RAPID CITY, S.D. – South Dakota Mines Volleyball is set for the Hardrocker Volleyball Invitational with four different teams this weekend at the King Center.
The Hardrockers will face Lake Superior State on Thursday, Minnesota Crookston and Chadron State on Friday and Jamestown on Saturday.
Series History
The Hardrockers are 1-1 against Lake Superior State, with their last matchup in 2019 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Against Minnesota Crookston, the Golden Eagles hold a 3-2 record. South Dakota Mines defeated Minnesota Crookston in 2024 at the Yellow Jacket Invitational at Black Hills State.
Chadron State holds a 26-25 record against the Rockers since 1995. The Hardrockers have won the last four matchups against the Eagles. Since 1996, Jamestown leads the all-time series over the Hardrockers 25-7. Their last matchup came in 2012 at the King Center.
About the Lakers
Lake Superior State is coming of a 1-22 season with a 1-15 mark in the GLIAC. Their lone win was a 3-0 sweep over Roosevelt on Oct. 25. New head coach Chelsea Cooke-Tripp was at Adams State as an assistant coach from 2023-2026.
About the Golden Eagles
After starting the 2025 season 6-2, Minnesota Crookston lost their next 20 games to go 0-20 in the NSIC. Kathleen Rustad joins the Golden Eagles as the head coach after coaching Hawley High School.
About the Eagles
RMAC-foe Chadron State finished the 2025 season with a 5-21 overall record and 1-13 RMAC clip. Mataya Ward returns for her junior season after she led the Eagles with 3.15 kills per set in 2025.
About the Jimmies
In their first season as an NCAA DII program, Jamestown went 10-17 overall and 5-15 in the NSIC. Libero Momoka Minamiya is back for her senior season after leading the defensive players with 4.06 digs per set last season.
About the Hardrockers
South Dakota Mines ended the 2025 season with a 10-16 overall record and 7-7 RMAC record. After starting the season 0-8, the Rockers won 10 of their next 18 games to finish the season 10-8.
Lexi Glendenning returns to Rapid City after being named an All-RMAC First Team honoree last season. She averaged 3.52 kills per set with 292 total kills in 2025.
Ivy Vindivich also returns this season. The former RMAC Freshman of the Year averaged 2.47 kills per set last year.
Defensively, the Hardrockers lost former RMAC Defensive Player of the Year
Hannah Benes to graduation, while
Hannah Joseph and
Louisa Battin highlight the returning setters.
Maria Bouman is back for her junior year after totaling 46 blocks for the Rockers in 2025.
Head coach
Lauren Prochazka enters her ninth season at the helm of Hardrocker Volleyball. In her eight years, she has made the RMAC Tournament four times, including three times in the last four seasons.
Weekend Information
All the weekend information can be found at the Tournament Central page at GoRockers.com. The Hardrockers will play on Thursday against Lake Superior State at 6 p.m., Friday versus Minnesota Crookston at 12 p.m. and Chadron State at 6 p.m. followed by a contest with Jamestown on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets will be released at Tickets.GoRockers.com. All matches will be streamed at RMACNetwork.com, with Tom Anderson and
Paisley Gibson providing commentary for all Hardrocker matches. The live stats link for all 10 matches can be found on the Hardrocker Volleyball schedule at GoRockers.com.
What's Next
South Dakota Mines will go to the Mountain Lion Classic at UCCS next weekend to finish non-conference play. They will come back home on Sep. 11 to take on Western Colorado, followed by Fort Lewis on Sep. 12.
