SPEARFISH, S.D. --- On Tuesday night, the South Dakota Mines volleyball team made the short trip up to Spearfish to face off with Black Hills State.
After a slow start, the Hardrockers were able to come home with a relatively dominant victory moving them to 12-7 on the season and 6-3 in RMAC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set was a back-and-forth battle with the two teams trading points. Five points in a row went to Black Hills State, giving them a 19-14 lead and that was eventually the difference maker, despite the Hardrockers cutting the deficit back to 1, the Yellow Jackets took set 1, 25-22.
Black Hills State had early momentum in the second, taking an 8-4 lead, before the Hardrockers turned it on, taking a 13-12 lead on an
Ivy Vindivich kill, then getting three in a row to take a 17-15 lead, then two 4-point runs to win it 25-18. Vindivich recorded six kills and a block in the set.
Lots of people contributed in the 4th set, with
Alessandra Meoni,
Madison Smith, and
Hannah Benes playing key roles in a 6-0 and a 9-0 run that gave the Hardrockers a 24-11 lead before closing it out 25-13.
In the fourth set, the Hardrockers ran off five straight points with a pair of kills each from Meoni and
Paisley Gibson giving South Dakota Mines an 18-11 lead. Smith would close it out with back-to-back kills closing out the set in the Hardrockers favor, 25-18.
NOTES
Ivy Vindivich led the team with 17 kills, while
Alessandra Meoni was right behind with 16…
Paisley Gibson joined them in double digits with 12…The three of them hit .387, 516, 417…
Madison Smith recorded a team season-high and career-high 7 blocks, also adding 8 kills on a hitting percentage of .471…
Kiley Metzger led the team with 33 assists and recorded another double-double with 12 digs…
Hannah Benes recorded 4 serving aces, 11 digs, and 8 assists.
UP NEXT
South Dakota Mines heads to the road on Saturday as they look to win both matches this week against New Mexico Highlands. Next week, the Hardrockers host the RMAC Power Pod, playing two matches outside of conference play against UCCS and Fort Lewis.
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 13 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.
