No one was surprised to hear that the third face-off of the season between the South Dakota School of Mines volleyball and Chadron State went to 5 sets. All three of the meetings between the two RMAC foes have gone to 5 sets this season.

The 'Rockers took down the Eagles in five sets Saturday night in front of a packed crowd in Chadron, NE. The Hardrockers won the match 3-2, 26-24, 20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12.

The two teams were nearly identical in every single statistical category. Both teams tallied 59 kills in the match, but the Hardrocker offense edged Chadron with a .166 team hitting percentage. The Hardrockers had 85 digs to the Eagle's 82, but the Eagles outnumbered the Hardrockers with a total of 13 blocks.

The Hardrocker offense was a well-balanced machine as they had 3 players in double digit kills: Dana Thomson, Jacey Koethe and Victoria Zagorski. Thomson led all hitters with 21 kills on 57 attempts and also tallied 22 digs. Krissie Luce led all players with 23 digs. Koethe had an impressive night at the net as she tallied 1 block solo and 6 block assists. After tonight's performance, Koethe now has 100 blocks on the season. Lily Bartling chipped in 4 blocks assists, 3 of which gave the Hardrockers the surge they needed to close out the third set.

With this win, the Hardrockers move into tenth place in the RMAC standings, where they are tied with Western State.

The Hardrocker volleyball team will be back in action Friday night in the King Center as they take on Black Hills State in their final home match of the season. The 'Rockers look to secure the win that could potentially make them eligible for the RMAC tournament.