The Fort Lewis College volleyball team found out its opponent in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament after Friday night’s season-finale matches went final.
The Skyhawks (9-13, 9-9 RMAC) will play the No. 1 overall seed in the Colorado School of Mines and Technology Tuesday in Golden. Fort Lewis qualified for the RMAC Tournament for the first time since 2013 as the Skyhawks earned the No. 8 seed after a tiebreaker against Adams State on Thursday after they edged out the Grizzlies with a 4-3 season set advantage.
Skyhawks’ head coach Tricia Melfy said that Thursday’s clincher was more than enough to get her team excited about taking on the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
“We’re really excited to get to this point because no one in our locker room has ever played in the RMAC Tournament,” Melfy said. “Mines is a very organized, disciplined team and they put up a lot of impressive numbers, but I’ve tried to not have our girls look too much into those stats. Because here’s the thing about the postseason: Anybody that bleeds can lose. At the end of the day, there’s a lot that can be said for the teams that play with their hearts, minds, play with passion and scrap their way against the top teams.”
The Orediggers (22-4, 16-2 RMAC) are not only the No. 1 seed, but are also ranked No. 27 in the nation. Colorado Mines leads the conference in hitting percentage, assists per game, kills and opponent digs per game. Junior middle blocker Abby Tiesman has recorded the most points on the year with 418.0 and has had 339 kills this season, which comes out to an average of 3.46 per set. Meanwhile, freshman setter Drew Strokes has recorded an astounding 1,141 assists and averaged 11.76 per set, and 12.13 in conference play, which leads the conference. Meanwhile, senior outside hitter Haley Christiansen is the Skyhawks’ leader in kills with 230 and has averaged 2.88 kills per set. Senior setter Kendra Swackenberg sits in eighth in the conference in assists, averaging 8.43 per set. The Orediggers have a player in the top 10 in every major category for the RMAC’s individual leaders.
The teams played earlier this season and it ended in a Colorado Mines victory in straight sets, 25-19, 25-18 and 25-16. Melfy said that the Orediggers are composed, but knows that anything can happen in the postseason.
“The last time we played them, they were organized and very disciplined and that’s the best way to describe it,” Melfy said. “But, they are also human and they make mistakes just like everybody else. I know we’ll come out fired up and we’re going to play our hearts out no matter what.”
Fort Lewis will take on the Orediggers at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Golden.
bploen@durangoherald.com
