GOLDEN, Colo. – The #21-ranked Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team took down Western Colorado in four sets on Friday night during a "Blue Out" inside Lockridge Arena.
 
Elle Duis was the story of the night for the Orediggers as she surpassed 2,000 digs for her career with 21 in four sets. She added three assists and one service ace as well. Fellow backrow player Jada Price was big as well with 11 digs. Shannon Perna joined the party with an 11-kill, 10-dig double-double. On offense, Rose Stuewe steamrolled a match-high 16 kills on the pin. Madison Glassco knocked down 13 kills and led all players with a .478 attack percentage. Drew Stokes put together 48 assists, seven digs, three kills and two aces. Also notable were five blocks by Emily Knight.
 
Mines (9-4, 4-1 RMAC) worked through a team hitting percentage of .261 by extending rallies with 70 digs compared to 48 digs by Western Colorado (2-10, 1-4 RMAC). The Mountaineers came up big on the block with 11 total blocks as a team. But the Orediggers produced seven blocks of their own to help hold WCU under .200 on the attack. Three out of four sets were decided by four points, or less, and the entire match saw 20 ties and 13 lead changes.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Nearly every set and every point was a dogfight on Friday night. Mines looked to run away early in the opening set with a 20-12 lead. However, the visitors rallied back to 22-20 before Veronique Magnan and Glassco closed out the 25-23 win. Despite the narrow margin of victory, Stuewe closed the first frame boasting six kills and a .300 attack percentage. Magnan was right behind with five kills at a .571 clip, and Duis ground out five digs. That led to another back-and-forth set in game two which saw the Orediggers earn a 25-21 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match. It was also the set in which Duis became the first player in program history to earn 2,000 career digs. She earned the status on the 10th point while Price came up big with seven digs of her own.
 
Game three was the climax of the night. Western Colorado proved desperate to avoid the sweep and Mines could not find the final point it needed. That being said, the Orediggers had to rally back from deficits of 20-15 and 24-21 to force extra points. Knight and Stokes teamed up for a block to tie the score at 24. Knight then saved set point at 25-24. Stokes save set point at 27-26 on a dump off an assist from Knight. At 28-27, it was Stuewe's turn to save the set followed by Perna knocking one down at 29-28. After a total of 10 set points in the third game, WCU finally finished it off and avoided the sweep, but it had taken all the Mountaineers had. The Orediggers charged to an early 6-2 lead in the fourth frame and did not look back. A kill from Glassco followed by a visitor attack error polished off the 25-14 set win and the match victory.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines improved to 38-36-1 in the all-time series.
- The Orediggers have now won 11 straight matches against Western Colorado.
- Game three on Friday marked WCU's first set win over Mines since Feb. 11, 2021, and just the third total since 2017.
- Mines has not lost a match to the Mountaineers since Sept. 25, 2015.
- Duis now boasts 2,013 career digs. She became the program's all-time digs leader earlier this season and ranks #3 in total digs among active career leaders in NCAA Division II.
- Glassco's 13 kills, .478 hitting percentage, and four digs all marked career bests for the New Braunfels, Texas, native.
- Perna's double-double was the second of her career.
- Magnan's six kills against WCU matched her career best as she hit .400 as well, while Price matched her career high with 11 digs.
- Audrey Richard put up multiple service aces for the fourth time in her career.
- Knight joined the career-best party with her five blocks.
- On Friday night, game one took 25 minutes, game two was 24 minutes, game three was 35 minutes and game four was 20 minutes.
- Head Coach Magalei now owns a career record of 327-106.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines hosts Fort Lewis on Saturday night at Lockridge Arena. First serve is set for 5 p.m. Tickets for the match can be purchased online at www.minesathletics.com/tickets. Live stats and free video on the RMAC Network will be offered as well.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines volleyball on Twitter at @MinesVolleyball and on Instagram at @mines.volleyball. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.