Box Score How It Happened
A stifling defensive effort enabled #16 Colorado School of Mines (11-2, 5-0) to cruise to a 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-19) victory over Black Hills State (2-10, 0-5) on Friday, September 30 in Lockridge Arena.

While the Yellow Jackets came in as one of the best defensive squads in the RMAC, it was the Mines defense that really shined as they held BHSU to .000 hitting on the night with a 51-38 advantage in digs and seven blocks.

Mines came out of the blocks motivated and determined as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the blink of an eye. The Yellow Jackets would shrink the lead to only four momentarily, but the Orediggers turned up the pressure and cruised to an opening set victory, 25-11.

Black Hills better acquitted themselves for a while in set two as they trailed only 10-8 midway through. It was then that Mines got a pair of kills LaRose Currie and got excellent defense from Madeline Behr, Alanna Winfield and Ashlyn Eitemiller at the net to balloon the advantage to 18-9. From there it was fairly academic as the Orediggers coasted to a 25-17 win.

Then, in the third and final set, Black Hills came out really motivated and hung with Mines for a spell. Trailing 11-10, the Orediggers went on an 8-1 run to stake an 18-12 lead it would never relinquish.

Notables
-    In a matchup of the top two libero's in the RMAC, it was Mines' Taryn Huber who bested BHSU's Lacy Stevens with a 19-10 advantage in digs. 
-    The only player for either team to reach double-digit kills was Eliie Monarch who had 10 on the night for a game-high .412 hitting.
-    LaRose Currie was right behind her with nine kills on .316 hitting and eight digs.
-    Marina Hansen had a strong night with 31 assists, seven digs, two aces and a solo block.
-    While it was one of her quietest nights of the season, Alanna Winfield still produced seven kills, six digs, and a game-high four blocks.

Up Next
Mines is back home again tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. when they host S.D. Mines & Tech for W.A.M. Night and the start of the Dig Pink month.