GAME DAY INFO
New in 2019, fans can purchase digital tickets online in advance via Mines' new ticketing portal, or buy them at the gate on game day. Ticket pricing remains the same as 2018 at $10 for adults and $5 for seniors, military, and children. Mines students, faculty, and staff are free with their Blaster Card. No pets (except service animals) are permitted inside Lockridge Arena.
 
ON THE RMAC NETWORK
Every Mines home game can be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at minesathletics.com/tv. The RMAC Network can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Android TV devices by going to the app store and searching "RMAC".
 
WHAT'S HAPPENIN'
Friday and Saturday mark the dawn of conference play for the Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team. The Orediggers begin their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference season by hosting Colorado Christian at 7 p.m. on Friday with #18-ranked Regis on Saturday at 5 p.m. Both matches will be played inside Lockridge Arena. Mines enters the weekend as the defending RMAC Regular-Season Champions while also riding a four-match winning streak carried over from non-conference action.
 
FREE FOOD AND GIVEAWAYS
This weekend, Mines Athletics is bringing its A-game with the free food and giveaways. On Friday against Colorado Christian, the first 75 students through the door get a free Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. Saturday gets even better with free Domino's Pizza for the first 50 fans and raffle for two free tickets to a Denver Broncos game in December. Every fan through the door will receive a raffle ticket at no cost and the drawing will take place at the intermission between the second and third sets. Safe to say, it's a can't-miss kind of situation.
 
THE PERFECT WEEKEND
While coaches Magalei and Roberts would argue last Friday and Saturday were far from perfect, a 4-0 record over the two days says otherwise. Mines went undefeated at the Mountain Lion Invitational hosted by UCCS in Colorado Springs, taking down Minot State, UAFS, Emporia State and Angelo State. The Orediggers only dropped one set in the process, and three individuals were named to the all-tournament team in Abby Tiesman, Taylor Hicken and Elle Duis. The highlight of the weekend was arguably Mines' last match on Saturday when it swept Angelo State. The Belles were previously undefeated and receiving votes in the national polls prior to the match. Leading the Orediggers to victory were Taylor Hicken with 13 kills (.545), Drew Stokes with 44 assists and Elle Duis sporting 20 digs.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
Last season, Colorado Christian volleyball finished #6 in the RMAC standings but bowed out of the conference tournament in the quarterfinal round. This year, CCU enters the opening weekend of conference action with an overall record of 4-4 after going 1-1 each day of each tournament they played in. The Cougars boast wins over Northwest Nazarene, Stanislaus State, Pace and Henderson State. Also notable is that CCU has only won one match by way of a sweep while taking home two other wins in five sets. Individually, Cali Bahnsen leads the offense by way of 97 kills in 29 sets with a hitting percentage of .239. Maddie Burns is CCU's setter and she touts 322 assists at a clip of 10.39 assists per set. Defensively, Mariela Gonzalez boasts 188 digs in 31 sets which comes out to a red-hot pace of 6.06 digs per set. Her total digs rank #4 in the nation and digs per set are #15 in the country. It should also be noted that both Christa Tucker and Kaira Smith each have 11 service aces to their names.
 
COOL COUGAR FACTS (AGAIN)
Fans that kept up with previews last season learned quite a bit about cougars. Well, that education continues this season as well, but also with some surprises later in the year. Fans may remember from last year that cougars like leftovers, can leap a long distance and have a large home range. What fans may not know is that cougars hold the Guiness record for the animal with the highest number of names with over 40 names in English alone. Cougars that live close to the equator are smaller than those living towards the north and south poles. Only females are involved in parenting while no species, besides humans, preys upon mature cougars in the wild. That means top of the food chain. Last but not least, Cougars can run as fast as 35-45 miles per hour. And now you know.
 
SCOUTING REGIS
In 2018, Regis was picked to win the RMAC title. Clearly, that did not happen. In fact, the Rangers finished #5 in the conference standings. However, it would seem RU is back with a vengeance as it rolls into the weekend ranked #18 in the nation boasting a 6-2 overall record including a win over then #1-ranked Tampa. Regis's only losses of the season were to #10 Concordia-St. Paul and #5 Lewis. Nikki Kennedy leads the Ranger's offense, surprise surprise. She has 82 kills in 28 sets and a hitting percentage of .280 after also racking up 41 blocks to date. Silvia Basso is the starting setter and has 203 assists, but went down in the middle of last weekend. True freshman Mara LeGrand stepped in and racked up 104 assists. The defensive efforts have been balanced with Caitlyn Burroway at 94 digs and Maddie Labor at 80 digs. Nationally, Regis does not rank in the top 25 in any statistical category. Kennedy does rank #7 in DII in total blocks and #13 in blocks per set.
 
BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW – RANGERS IN EXILE
In part, Regis University (formerly Regis College) was originally founded in Las Vegas, N.M. in 1877 by a group of exiled Italian Jesuits. The school later joined with Sacred Heart College in Morrison, Colo., to form what everyone now knows as Regis University in Denver. Who would've thought there was more than one RMAC school in Las Vegas, N.M.? Regis' athletic teams adopted the nickname Rangers which seems appropriate since they're defined as "a keeper of park, forest, or area of countryside," and Denver serves as a gateway to many such areas.
 
