GOLDEN – Led by another record-breaking performance from senior Melanie Wannamaker, the No. 19 Colorado School of Mines volleyball team shrugged off a pesky Chadron State squad en route to a 3-1 win on Saturday at Lockridge Arena.
Mines (11-4, 5-1 RMAC) captured the win behind set scores of 25-17, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-11.
The squad won its fourth straight in the four-set victory and the squad has now won 11 of its last 12 matches while holding down one of the top spots in the RMAC standings.
Wannamaker set a program record for attack percentage on 20 or more kills with a 21-kill, .633 attack percentage mark on Saturday, and her attack percentage mark is the second-highest in program history on 20 or more attacks.
The Kingwood, Texas, native and Mechanical Engineering major added a game-high four blocks on the defensive end. After setting a program attack percentage record with a mark of .355 last season as a junior, Wannamaker upped her 2013 mark to .435 in the win. Saturday's 20-kill performance was the fourth of her career.
For the week, Wannamaker led Mines to a 3-0 record, hit .623 and posted 5.20 kills per set while adding 11 blocks and four service aces over the three-match stretch.
Junior Sarah Pekarek added 13 kills and 10 digs for her sixth double-double of the season while adding an assist and a service ace as well.
Freshman Alanna Winfield recorded 15 kills of her own to go with a block and two digs on the defensive end.
Two-time defending RMAC Setter of the Week Danielle Johnson-Hazlewood posted her first-career 20-dig performance with 22 on Saturday to go along with 48 assists. The Cypress, Texas, product entered the week ranked No. 2 in the nation in assists per set.
Her double-double on Saturday was her team-leading seventh of the season. She posted 14.20 assists and 4.50 digs per set during the squad's 3-0 week on the floor.
Senior Hannah Margheim added 14 digs and six assists while freshman Taryn Huber added 10.
Mines carried over its momentum from two earlier wins in the week in leading from start to finish in set one for a 25-17 victory.
The second set saw Chadron State (3-11, 0-6 RMAC) erupt offensively with a .278 attack percentage en route to a 26-24 victory.
The Orediggers continued to muddle in the third set and saw an early 13-9 lead slip to a 17-16 avantage on a kill by CSC's Nikki Schmidt. After an Oredigger timeout, the squad pushed its lead back out to 21-18 on a kill by Winfield and captured the set behind a 25-22 final.
The squad got into a groove offensively in the fourth and final set with a .323 attack percentage and a staggering .81 sideout percentage to capture the set, 25-11, and the match, 3-1.
Mines will head out on the road for a trio of contests next week. Mines will start its three-match road swing with a matchup at CSU-Pueblo on Thursday before facing off against Adams State and Western State on Friday and Saturday.
