GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines volleyball team played its first match of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Regional Pod Tuesday evening and outlasted Colorado Christian to claim at 3-2 victory at Lockridge Arena.
Inevitably, the five-set match led to big numbers in the box score. The veteran savvy of
Amanda Donais Dudley prevailed in the match as she racked up 18 kills on .533 hitting with five total blocks, two digs and one assist. Other Orediggers with double-digit kills included
Naomi Romslo with 14,
Cadence McDonald with 11, and
Abbie O'Shay touting 10. Romslo and O'Shay both hit over .316. In the service game,
Hailee Martinez stacked four aces while
Francesca Nuzzo and
Avery Perreira added two each. On defense,
Jenna McLaughlin and O'Shay provided five blocks apiece and McDonald added three of her own off the bench. Performances in the back row included 19 digs by Nuzzo and 14 for
Jada Price. A rare two-setter night for the home team saw 31 assists from Martinez and 17 more off the hands of
Brinleigh Davis.
With the win, Mines (10-3) snapped Colorado Christian's eight match win streak and moved the Cougars to 9-4. The contest did not count toward the conference standings. As a team, the Orediggers had fewer kills than CCU, but edged the visitors in attack percentage, .263-.205. Mines also leveraged nine service aces compared to seven service errors while Colorado Christian had eight aces and nine service errors. Arguably the biggest difference in the match was 13 blocks by the Orediggers while CCU only managed nine in five sets.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The evening started with a modest celebration recognizing Mines' staff and faculty on their appreciation night. Afterward, the race to win three sets eventually boiled down to a race to 15 points. Colorado Christian broke an 18-18 in the opening frame and pulled away to a 25-21 win. O'Shay and McDonald recorded three kills each and Donais Dudley knocked down three blocks. The Orediggers responded by taking an 8-2 lead in the second set. It was an insurmountable lead for the Cougars who gave up the 25-15 decision. This time, Donais Dudley and Romslo led the charge behind four kills apiece. Martinez' three aces loomed large as well.
As the match approached the halfway point, CCU ground out its own 9-1 lead to start the third game. Mines surged late, but couldn't finish the comeback in a 25-22 loss. Even so, Romslo hammered out five more kills with zero attack errors and Price put up four more digs. The fourth set had zero ties or lead changes, and the home team forced a fifth frame with its 25-21 win. It was seven error-free kills off the hand of Donais Dudley that stole the show in the critical fourth frame. Nuzzo did have six digs and Martinez dished out 10 assists while playing just half the rotations. The final set saw narrow margins between Mines and Colorado Christian, but it was never really close. There was just one tie, Donais Dudley added three more kills without an attack error, and the final point came after Romslo and O'Shay teamed up for a block on CCU's leading hitter Renee Phillips. It provided O'Shay her third of the set and sixth of evening as the home team claimed a 15-10 win and the match victory.
NOTABLES
- Mines snapped a three-game losing streak to CCU on Tuesday and improved to 44-27 in the all-time series.
- Tuesday marked the Orediggers' first win against the Cougars since the 2023 campaign.
- With the victory, Mines surpassed its win total from 2024 with 13 matches remaining in the season.
- Donais Dudley's 18 kills were a career-high for the all-American graduate student.
- Martinez matched her collegiate best with four aces after churning out four against Colorado Christian in 2022 while playing for Western Colorado.
- McDonald, a true freshman, produced a career night with single-match highs in kills (11), digs (4), and blocks (3).
- Nuzzo posted her third multi-ace game as an Oredigger.
- O'Shay's six blocks matched her career best. She also had six blocks against #14 Grand Valley State earlier this season.
- Another career high was 14 kills for Romslo.
- Mines Head Coach
Jamie Magalei is now 373-142 in her 18th season at the helm.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines hosts #8 MSU Denver Friday at 7 p.m. in Volk Gym. Free live stats will be available, as well as live video with a subscription to the RMAC Network.
Fans can keep up with Mines volleyball on "X" (formerly Twitter) at @minesvolleyball and on Instagram at @mines.volleyball. They can also follow all of Mines Athletics year around on Facebook, "X", and Instagram at @MinesAthletics.