LOCKRIDGE ARENA
Fondly referred to as "The Lock", Mines' home court for volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball features seating for 3,000 at Oredigger home athletics events. The venue has also twice hosted the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball South Central Regional Tournament. Additionally, Lockridge Arena hosts numerous major campus events and has been graced by the presence of Barack Obama, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and many others.
 
RECENT HISTORY – RIVALRIES RENEWED
Over the last seven years, Colorado Christian and Regis have combined for just four wins over Mines in RMAC play. During that span, the Orediggers tout a combined record of 26-7 against the two opponents. That mark includes a 4-0 year against CCU in 2012. Last season, the Orediggers posted a combined record of 3-1 against Colorado Christian and Regis. The lone loss in that series came in four sets to CCU and snapped Mines' 11-match winning streak. On the other side, the Orediggers defeated then #15-ranked Regis in five sets at Regis and took the home edition by a score of 3-1.
 
RMAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the first time in 2019 and the fourth time in her career, Abby Tiesman was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week. She garnered the distinction after being named to the Mountain Lion Invitational All-Tournament team behind 63 kills in 13 sets. Tiesman also put up 13 blocks and 13 digs with five service aces. Additionally, she only had seven attacking errors in 120 attempts for a hitting percentage of .466. Tiesman's best match of the tournament was a 22-kill output against Emporia State. The Wheaton, Ill., native currently leads the RMAC in hitting percentage and total kills. She also ranks #9 in the nation in points per set, #22 in hitting percentage and #25 in kills per set.
 
RMAC SETTER OF THE WEEK
No, this is not a copy and paste or holdover from last week. For the second straight week, Drew Stokes was named RMAC Setter of the Week thanks to her performance at the Mountain Lion Invitational. It marks her second honor of the season and eighth of her career. The sophomore put together another solid weekend of work with 182 assists at a clip of 14.00 assists per set. Her biggest match of the weekend was arguably 44 assists in a sweep over previously unbeaten Angelo State which also continues receiving votes in the national poll. Stokes' weekend high was 59 assists and four kills against Emporia State. The Murphysboro, Ill., native now ranks #1 in the nation in assists per set this season and #2 in all of NCAA Division II in total assists. Additionally, her 59 assists against Emporia State are the second-most in a four-set match this season.
 
DAPPER DEBUTS
On opening weekend of the 2019 campaign, two different true freshman made their Oredigger debuts. Audrey Richard was the first, playing in all four matches as a defensive specialist for Mines. She finished her first weekend of action with 16 digs in 14 sets long with two assists. The second fresh face on the floor was Rose Stuewe who came off the bench on day two and provided an impressive performance against Alaska. Stuewe knocked down eight kills in just two sets against the Nanooks and also notched one dig. She also racked up eight kills against then #8-ranked Northern State along with two blocks including one of the solo variety.
 
TOPS IN THE NATION
With eight matches in the books, Mines is one of the top teams in the nation. As of Sept. 17, the Orediggers lead all of NCAA Division II in assists per set (15.30) and kills per set (15.96). Mines also sits at #1 in the category of teams assists in a four-set match thanks to 69 total assists against Emporia State. Additionally, the Orediggers are #9 in DII in total assists, #15 in hitting percentage, #17 in total kills and #22 in win-loss percentage. Individually, Drew Stokes ranks #1 in the nation in assists per set and #3 in total assists. Teammate Abby Tiesman also appears in the national statistical rankings with the #10 spot in points per set and #18 rank in hitting percentage. Mines, along with Tiesman and Stokes also lead the RMAC in all but one of the statistical categories just listed. That would be points per set which is led by Kasie Gilfert of Colorado Mesa.
 
FUN COACH FACTS
This section is a new addition to the weekly previews and is an effort to bring other interesting information to light while also seeing which readers make it to the very end. Each week, readers can find a fun fact about either head coach Jamie Magalei or assistant coach Heather Roberts. The first edition of this new section features coach Magalei. Many are probably aware that coach Magalei (formerly Skadeland) played collegiate volleyball at the University of North Dakota. However, did you know that Magalei still holds the program's all-time record for assists in a four-set match? That's right, on Oct. 25, 2003, Magalei (then Skadeland) racked up 72 assists in a four-set win at home against St. Cloud State. But that's not all. In that same match, Magalei racked up six kills with no errors for a .461 hitting percentage. She also recorded one block and 20 digs giving her a double-double. And that is your fun coach fact for the week.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Mines is not currently ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Coaches Top 25. However, the Orediggers are receiving votes in the poll which puts them at #27 in the nation. As of the second week of the polls, two of Mines' 2019 opponents are in the top 25 in the nation. Northern State sits #8 and Regis is now #18. Other notable teams in the rankings include South Central Regional foes Tarleton State (11) and Texas A&M-Commerce (21). Additionally, Angelo State is the equivalent of #33 with 39 votes while MSU Denver is #36 thanks to 24 votes. Fans should note that the AVCA poll has very little to do with postseason selection. That honor is given to the NCAA Regional Rankings put together by the Regional Advisory Committees (RAC) made up of coaches and administrators. In that regard, it will be the top eight in the South Central Region advancing to the NCAA Tournament in mid-November.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Mines hits the road Sept. 27-28 for RMAC matches at Fort Lewis and Adams State. Live stats and video will be available at MinesAthletics.com.