COLORADO SPRINGS – Senior middle blocker Abby Tiesman led the Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team to a pair of sweeps on Friday on the opening day of the Mountain Lion Invitational hosted by UCCS as Mines defeated Minot State and UAFS in straight sets.
 
Tiesman finished the day with 30 kills in six sets while hitting over .400 in both matches. She also added seven digs, four blocks and three service aces on the day. Megan Neil was another outstanding performer for the Orediggers as she racked up 17 kills in two contests and hit over .600 in Mines' first win of the day. Additionally, Taylor Hicken and Amanda Donais closed the first day of action with 16 kills apiece. On defense, Elle Duis was a rock on Mines' back line as she tossed up 15 digs and anchored the serve-receive portion of the match. Drew Stokes maintained her usual setter ways by notching 79 assists, eight digs and two blocks.
 
As a team, the Orediggers (5-1) amassed 92 kills on just over 200 attempts. They out-hit both opponents by a significant margin and kept both Minot State (0-6) and UAFS (4-2) under .200 on the attack. Mines' lone blemish on the day was being out-blocked by an overall margin of 8-7. The Orediggers are now tied for the second-best record in all the RMAC with Regis (6-0) as the only team ahead in the overall record category.
 
Match One – Mines 3 (25, 25, 25), Minot State 0 (14, 17, 19)
Mines dominated its first match of the day from start to finish. In the opening set, the Orediggers busted out an early, 7-0 run sparked by four kills and one block from Tiesman. That surge gave Mines a 9-1 lead which grew to 12-3 courtesy of kills from Tiesman and true freshman Rose Stuewe. Minot State responded with a 6-2 run of its own, but it would not be enough. Boasting a 16-10 advantage, the Orediggers won nine of the last 13 points for a dominant 25-14 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The second set went back-and-forth in the early going. However, runs of 6-1 and 7-0 gave Mines a 22-13 advantage which it would not surrender as the Orediggers took a commanding 2-0 by way of the 25-17 win. Despite an early deficit in the third frame, Mines would seal the deal by a margin of 25-19 with Tiesman appropriately knocking down the final point.
 
Match Two – Mines 3 (25, 25, 25), UAFS 0 (17, 21, 15)
Tiesman's clinic continued in the second contest of the day. She rolled over the Lady Lions out of Fort Smith, Ark., to the tune of 14 kills on 27 attempts for a hitting percentage of .481. Her performance was nearly matched by Hicken who racked up 12 kills on .435 hitting. It was also Stokes' best performance of the day as she dished out 42 assists and nearly came up with the double-double thanks to seven digs. Defensively, Elle Duis hit the double-digit mark in digs with 10.
 
Mines cued up the first game with a 4-0 run and did not look back as it took a 1-0 lead, 25-17. The second set proved similar thanks to a 7-1 run to make it 10-5. UAFS would come back to tie that frame at 14-14, but could not pull off the win. The Orediggers would take another commanding, 2-0 lead by way of a 25-21 score. The highlight of the match-clinching round was a 10-1 run in the middle of the game fueled by four more kills from Tiesman. The final tally was 25-15 and another sweep for Mines.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines has recorded four sweeps in five wins in 2019.
- Neil's .643 hitting percentage against Minot State marked a career high for the sophomore, and she came just one kill shy of tying her career-best mark in that category.
- The Orediggers held Minot State to just .025 on the attack.
- Daniel Mullen surpassed 200 digs for her career with 11 on the day.
- Stokes now has exactly 100 kills in two seasons with Mines.
- Tiesman hit the 250 mark in career blocks thanks to four in two matches.
- Head coach Jamie Magalei is 261-88 in 12 seasons at Mines.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines closes the Mountain Lion Invitational on Saturday with matches against Emporia State and Angelo State starting at 1 p.m. Live stats and video of the match will be available at www.minesathletics.com.
 
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