2019 #RMACvb Weekly Release - Week 9

2019 #RMACvb Weekly Release - Week 9

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Ryan Cruz

FULL RELEASE

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Volleyball teams have completed nine weeks of conference play.

TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
  • Regis (20-3, 14-1 RMAC) extends their conference win streak to eleven-straight matches and 26-straight sets, as they swept both Black Hills State (11-12, 9-6 RMAC) and South Dakota Mines (10-14, 6-9 RMAC), respectively. The Rangers held their opponents to under .175 throughout their six sets. Regis hit as high as .638 against the Hardrockers and they never dropped below .441 in that match.
  • Dixie State (17-5, 12-3 RMAC) grabbed two wins on their homestand against New Mexico Highlands (1-22, 0-15 RMAC) and CSU-Pueblo (11-13, 8-7 RMAC). The Trailblazers triumphed over the Cowgirls in straight sets as the team hit a season high .410 and Lauren Gammell recorded her 400th career block. On senior night, Dixie State took down the Thunderwolves, 3-1, and recorded 60 kills while hitting .227.
  • Colorado Mesa (15-8, 11-4 RMAC) picked up back-to-back wins in straight sets against Fort Lewis (9-15, 5-10 RMAC) and Adams State (7-17, 4-11 RMAC). Gilfert guided the Mavericks’ offense with 17 kills and hit .577 as the team recorded 48 kills and hit .299 against the Skyhawks. Colorado Mesa had a strong defensive showing as they held the Grizzlies’ hitting to just .070 and 23 kills.
  • Colorado School of Mines (17-6, 10-5 RMAC) began a two-game win streak as they swept Chadron State (13-9, 7-7 RMAC) 3-0 and took a five-set victory over MSU Denver (17-5, 12-2 RMAC). The Orediggers hit .223 as a team while holding the Eagles to just .149 attacking percentage. Colorado School of Mines claimed the final set against the Roadrunners by a score of 15-10.
  • Western (10-13, 6-9 RMAC) defeated both Adams State (7-17, 4-11 RMAC) and Fort Lewis (9-15, 5-10 RMAC) while only dropping one set between both matches. The Mountaineers had a strong defensive weekend as they held their opponents to -.019 and .057, respectively, in their seven combined sets.
  • MSU Denver (17-5, 12-2 RMAC) snatched a 3-1 victory against UCCS (10-13, 8-7 RMAC). The Roadrunners hit .232 for the match and holding the Mountain Lions to 1.82 including .125 in the last three sets.
  • UCCS (10-13, 8-7 RMAC) and Black Hills State (11-12, 9-6 RMAC) both clutched five-set thrillers in their matches over the weekend.
 

RMAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
  • Kasie Gilfert of Colorado Mesa has been named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week. She put down 28 kills (4.67/set) and hit .500 as the Mavericks recorded a pair of 3-set sweeps. In the process, she re-took the RMAC lead in hitting percentage while maintaining her No. 2 position in kills and points per set. On Friday, Gilfert put down a match-high 17 kills and hit .577 in a 25-16, 25-19, 25-23 win over Fort Lewis. She then recorded 11 kills, to share match-high honors, while hitting .409 in a 25-18, 25-21, 25-18 win over Adams State on Saturday afternoon. She also had two blocks in that match and one against Fort Lewis.
  • Haedyn Rhoades of Black Hills State was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week. averaged 8 digs a set this weekend, recording a total of 24 friday night against regis and 43 against CCU for a total of 67 over 8 sets.
  • Silvia Basso of Regis has been named RMAC Setter of the Week. She is putting up during this 11-match, 26-set win streak for No. 10 ranked Regis are out of this world. This weekend, Basso posted 91 total assists in only six sets of work for a 15.17 assists per set average. She posted the third-most assists in a three set match in Regis history with 51 against South Dakota School of Mines and Technology on Saturday. 
 


INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
  • To’a  Faleao of Dixie State averaged 14.0 kills (4.0 kps) with a .285 H%, along with 2.5 aces (0.7 aps), 10.0 digs (2.8 dps) and 4.0 blocks (1.1 bps) in Dixie State’s home sweep this past weekend. She threw down seven kills with five digs, three block assists and two aces in DSU’s three-set sweep of NMHU on Friday night. The senior then made the most her Senior Night as she tallied a career-high 21 kills (.306 H%) with 15 digs, five block assists and three aces in the Blazers’ four-set win over CSU-P.
  • Nikki Kennedy of Regis University helped keep the 26-set, 11-match win streaks alive for No. 10 Regis this weekend with 23 kills (3.83 kills per set) and an astounding .476 attack percentage. She also had five blocks and five digs. She totaled 27 points in six sets of work. 
  • Lauryn Shockley of UCCS led the Mountian Lions offense in a home split against MSU Denver (L) and Chadron State (W). 21 of her 26 kills came in a 5 set win over the Eagles as she finished the match hitting .306. Lauryn averaged 3.25 kills per set and hit .217 on the weekend. 
  • Avaline Lai of MSU Denver hammered 36 kills, averaging 4.0 kills per set, while hitting .366 hitting as MSU Denver beat UCCS in four sets and lost in 5 on the road at Colorado School of Mines. She also added 5 blocks (2 solos). Lai had 13 kills and 2 block assists in the win over UCCS, then had a match-high 23 kills on .372 hitting against Mines, while also adding 3 blocks (including a match-high 2 solo blocks). With four straight matches of hitting at least .346, Lai has now moved into sixth in the RMAC with a hitting percentage of .333.
  • Brooke Schilling of CSU-Pueblo averaged 3.44 kills per set for the Pack against Dixie State and Westminster this week. She finished with 31 total kills and averaged 7.0 digs per match. Schilling hit. 256. Schilling led the Pack to a five-set win over Westminster with a team-high 18 kills. With the Pack trailing two sets to one, Schilling knocked down eight kills in the fourth set and five in the fifth to lead the Pack to the win. She led the Pack with 13 kills against Dixie State.
  • Abby Tiesman of Colorado School of Mines led the team to a 2-0 weekend including a five-set victory over the #2 team in the RMAC. She started on Friday with 10 kills in a three-set win over Chadron State. Then, Tiesman exploded on Saturday, knocking down 20 kills with 3 service aces and 6 blocks against MSU Denver. The senior finished the weekend with 30 kills while hitting .358 with four service aces and seven blocks. She continues to lead the RMAC in points per set and hitting percentage while ranking #3 in kills per set.
 
