FULL RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) volleyball teams opened the season playing in nearly 60 non-conference contests this weekend. All the volleyball teams were in action, except Fort Lewis.
TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
- No. 17 ranked Colorado School of Mines had a stellar weekend as they opened the season with a 4-0 overall record in the 2018 Oredigger Classic. The Orediggers, who were picked to finish second in the 2018 RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, earned a win over Davenport (3-0), Cal State East Bay (3-1), Lee (3-0) and University of Sioux Falls (3-2).
- Dixie State University went 2-1 at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Invitational hosted by Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho. Despite losing the first game to Biola University 2-3, the Trailblazers came back and defeated No. 19 Northwest Nazarene, 3-2 and then swept Cal State Monterey Bay.
- Adams State came out and went 2-2 in the Lady Buff Classic. The tournament was capped off with an exciting, come-from-behind 3-2 win over Emporia State University. They also earned a 3-2 victory over Eastern New Mexico University. They did win the first two sets over No. 6 Rockhurst (at the time No. 10) but were unable to get the upset.
- The No. 10 ranked Regis Rangers went 2-2 on the week but their two wins came against teams that were ranked higher than them including a four-set win over then-ranked No. 5 Western Washington before a back-and-forth affair that saw them take down No. 8 Southwest Minnesota State, who was ranked second, in five sets. Their two losses came at the hands of No. 13 University of West Florida (1-3) when they were ranked No. 15 and No. 12 Wheeling Jesuit University (2-3), who was ranked 24th.
- Colorado Mesa, MSU-Denver and Westminster finished the weekend 2-2 overall.
RMAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
- Abby Tiesman of Colorado School of Mines was named Offensive Player of the Week after earning the MVP distinction at the 2018 Oredigger Volleyball Classic this weekend. She dominated the field from her middle blocker position. The 2017 Honorable Mention All-American led all student-athletes in the six-team field with a hitting percentage of .417, recording 55 kills over four matches on 115 attempts. Tiesman tallied a career, single-match high against Sioux Falls with 18 kills and eight blocks. She finished the weekend with 15 blocks in 15 sets and 26 digs as the Orediggers went 4-0, the only RMAC team to go undefeated on opening weekend.
- Colorado Mesa senior libero Taylor Woods was named the Defensive Player of the Week after recording 83 digs and became the CMU rally-scoring era (2001-Present) career digs record holder over the weekend at the Concordia Invitational in Irvine, Calif. She started the tournament with an impressive 32 digs in a four-set match against Cal State-L.A. before leading all players with 15 digs in a three-set sweep of Cal Poly Pomona. She then broke the CMU record against Azusa Pacific on Saturday finishing with a match-high digs of 22 before closing the weekend with 14 in a win over the host Eagles. Woods averaged 5.53 digs per set over the weekend while leading the Maverick defense, which paces the early RMAC statistics in opponent hitting percentage at .124. Woods now has 1,606 career digs.
- Regis’ Silvia Basso played in 17 sets and had 178 assists (10.47 assists per set) to earn the RMAC Setter of the Week award. She had 12 kills on 27 attempts for an average of .333 hitting percentage. She scored 18 total points to help the Rangers to a 2-2 record, earning wins over the No. 2 and No. 5 ranked teams in the country.
NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES
- Dixie State’s Megan Treanor was named the 2018 Northwest Nazarene/Fairfield Inn & Suites Classic MVP after she led DSU to a 2-1 tourney record. She averaged 43 total kills (14.3 kpm/3.31 kps/.290 H%) over the three matches, highlighted by a 19-kill (hit .364) effort in the Trailblazers 3-2 come-from-behind win over the host No. 19 NNU Friday night.
- South Dakota Mines’ Dana Thomson had an outstanding weekend in her college debut. The freshman outside hitter finished four-matches leading the RMAC with 81 kills and a .278 hitting percentage. She is averaging 5.06 kills per set, which sits atop the RMAC leading scorers’ category by nearly two points.
- Regis’ Nikki Kennedy, who was the 2018 RMAC Preseason Player and Defensive Player of the Year, played 18 sets in which she had 53 kills on 119 attempts. She scored 66.5 total points and helped the Rangers take down the No. 2 and No. 5 ranked teams in the country.