FULL RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.—With three weeks left in the regular season, the top of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball standings saw some shakeup, however, the top teams kept their hopes for a conference title alive.
TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
- Then No. 21 Colorado School of Mines saw its 11-game winning streak snapped by Colorado Christian in four sets on Friday. The Orediggers were able to rebound with a four-set win over Regis on Saturday. With the win the Orediggers clinched a berth in the RMAC Tournament.
- Dixie State opened up with a 10-0 run in the opening set before they defeated Colorado Mesa on Friday in four sets to pull into a two-way tie with the Mavericks. The Trailblazers then swept Western on the road in Gunnison.
- Colorado Mesa rebounded from the loss to Dixie State with a sweep of Westminster on Saturday. CMU has now won seven straight matches against the Griffins, all in straight sets.
- MSU Denver swept both New Mexico Highlands and CSU-Pueblo to maintain fourth in the RMAC standings.
- Regis saw their winning streak improve to four games, 12 straight set wins, with a Friday win over Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) before falling to Colorado School of Mines on Saturday.
- The Mountain Lions rebounded from their loss with Regis with a four-set win over Colorado Christian that saw UCCS post 52 kills, nine blocks, 45 set assists and 60 digs.
- A game behind Colorado Christian for the eighth and final playoff spot sits Fort Lewis. The Skyhawks rebounded from a two-game losing streak with a two-game winning streak by defeating Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines in four sets each.
RMAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
- Lindsey Jin of Colorado School of Mines has been named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week. Jin was a machine over the weekend as she knocked down kills at a rate of 4.00 kills per set. The sophomore led all players with 18 kills against Colorado Christian while averaging a .412. hitting percentage. She led all players again against Regis with 14 kills to finish the weekend with 32 kills in eight sets. Jin also added 15 digs, one block and one service ace.
- Lauren Gammell of Dixie State has been named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week. She averaged 7.0 blocks per match (2.0 blocks per set) to go with 8.0 kills per match (2.3 kills per set) and a .314 attack percentage. Gammell broke DSU's single-match block assist record with 11 and posted her first double-double of the year with 10 kills, in DSU's 3-1 victory at Colorado Mesa Friday. Gammell's 11 total blocks also tied her single match record set earlier this year. She followed that up with a six-kill, three-block effort in a three-game sweep at Western Saturday.
- Adams State’s Rachael Ringler has been named the RMAC Setter of the Week. Ringler was a floor general for the Grizzlies as she posted a pair of double-doubles. In Friday's 3-1 win vs. South Dakota Mines, she tallied 46 assists on offense and added 14 digs to go along with two block assists on the defensive end. In Saturday's 3-1 win over Black Hills State, she posted 56 assists to go along with a pair of service aces. Defensively, she posted 11 digs and added two more block assists. Ringler also contributed eight kills on the weekend and had a .353 hitting percentage.
NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES
- Colorado Mesa senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards went over the 1,000-career-kill mark on Friday night when she had a match-high 11 kills. She added nine more against Westminster on Saturday. She now has 1,017 career kills.
- Regis senior Gabby Haugh had a career-night from the service line on Friday, posting the second-most aces in a three-set match in Regis history (6). This set a new career-high for aces in a match for Haugh who also registered nine digs in the match.