South Dakota Mines Volleyball Hosts Early Week Matchup
RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota Mines volleyball team heads back into RMAC play with an early week home matchup with Western Colorado at the King Center Tuesday.
GAME INFORMATION
Western Colorado
Date/Time: Oct. 3 / 6:00 p.m. MT
Site: Rapid City, S.D.
Arena: King Center
Series Overall: Western Colorado leads 8-3.
Streak: South Dakota Mines Won 1
Series at South Dakota Mines Western Colorado leads 3-1.
Streak at South Dakota Mines: South Dakota Mines Won 1
Last Meeting: South Dakota Mines won in Rapid City, 3-0 (10/15/2022)
Watch Live: RMAC Network | www.rmacnetwork.com/sdmines
SEAMLESS TRANSITION
The transition from
Alessandra Meoni from junior college, Western Nebraska Community College to South Dakota Mines has not proven to be a difficult one, as she has 172 kills on the season, averaging 3.51 per set and has hit with a percentage of .318. The kills are second in the RMAC, the hitting percentage is ninth and she is third with 3.77 points per set.
BLOCKERS IN THE MIDDLE
Annelise Larson and
Kiera Walsh have done well in the middle for the Hardrockers as freshman and sophomore with Walsh getting her first opportunity to see significant court time. Both have helped the Hardrockers team defense significantly by getting touches even if unable to terminate on blocks. Larson and Walsh are ninth and 11th in the RMAC, averaging .97 and .88 blocks per set.
SOPHOMORE STUD
Hannah Benes has stepped in for graduating senior
Anna Thomas as defensive specialist/libero this year and has performed exceedingly well in multiple areas. She is dangerous from the serving line and part of a strong defensive back line. Benes is second in the RMAC in serving aces, averaging .65 per set, and is also second in digs, averaging 4.96 per game.
FILLING IN BIG SHOES
In the most recent matchup,
Kiley Metzger, the Hardrockers' usual setter and one of the best setters in the RMAC was unavailable to play against Black Hills State. Freshman
Ellison Spencer stepped in for her first collegiate start, and only second match of appearing in more than and had a big match, recording 42 assists and a double-double, getting 16 digs.
DEFENSIVE STOPPERS
In addition to Benes, and the aforementioned Walsh and Larson, the Hardrockers also have
Rachel Mau,
Josey Wickersham, and
Emma Grimm providing great defense in the back line. Wickersham has been great in the right back position, averaging 2.49 digs per set, while Grimm is averaging 2.26 and Mau is at 2.62. As a team, South Dakota Mines leads the RMAC in digs by a substantial margin, averaging 17.43 digs per set, around 1.5 digs better than the next-best team. The combination of all of the mentioned players also holds opponents to hitting percentages of just .171, third in the RMAC, and leads in opponent aces.
SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO
Western Colorado is in the midst of a rebuild, bringing a new coaching staff this season in Jordan Bruere. Bruere came from Dodge City Community College, where she turned around that program in three years, from a team that won four matches before her arrival to a 22-9 NJCAA Region VI semifinal squad.
Elizabeth Rupprecht returns, but behind her are a whole lot of unknowns. The Mountaineers have 12 athletes who have seen court time, and just three are returners. Of the three, two are sophomores. Six freshman and three junior college transfers make up the remaining nine.
Not to be unexpected with so much inexperience together and on the court, Western Colorado has struggled to begin the year. As it stands, they are 2-12 and those two wins came in their first tournament of the year, currently having lost 11 straight. In those 11 matches, eight have been straight sets.
Despite that, they have shown recent improvement, pushing Westminster in their last time out to a very close four-set match.
Seyun Park, one of their junior college transfers stood out in that match, blocking 5 attacks and grabbing 11 kills. Park is sixth in the RMAC with a hitting percentage of .351.
After previously being an RMAC All-Conference Honorable Mention selection, Elizabeth Rupprecht has been a standout, averaging 3.66 digs per set, eighth in the RMAC.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following the early week home matchup, South Dakota Mines heads to the road to finish out their week with a Saturday matchup at For 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.
