Mines (3-5, 0-0 RMAC) at Chadron State (2-6, 0-0 RMAC) – Chadron, Neb. – Friday, 6 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Mines (3-5, 0-0 RMAC) at Colorado Christian (5-3, 0-0 RMAC) – Lakewood, Colo. – Saturday, 5 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]

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RMAC ACTION BEGINS
Two weeks of non-conference play are in the books for the Colorado School of Mines Volleyball team. This weekend, the Orediggers open their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) slate with road trips to Chadron State in Nebraska on Friday and Colorado Christian in Lakewood on Saturday. First serve at CSC is slated for 6 p.m. with action in Lakewood starting at 5 p.m. The dawning of RMAC action brings the opportunity for Mines to chase a sixth conference crown and its first since 2018.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Free live video will be available on the RMAC Network at www.minesathletics.com/tv for all of Mines' remaining regular-season matches. There will also be free live stats for each match linked on the Orediggers' schedule page at www.minesathletics.com. For the first time in program history, most of Mines' home matches will feature play-by-play commentary provided by Kienan Dixon.
 
PRESEASON POLLS REVIEW
The start of conference play makes it prudent to revisit the RMAC's preseason coaches' poll. Mines was picked sixth by the coaches in late August. The Orediggers earned 137 points to earn the standing, edging out #7 Colorado Christian and #8 Chadron State. Defending regular-season champion MSU Denver was picked #1 behind seven of 15 first-place votes. Colorado Mesa earned six first-place votes to finish #2. Conference tournament champion Regis rounded out the top-three with the last two first-place votes. South Dakota Mines was #4 and CSU Pueblo was #5.
 
NON-CONFERENCE NOTES
The Orediggers started their season and non-conference play with their annual Oredigger Volleyball Classic at Lockridge Arena Sept. 6-7. Mines finished opening weekend with a 1-3 record. Last week, the Orediggers traveled to the state of Idaho for the first time in program history to participate in the Northwest Nazarene Tournament. There, Mines went 2-2. The Orediggers started their trip with a five-set win against Saint Martin's on Thursday and ended the journey by sweeping Augustana on Saturday. Sandwiched in between the victories was a straight-set loss to Point Loma on Thursday and a five-set heartbreaker against Biola on Friday. Overall, Hannah Kinnison led the offense by way of 53 kills across 16 sets. She also posted four service aces, five total blocks and 61 digs en route to four double-doubles. Additionally, Morgan McChesney made her 2024 debut and hammered out 37 kills on .301 hitting with 14 total blocks. Jenna McLaughlin cruised in the middle as well with 28 kills on .338 hitting and 18 total blocks. The back row saw 86 digs from Olivia Murilo, 65 from Jada Price, and 42 from Avery Perreira. The later also churned out six service aces. Brinleigh Davis shouldered the setting duties and dished out 142 assists.
 
KINNISON DOUBLES UP
Hannah Kinnison has been shouldering the load for Mines on offense and defense in her first season as an Oredigger, playing all six rotations in every set for each of Mines' first eight matches. The result has been a run of four consecutive double-doubles which notes double-digit production in two different statistical categories. For Kinnison, the numbers have come in kills and digs. She nearly tallied three double-doubles on opening weekend, coming just two digs, and three kills shy of the feat. Last weekend in Idaho, the Sligo, Colo., native broke through. She put up 15 kills and 17 digs on Saint Martin's before 10 kills and 14 digs closed out opening day. On Friday, Kinnison went for 16 kills and 20 digs in five sets against Biola. The quartet became compete thanks to 12 kills and 10 digs in a sweep of Augustana. For her career, which includes two seasons at NCAA Division I San Francisco and two more seasons at Angelo State, Kinnison touts a total of 10 double-doubles.
 
