PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match to CSU Pueblo to start its RMAC pod on Saturday and closed it with a five-set loss to #21-ranked Regis at Massari Arena.
 
Julia Eiken led the Oredigger offense through two matches, racking up 20 kills with just two errors to hit .353. She also added one service ace, four digs and three blocks. Taylor Hicken tallied 20 kills as well and matched Eiken's three blocks for the day. Other big hitters included Amanda Donais notching 17 kills, Rose Stuewe tallying 13 and Lindsey Jin adding 10. Drew Stokes remained dominant at setter with 75 assists in eight sets. Elle Duis came up big in the back row by grinding out 42 digs.
 
Mines (8-3, 8-3 RMAC) found itself limited to .213 hitting on the attack despite matching both opponents with a combined 9.0 blocks as a team. CSU Pueblo (8-3, 6-2 RMAC) held the advantage in the service game, touting a 9-0 margin in aces. The ThunderWolves also hit .318 as a team to earn the sweep. Regis (9-3, 9-1 RMAC) had fewer blocks, fewer aces and fewer points than the Orediggers, but walked away with a .257-.223 advantage on the attack. The losses snap Mines' seven-match win streak and shake up the RMAC standings as the conference schedule enters its final two weeks.
 
GAME ONE: CSU Pueblo 3 (25, 25, 25), #5 Mines 0 (22, 17, 10)
The home team started the day firing and surged out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set. CSU Pueblo carried the advantage all the way to 7-4 before Mines rallied back for a 12-11 advantage behind kills from four different Orediggers and two blocks. However, it proved to be the visitor's only lead of the opening set and one of two in the match. The ThunderWolves closed out a 25-22 win in game one and rolled to the sweep with wins of 25-17 and 25-10 behind hitting percentages of .275 and .359 over the last two games.
 
GAME TWO: #21 Regis 3 (18, 23, 25, 28, 15), #5 Mines (25, 25, 20, 26, 12)
In the second match of the day, Mines put itself on track for a big bounce back win over a nationally ranked opponent. The Orediggers raced out to a 2-0 lead over Regis as Eiken pounded out six kills in the opening set and Hicken notched three in the second set. Mines hit .452 and .128 in those respective frames and held the Rangers to .241 and .146 on their attack. As expected, RU did not go quietly into the night. Regis extended the match with a 25-20 win in the third set. The fourth game saw Donais and Hicken knock down four kills apiece while leading their team to a .389 hitting percentage. However, the Rangers escaped in extra points, 28-26. Three lead changes and nine ties highlighted the deciding set, but in the end, Regis closed it out on a 3-0 run to claim the victory.
 
NOTABLES
- Jin surpassed 1,000 kills for her career on Saturday and also appeared in her 100th match.
- Stokes now ranks #2 on Mines' all-time assists list with 3,200 for her career. She also moved over 500 digs for her career.
- Donais and Stokes both notched double-doubles in the five-set affair against Regis.
- Duis took over ninth place on the Orediggers' all-time digs list. She now has 1,236 in her career.
- The last time Mines lost to CSU Pueblo was Sept. 15, 2011. The Orediggers haven't been swept by the ThunderWolves since 2002.
- Head coach Jamie Magalei is 289-97 in her 13th season at Mines.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Orediggers close their 2021 regular season on Monday, March 29, against #2-ranked Colorado Mesa inside Lockridge Arena at 5 p.m. No spectators are allowed, but live stats and video will be offered at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can follow the Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team on Twitter at @MinesVolleyball and on Instagram at @Mines_Volleyball. Fans can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.