RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota Mines volleyball team is at home for a second consecutive weekend after splitting two matches last week, defeating Black Hills State, and falling to Regis. On tap for this weekend is the #2 ranked team in the country MSU Denver, who visits the King Center for a 7:00 showdown on Friday night, followed by a visit from Colorado Christian on Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m.

Series History
vs. MSU Denver

• This series is relatively new, dating back to 10/2/2015.
• There have been 7 matchups in that timeframe, with the most recent coming on 11/8/2019.
• MSU Denver has won 6 of the 7 matchups.
• The lone Hardrocker victory in the series came on 10/12/19, following 5 straight wins in the series by the Roadrunners.

vs. Colorado Christian

• The Hardrockers and Cougars have met a total of 9 times, starting in September of 2012.
• Colorado Christian holds an 8-1 edge in the matchup.
• The Hardrockers won their first matchup in the series in the last matchup between the two teams, defeating the Cougars 3-0 in Lakewood, Colo. on 3/1/2021.

Gold Nuggets

• The Hardrocker Volleyball team has started the season 8-6 and has won 2 of its last 3 matches, defeating Chadron State, and Black Hills State while falling to Regis.
• South Dakota Mines' strength thus far this season has been its' play on the defensive side of the net. The Hardrockers allow the opposition to hit .161% against them. That is the fourth-best opponent hitting percentage in the RMAC.
• In addition to forcing errors, the Hardrocker defense keeps balls off of the floor, with 952 digs in 55 sets, to place 2^nd in the conference with 17.31 digs per set.
• The Hardrocker defense also does not allow many balls to hit the floor, averaging 17.17 digs per set, a number that is good for 2^nd in the RMAC.
• Addie Stanley and Emma Grimm are the main reason South Dakota Mines keeps balls from hitting the floor, as they are 7^th and 13^th in the RMAC averaging 4.15, and 3.73 digs per set.
• The Hardrockers continue to be very balanced offensively with 4 women having over 100 kills. Sydney Crites and Jacey Koethe each have 112, while Dejah Behrend and Emma Grimm have 109, and 102 respectively.
• Stanley and Grimm are each over the 200-dig mark on the season at 228, and 205.
• Kiley Metzger and Shyann Bastian lead the team in assists. Metzger has 265, while Bastian is sitting with 220 for the season.
• Koethe, Behrend and Lily Bartling lead the team with 45, and 35 blocks for the latter two.

Scouting Report
MSU Denver

• The Roadrunners lost two of their first four matches of the season but have won 10 in a row to start 12-2 and are the #2 ranked team in the country.
• MSU Denver is near the top of the RMAC in every offensive category, sitting in 2^nd in hitting percentage, 2^nd in assists, 2^nd in kills, and first in aces.
• They also do good work defensively, sitting in the top 5 in both blocks and digs.
• Ember Canty and Rylee Hladky are 13^th and 14^th in the conference in hitting percentage.
• Hladky leads the conference in kills and is joined in the top 10 by her teammate Avaline Lai.

Colorado Christian

• Colorado Christian has started the season 6-8 overall and is holding an RMAC mark of 3-3.
• The Cougars are in the top 7 in opponent digs, service aces, opponent blocks, blocks, kills, assists, and opponent assists. This means that they do not make a lot of errors, but they have a way of forcing other teams into errors.
• Libby Goodman averages 3.43 kills per set, which is the 2^nd best in the conference.
• Goodman is joined in the top 10, by teammate Breanna Allen, averaging 3.13 kills per set.
• Izzy Jones is the star setter, sitting in the top 5 in the RMAC in assists per set.
• Lily Woods and Madelyn long are the defensive standouts, with Woods averaging a block per set, and long averaging 3.85 digs per set to each come in the top 10 in the conference in those categories.

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.