APPLYING FOR CLUB 1K
Two Orediggers are chasing 1,000 kills for their respective careers. The aforementioned Kinnison is up to 825 career kills after notching 727 at her last two stops. Brianna Binder, who played two full seasons and another partial season at McKendree in Illinois, boasts exactly 800 career kills. The last time two Orediggers on the same roster were legitimately chasing 1,000 career kills at the same time was when Jackie Stabell and Melanie Wannamaker played together from 2010-12.
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT
So far in 2024, Mines has put 17 different Orediggers on the court across 30 sets in eight matches. Of those 17 student-athletes, eight are true freshmen and nine had never played in a NCAA volleyball match prior to this season. Middle blocker Jenna McLaughlin is fueling the youth movement with her 66 kills and 27 total blocks which rank #2 and #1 on the team, respectively. She's also hitting .306 which is #1 among fulltime attackers. Taylor Helms is not far behind, touting 52 kills and 22 total blocks. Those numbers rank #3 and #2 on the team, respectively. In the back row, Avery Perreira and Olivia Murillo have seen time at libero resulting in 110 combined digs. Perreira's seven aces also lead the team. Furthermore, as of late, Brinleigh Davis has taken over the setting duties and dished out 201 assists with 36 digs, nine total blocks, six kills and two aces. Additional contributions to the explosion of Oredigger youth have come from Ava Swan, Layla Padgett, and Emma Dunwoody.
 
MAGALEI HONORED BY ALMA MATER
Colorado School of Mines Volleyball Head Coach Jamie Magalei has accumulated numerous accolades during her 17 seasons at the helm. This fall, she'll add another honor to her resume. The University of North Dakota, where Magalei played as Jamie Skadeland from 2001-04, announced the Mines head lady as the 2024 recipient of the school's Tom Clifford Award. The Clifford Award, established to honor former UND President Thomas J. Clifford, recognizes the UND alum who serves as an athletics coach at the high school or collegiate level and has been notable successful in their sport. With over 350 career wins at Mines, Magalei has certainly displayed notable success as she ranks top-25 among active coaches in NCAA Division II. She was an exceptional player as well, still ranking eighth all-time at UND in career assists (2,791), fourth all-time in single-season assists (1,417), and is one of only 20 individuals to post 1,000 digs in program history. Magalei also helped North Dakota reach the national tournament in 2002 and 2003 – the first appearances in program history.
 
THAT'S PRETTY NEAT
In Mines' 3-1 win against Concord in the 2024 season opener, the Orediggers knocked down 69 kills on 64 assists. Those 69 kills are tied for #2 in a four set match in NCAA Division II so far this season. Mines's 64 assists in the same match are also tied for #3 in a DII, four-set match this season.
 
SCOUTING CHADRON STATE
Last season, Chadron State advanced to the RMAC tournament for the first time in 20 years after accruing the most wins in a season in that same span. The Eagles' 2024 campaign is off to a slower start with CSC sitting 2-6 heading into conference play. Opening weekend saw sixth-year head coach Jennifer Stadler's squad go 0-4 in at Point Loma's tournament with losses to Point Loma, Vanguard, Simon Fraser, and Cal State San Marcos. The Eagles won just one set and that was against CSUSM. Last weekend, CSC went to Kearney, Neb., and sandwiched victories against University of Mary and Missouri Southern between straight-set losses at the hands of Oklahoma Christian and then #6-ranked Nebraska-Kearney. Currently, as a team, Chadron State is top-50 in the nation in digs per set thanks to Alondra Hernandez who touts 137 digs at a clip of 5.27 digs per set. Alejandra Briseno has 51 kills which ranks first on an offense that averages just 9.8 kills per set while hitting .127 as a team. In comparison, Mines is averaging 11.8 kills per set on a .197 attack percentage. Also notable for Chadron State are 13 service aces from Avery Lacy.
 