  •  Mykenna Nelson of Dixie State averaged 13.0 digs (3.7 dps) and 3.0 assists (0.85 apg) in DSU’s home sweep last weekend. She led the team in digs in both wins as she collected 10 digs in the NMHU sweep, then led four Trailblazers in double figures in digs with a match-high 16 in the four-set triumph over CSU-P.  
  • Caitlyn Burroway of Regis University, a six-rotation player, has been integral to the success of the No. 10 ranked Rangers’ success as of late. Specifically, her passing from the back row which included back-to-back double-digit digs nights (11, 10) for the outside hitter. This gave Burroway her seventh double-double of the season. 
  • Lauren Brown of UCCS averaged 1.11 blocks per set last weekend at home against MSU Denver (L) and Chadron State (W). 8 of her 10 blocks on the weekend came in a four-set loss to the Roadrunners. Offensively, she added 13 kills on the weekend.
  • Kerstin Layman of Colorado Mesa averaged 5.83 digs per set as she recorded 35 in a pair of 3-set weekend home wins for the Mavs, who are unbeaten (6-0) at home this season. On Friday against Fort Lewis, she had a match-high 16 wins as the Skyhawks were held to just .119 hitting. She then had a match-high 19 digs in Saturday afternoon's win over Adams State as the Mavericks played their best defensive match of the season, limiting Adams State to just 23 kills and .070 hitting. Layman also tallied two aces against the Grizzlies.
  • Caiden Rexius of MSU Denver had 40 digs to go along with 3 service aces and 12 assists as MSU Denver earned a 4-set road win at UCCS before falling in a tough 5-set road match at Colorado School of Mines. Rexius had 12 digs, four assists and two aces against UCCS before coming through with career highs 28 digs and 8 assists against Mines, when she recorded another service ace as well. Rexius led all players with 28 digs in the Mines match.  
  • Jazzy Espinoza of CSU-Pueblo dominated on both sides of the ball this week for the Pack. She averaged 1.44 blocks per set and totaled 13 blocks. Six of her blocks were solo swats. In the Pack's win over Westminster Friday, Espinoza set a school record with a .727 hitting percentage, the best percentage by a ThunderWolf in a five-set match. It also stands as the sixth highest hitting percentage in RMAC history for a player with more than 20 attacks in a match. Espinoza had 16 kills in the win over the Griffins. She also had eight blocks and five solo blocks in that match.  
  • Elle Duis of Colorado School of Mines anchored Mines' back row over two matches as the Orediggers went 2-0 over the weekend. Her 10 digs in a straight-sets win over Chadron State were tops on the team. Then, Duis led the team with 23 digs in a five-set win over MSU Denver. She also added four assists and one service ace and finished the weekend with 33 digs at a clip of 4.12 digs per set. She is now over 350 on the season and nearing 1,000 digs for her career as a sophomore.
  • Ara Norwood of Colorado Mesa recorded 48 assists, an average of 8.00 per set, and 12 digs as the Mavericks' starting setter in a 6-2 attack. Against Fort Lewis on Friday, Norwood had 29 assists in a 3-set win over the Skyhawks, where the Mavericks hit .299 as a team. She then had 19 assists and nine digs in Saturday's 3-set win over Adams State, which kept the Mavericks perfect at home this season. She also had an ace in each match.
  • Joli Sadler of MSU Denver had 63 assists in two matches while adding 4 service aces as MSU Denver earned a 4-set road win at UCCS before falling in 5 at Colorado School of Mines. Sadler had 35 assists while adding a service ace and 2 blocks in the win over UCCS, then had 28 assists and 3 aces (tied for the match high) against Mines while also adding 11 digs.
  • Hanna Hendrickson of Western recorded 67 assists in Western's wins over Adams State and Black Hills State, only making one setting error. She was responsible for 67 out of the teams 76 assists (88 percent), also recording 10 digs for the team. 
  • Drew Stokes of Colorado School of Mines racked up nearly 100 assists and knocked down 7 blocks in just two matches over the weekend as Mines went 2-0. Her biggest performance of the weekend was against MSU Denver in which she led all players with 53 assists which was more than the Roadrunners' two setters combined. She also added five blocks and worked 14 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Stokes finished the weekend with six kills while hitting .500 and averaged 2.75 digs per set. She remained #1 in the nation in assists per set as she approaches 1,000 assists for the season.