ABERDEEN, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's volleyball team picked up its first win of the season Saturday afternoon after blanking Minot State, 3-0, during the Northern State Dacotah Bank Volleyball Classic in Aberdeen, S.D.

The Hardrockers defeated the Lady Beavers, 25- 21, 25-22, 25-23.

"Going into this weekend, we knew we had to clean up our offense in order to be able to compete with teams," said Hardrocker women's volleyball head coach Jenni Bolduc. "The first weekend we had three matches where we hit less than .100 as a team - and there's just no way that's going to cut it if we want to win this season.

We hit .327 as a team against Minot and only had 9 percent unforced error compared to 16 percent over the first four matches we played this fall. It's encouraging to see us play the whole game like that."

Individually in the match, Hardrocker sophomore Caryn Hazard hit .407 and led the 'Rockers with 13 kills. Senior Mikkella Reese had 12 kills and hit .156 and junior Anna Breidt posted .333 hitting percentage and added 10 kills. Sophomore setter Emma Eckel contributed with 39 assists while junior Alye Wagner came up with 13 digs.

"Hazard hit .407, which is really high for an outside hitter," Bolduc said. "She was great at managing her shots and making their defense work. Breidt and Emily Newton's connections with Eckel are starting to look really good and it opens up the offense for our outsides."

In a match played earlier Saturday against Minnesota State – Mankato, the Mavericks defeated SD Mines, 21-25, 25-22, 24-14, 25-18.

Reese paces SD Mines with 19 kills and hit .341 while Hazard had 10 kills and a hitting percentage of .391. Eckel tallied 36 assists and Wagner led the team with 11 digs while Eckel added 10 and freshman Tana Dahlberg came up with 10 as well.

"Mankato was all over Breidt, which let both our outsides hit over .300," Bolduc said. "Our bench brought a ton of energy this weekend and we pulled a lot of depth in several positions.  Freshman Tana Dahlberg saw significant playing time for us, serving and playing defense, and did a great job in that role.

The Hardrockers non-conference schedule is at an end as SD Mines will open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play next weekend in Colorado.
"I think it was good for us to get a taste of winning heading into our first conference matchups with Adams State and Fort Lewis," Bolduc added.