MINES AGAINST THE EAGLES
The Orediggers boast a 44-25 advantage in the all-time series against Chadron State. Mines took 24 consecutive matches from the Eagles from 2008-22 and only dropped six total sets in that span. Last year, CSC snapped that streak with a five-set win inside Lockridge Arena. It was the only meeting between the Orediggers and Eagles in 2023. Significant performances in that match from currently rostered Mines players came from Morgan McChesney, Presley Powell, and Jada Price. McChesney knocked down 11 kills on .318 hitting and totaled five blocks. Powell pumped out 58 assists with nine digs, three kills, two aces, and one block. Price, at libero, produced 16 digs, four assists, and two aces.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
Colorado Christian eked out one of the last spots in the 2023 RMAC Volleyball Tournament despite an overall record of 12-15. The Cougars are off to a stronger start in 2024, sitting 5-3 as they being their RMAC slate. On opening weekend, CCU went to Irvine, Calif., and defeated Ursuline and Northwest Nazarene while suffering losses to Concordia-Irvine and Alaska-Fairbanks. At last week's Volleyfest hosted by Texas Woman's, the Cougars fell in five to TWU on opening day before reeling off three straight wins against Midwestern State, Pittsburg State, and Arkansas-Fort Smith. Colorado Christian will host #2-ranked MSU Denver on Friday before facing Mines on Saturday. Individual leaders heading into that first RMAC match are Abby Breeding, Izzy Jones, Shelby Hernandez, and Lilly Woods. Breeding boasts 90 kills, Jones ranks 16th in the nation with her 10.90 assists per set, Hernandez touts 136 digs and nine service aces, and Woods boasts 33 total blocks across 28 sets. Also notable is Renee Phillips' .397 attack percentage leading to 70 kills. As a team, CCU ranks top-20 in the nation in assists per set and kills per set.
 
MINES AGAINST THE COUGARS
Colorado School of Mines volleyball leads the all-time series with Colorado Christian by a 43-24 margin. That record includes six straight wins for the Orediggers against the Cougars. The active streak started with Mines sweeping CCU in three consecutive meetings before a pair of five-set affairs at the start of 2023. In total, the Orediggers and Cougars met three times last year. The season series ended with Mines sweeping CCU in Golden. In the last meeting of 2023, Allison Jansen posted eight kills on .462 hitting with two total blocks. Presley Powell had 39 assists, six digs, three blocks, and two aces. With changes to the RMAC scheduling format, the Orediggers and Cougars are slated to meet three times in 2024. Mines hasn't lost to Colorado Christian in volleyball since Oct. 26, 2019. It was a five-set heartbreaker in Lakewood.
 
AT THE HELM
Head Coach Jamie Magalei is in her 17th season leading the Mines volleyball program in 2024. She is easily the program's all-time leader in total wins and win percentage at 357-127 (.738). Entering the 2024 season, her winning percentage ranked inside the top-20 among active coaches in NCAA Division II, and her total wins are top-50 in the same category. Additionally, her winning percentage prior to 2024 ranked top-25 all-time in DII. Magalei surpassed 300 career wins in 2021. She's one of six to reach the milestone while coaching in the RMAC. Through 2023, Magalei has coached 31 all-America selections, three Academic All-Americans, and 65 all-conference performers. Her resume also includes three Regional Players of the Year, two Regional Freshmen of the Year, and 16 RMAC major award winners. Magalei has guided Mines to six RMAC regular-season championships, and five RMAC Tournament titles with 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 2009-22 (no NCAA tournament in 2020). The North Dakota native also guided the Orediggers to either a conference regular-season or tournament title every season from 2012-21 including a sweep of both in 2015.
 
UP NEXT
Mines brings RMAC volleyball to Lockridge Arena on Friday, Sept. 27, and Saturday, Sept. 28, as part of Homecoming Weekend for the Orediggers. Tickets can be purchased online at www.minesathletics.com/tickets. Additionally, there will be free live video of both matches on the RMAC Network and free live stats linked on the volleyball schedule page.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines volleyball on "X" (formerly Twitter) at @MinesVolleyball and on Instagram at @mines.volleyball. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.