SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. --- The South Dakota Mines Volleyball team has won just 2 of their last 8 matches and was desperate to get back in the win column.

The Hardrockers were able to get in the win column with relative ease in this contest, taking out Westminster in 3 sets.

The Hardrockers started off the match with three points unanswered, before the Griffins began to fight back, however, only moments later, the Hardrockers would score 6 straight points thanks to a balanced attack, giving them a 10-3 lead. Westminster would continue to try to battle back, however, back-to-back kills by Victoria Zagorski. The Griffins would cut it close one more time before a kill and forced error by Jacey Koethe, gave the Hardrockers a 20-13 lead and the Hardrocker would close out the set after some Griffin pushback, winning the set 25-19.

After some early back-and-forth play, South Dakota Mines would once again get out to an early lead tonight, this time taking a 7-3 advantage. Later, the Hardrockers would run off six straight points, expanding the lead to 16-7. Shyann Bastian and Dejah Behrend would help to close out the set, after Behrend had 3 consecutive kills, the Hardrockers took a 23-14 lead prior to closing it out 25-14.

The third set was much more competitive with each team trying to gain a stranglehold of the set. Westminster did so early, starting with a 5-0 lead before the Hardrockers bounced back to tie it up early. Mid-match, South Dakota Mines would score 4-in-a-row to take a 14-12 lead. From there the two teams would battle throughout the remainder of the set, with neither gaining control, pushing the score beyond 25 before 2 straight Hardrocker points ended it 26-24.

Leaders
Dejah Behrend was the only Hardrocker in double-figures with 10 kills…Kassie Luce and Kiley Metzger recorded 16 and 15 assists…Addie Stanley led the team with 12 digs.

Looking Ahead
The volleyball team heads to Colorado to take on Colorado Mesa for a 4:00 p.m. Saturday

About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 11 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.