Leading only 11-10 near the midway point, the Orediggers ended the set on a massive 14-3 run. That run wasn't just the defining run of the frame, but of the match as Colorado School of Mines was dominant the rest of the way. 

The third set saw Mines hit a collective .400 as Ashlyn Eitemiller's five kills allowed them to run away with the frame, 25-15. From there, the Orediggers broke an early 3-3 deadlock before closing out the match on an insane 22-5 in set four run to move to 1-0 in league play. That final set was highlighted by the fantastic play of Janice Jin and Alanna Winfield who had five and four kills, respectively. 

Notables
-    Ellie Monarch, Alanna Winfield, Ashlyn Eitemiller and Janice Jin each had a match-high 12 kills to give Mines four players with double-digit kills.
-    Monarch and Jin each hit a .450 or above clip while Eitemiller and Winfield were .300 or better.
-    Winfield also had 11 digs to give her the Orediggers' only double-double of the night. In addition, with Winfield's 12 kills tonight she now has 1,395 which moves her into fifth all-time in the school record books.
-    Monarch had the team-lead with four blocks (one solo).
-    Marina Hansen was strong again as she dished out 45 assists to go along with eight digs and four kills.
-    Speaking of digs, Mines has 58 on the night with Taryn Huber collecting 16 of them. Huber now has 1,440 career digs which put her only 12 away from tying Elizabeth Serra-Hsu (2007-10) for third most in program history.
-    Mines hit .318 as a team, and held Highlands to only .149 for the game. 

Up Next
The Orediggers are home again tomorrow night as they host CSU-Pueblo at 5 p.m. Tomorrow's game is also Professor Appreciation Night.