GOLDEN, Colo. – The South Dakota Mines volleyball team took on Colorado School of Mines on the road on Friday night in a match that was pivotal for the Hardrockers with a looming matchup against #2 MSU Denver on Saturday.
It took a gut check and lots of toughness and grit, but the Hardrockers were able to emerge victorious after going down 2-0 and making some key personnel changes in the third set that helped them to victory.
Joy Aburto,
Paisley Gibson and
Heather Jiricek each came into the match in the third set and helped to swing the game along with stellar play in the backline from
Emma Grimm. The four of them along with
Alessandra Meoni and others helped push the Hardrockers to the reverse sweep, moving to 10-6 overall and 5-1 in RMAC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first two sets were won by Colorado School of Mines and they had all the momentum going into the third set, however, the insertion of Aburto, Gibson and Jiricek along with outstanding play from Meoni, Grimm and
Kiley Metzger helped to turn the tide.
A 4-0 run gave the Hardrockers a 17-10 lead in the third. Colorado School of Mines would fight back late but it wouldn't be enough as the Hardrockers prevailed 25-21.
South Dakota Mines would take their momentum and dominate the fourth set, scoring eight straight points to take a 23-12 lead before closing out the set, 25-15 and pushing the match to a fifth set.
Early on in the fifth, Colorado Mines had the momentum and went up 8-6 at the switch, but a Hardrocker timeout intervened and SDM scored the next two points to tie it. After that, the two teams would go back and forth and the Hardrockers thwarted two potential Oredigger match points, before scoring three straight points on kills from Meoni and back-to-back from Aburto to seal the 3-2 victory in the fifth, winning it 17-15.
NOTES
Alessandra Meoni had 22 kills on a hitting percentage of .356 and added nine digs and five blocks…
Paisley Gibson played her first meaningful sets of the season, playing three sets and delivering 10 kills…
Heather Jiricek was phenomenal, recording nine kills on a hitting percentage of .500 while recording seven blocks…
Kiley Metzger recorded another double-double with 50 assists and 11 digs…
Emma Grimm recorded 13 digs…
Hannah Benes also had a great game, recording 24 digs, six aces and seven assists.
UP NEXT
South Dakota Mines finishes the weekend on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 against #2 MSU Denver.
You can find the latest on South Dakota Mines volleyball all year long on X and Instagram (@hardrockervb), while also following on Facebook at Hardrocker Volleyball. The latest on South Dakota Mines athletics can be found by following us on X at @GoHardrockers, hardrockerathletics on Instagram and Hardrocker Athletics on Facebook.
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.
