Hardrockers Hold Serve in Front of Raucous King Center
RAPID CITY, S.D. --- In front of an electrifying crowd at the King Center, the South Dakota Mines volleyball team defeated the ThunderWolves from Colorado State University Pueblo in the quarterfinals of the RMAC playoffs.
The match went five sets with the Hardrockers coming out on top 3-2 (25-23; 13-25; 32-30; 15-25; 15-12).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hardrocker and Thunderwolves started the first set going back and forth with the lead until CSU Pueblo went up three, 14-11. The Hardrockers went on a 6-0 run keyed by a kill from
Paisley Gibson and an
Emma Grimm ace to retake the lead, 17-14, and continued to battle their way to a 25-23 win.
In the second set, CSU Pueblo grabbed the momentum early with a 5-0 run to take a 9-5 lead and they would keep their foot on the gas, taking the set, 25-13.
South Dakota Mines would do a great job of not letting the second set carry over to the third, however, and battled. This set was just that, a battle. Early on, a 3-0 run gave SDM, the 10-7 advantage, but the two teams would teams would trade points back-and-forth after evening it up at 13. Later on, CSU Pueblo took a 19-17 lead, and eventually faced set point, but they would show off their grittiness and continue to fight, scoring 3 of the next four points to tie it at 25. That's when the fun began. Both teams would have opportunities to close the set, with the Hardrockers facing set point four times, but would battle and claw their way until they got a kill from
Alessandra Meoni and back-to-back from
Jenna Curtis, the Hardrockers ended the set with a 32-30 advantage.
Early in the fourth, the Hardrockers looked like they were headed for a 4-set win, taking a 5-1 lead, but the way these two teams play each other, that was never in the cards. A pair of ThunderWolves' errors would give the Hardrockers a 9-3 advantage, but they would answer with six straight, tying it up at 9. Another 6-0 run gave CSU Pueblo a 17-11 advantage, and they wouldn't allow South Dakota Mines to get back into it, sending it to a fifth, winning 25-15.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Hardrockers looked like they might be in trouble early, falling behind early 6-3. The magical season was not going to end that easy, however, as the Hardrocker got five kills from Meoni and
Jenna Curtis to bring the set level at 6. Curtis dominated the fifth set, getting another to help the Hardrockers get to 8 first and the switch. Following the switch, with the Hardrockers leading by 1, 9-8,
Kiera Walsh took over with three straight Kills, giving the Hardrockers a 12-11 lead. Then it was a Walsh and Meoni block and another kill from Curtis before
Alessandra Meoni closed the door, giving South Dakota Mines the 15-12 fifth set win, and sending them to Denver for the semifinals.
NOTES
Paisley Gibson had her best match of the season when it mattered most, recording 17 kills and 13 digs, her fourth double-double of the season…
Alessandra Meoni continued to do what she does, grabbing 17 kills on a hitting percentage of .341…
Jenna Curtis had five of her 13 total kills in the fifth set…
Kiley Metzger has been on another level lately, and was again tonight, recording 51 assists to just two errors and 10 digs to grab her seventh double-double…
Hannah Benes has also been phenomenal all season, but was at her best, recording career highs in digs and assists with 32 and eight.
UP NEXT
With the win, the Hardrockers will meet up with the #1 seed, MSU Denver on Friday evening at their home court at 5:00 p.m.
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.
