How It Happened
Career nights from Ellie Monarch, Marina Hansen and Alanna Winfield gave #17 Colorado School of Mines a hard-fought 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 30-28) win at Colorado Christian on Tuesday, September 20. 

Playing in its first true road match of the season, Mines (9-2, 3-0) fought off an epic battle from RMAC rival CCU (7-5, 1-2) to remain undefeated in league play. The Orediggers got a career-best 20 kills from Monarch, 55 assists from Hansen and 19 digs from Winfield in the see-saw match.

After dropping the opening set, Mines got out to a 10-3 start in set No. 2. The Cougars wouldn't go away though and fought back to take a 16-14 lead for themselves. After battling point-for-point for a while, the Orediggers ended the frame with four consecutive kills – two from Ellie Monarch – to tie the match with a 25-20 victory.

The third set was another tight one with the two squads battling each other all the way to a 20-20 tie. Two CCU errors gave the Orediggers some cushion, and Madeline Behr and Monarch brought Mines home with a 25-22 set three win. 

Mines and Colorado Christian then battled each other nip-and-tuck in a fourth set that the first to 25 points just wasn't enough. 

Down 28-27 and on the brink on dropping the frame, the Orediggers rallied with a kill from Alanna Winfield to the game back up. Winfield then blocked Angela Jurek's attack on the very next play to give Mines the lead. Ellie Monarch then sealed the victory when she spiked home a free ball at the net to take the set, 30-28.

Notables
-    As mentioned, it was career night for multiple Orediggers.
-    First, Ellie Monarch put up a career-high 20 kills while hitting a team-high .378, and compling a game-high five blocks.
-    Marina Hansen dished out a new career-best 55 assists and 14 digs for her second career double-double.
-    Speaking of double-doubles, Alanna Winfield had Mines' second one of the night with 17 kills and a career-best 19 digs. She also produced three blocks.
-    The other Oredigger in double-digit kills was Madeline Behr who had 12 on .333 hitting. She also had three blocks.
-    Mines had 95 digs on the night with 22 of them coming from Taryn Huber, 19 from Winfield, 16 from LaRose Currie and 14 from each of Hansen and Hailey Babcock.
-    In a match that featured 15 lead changes and 34 ties, it was the Orediggers' two more kills and two less attacking errors that ended up being the difference.

Up Next
Mines returns to action this Saturday at 4 p.m. when they face Westminster in Salt Lake City, Utah.