GUNNISON, Colo. – Senior middle blocker Abby Tiesman dominated the Mountaineers of Western Colorado on Saturday night and led the Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team to a sweep inside Paul Wright Gym.
 
Tiesman finished the match with 12 kills on 17 attempts and no errors to hit .706 in the match. She also added four digs and one service ace for good measure. Teammate Lindsey Jin had a stellar night too, posting 12 kills and hitting .500 while adding two service aces, one block and five digs. Julia Eiken provided production on both sides of the ball thanks to seven kills and no errors while adding four blocks as well. Stokes capped it all off by dishing out 35 assists and leading the team with eight digs.
 
The victory extends the Orediggers' winning streak to four straight matches and fully clinches a berth in the 2019 RMAC Volleyball Tournament. Mines (19-6, 12-5 RMAC) finished the sweep hitting .337 as a team while holding Western Colorado (11-14, 7-10 RMAC) to just .042 on the attack. As a team, the Orediggers only committed 11 errors on nearly 90 attempts on offense. The visitors also produced 18 more assists and 15 more digs than the Mountaineers. Mines currently sits tied for fourth in the conference standings and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Colorado Mesa.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Simply put, Saturday night's match was all Orediggers. Mines never trailed and was only tied with the opposition three times through three sets. All three of those ties took place in the second frame. But let's start at the beginning. In the first set, Tiesman led an attack that hit a red-hot .545 while the senior led all players with six kills on eight attempts and no errors. That resulted in a .750 hitting percentage for Tiesman and a -.036 percentage for Western Colorado as Mines ran away with a 25-10 win.
 
The second set was the closest of the night. It featured three ties including a deadlock at 20-20. However, the Mountaineers failure to gain the lead allowed the Orediggers to run off five unanswered points for the 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. Mines left no doubt in the final set and rode six kills from Jin to a 25-17 match-clinching victory. The Orediggers were able to out-hit the home team despite being out-blocked by a margin of 6-5.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines boast a record of 13-1 against Western Colorado with Jamie Magalei as head coach.
- The Orediggers have swept the Mountaineers 11 times in 14 meetings during the Magalei era.
- Friday marked Mines' 13th sweep of an opponent this season. The Orediggers are 13-2 in three-set affairs.  
- Tiesman's .706 hitting percentage is a career high for the senior and ranks #4 in program history for hitting percentage in a single match.
- The last Oredigger to hit over .700 in a match was Janice Jin against CSU-Pueblo on Oct. 23, 2015.
- Lindsey Jin's performance on Saturday helped her finish the weekend with 35 kills while hitting .433.
- Elle Duis's seven digs at Western Colorado gives the sophomore 900 digs for her career.
- Eiken also posted a career high with her four blocks against Western Colorado. Her previous single-match high was three which she achieved four different times.
- The Orediggers are now 110-16 in RMAC play dating back to 2012.
- Head coach Jamie Magalei is 274-93 in 12 seasons at the helm.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Orediggers close the regular season on Friday at UCCS at 7 p.m. in Colorado Springs. Live stats and video of the match will be available at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics. Fans can also follow Mines Volleyball on Twitter using the handle @MinesVolleyball.