PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball returns to the comforts of Massari Arena this weekend (Oct. 20-21) to host Colorado School of Mines and nationally-ranked No. 6 MSU Denver for key Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matches.

The ThunderWolves, who have won three straight matches and are currently sitting in fourth place in the RMAC standings, opens the weekend homestand on Friday, Oct. 20 with a 7 p.m. Pink Out Night match against Mines, before concluding the weekend with a 3 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 21 against No. 6 MSU Denver.

This weekend's matches will be just the fourth and fifth home matches of the season for the Pack as they have played 15 of its first 18 matches this season away from Massari Arena. The Pack is 2-1 at home with all three of those matches having been RMAC contests.

The Pack enters the weekend sporting an 8-10 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the RMAC after winning four-set matches on the road last weekend at Chadron State and Colorado Christian to extend its win streak to three straight matches. Six of the Pack's eight wins have come in three-set sweeps. Overall, CSU Pueblo has won seven of its last 10 matches since starting the season 1-7.

In the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, the Pack were tabbed to finish fifth as they received 147 points in voting by the league's 15 head coaches. Last season, CSU Pueblo went 19-9 overall and 12-6 in the RMAC and advanced to the NCAA South Regional Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Friday's match-up with Mines will mark the 67th all-time meeting between the two schools with the Pack holding a slight 35-31 edge in the series. The Pack have lost three straight matches to Mines and is just 1-9 against the Orediggers in their last 10 match-ups, including suffering a five-set loss to Mines in the quarterfinals of last year's RMAC Tournament. Saturday's match with MSU Denver will mark the 67th all-time meeting with MSU Denver holding a commanding 58-8 lead in the series. The Roadrunners have won 33 straight matches in the series, including winning all three matches last season against the Pack.

ABOUT THE THUNDERWOLVES
Leading the way offensively for the Pack this season has been its three-headed monster of redshirt sophomore outside hitter Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn University) and sophomore outside hitters Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) and Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark). Those three have combined for 555 kills, 49 aces, 295 digs and 90 blocks and are hitting a combined .275 on the year.

Van Veen, who was named this week's RMAC Offensive Player of the Week, leads the Pack in kills (201), kills per set (3.05) and is tied for second in blocks with 44 and is fourth in aces with 15 and is hitting .261, while Scoville is second in both kills (186) and kills per set (2.78) and leads the team in digs (217), digs per set (3.24) and aces (29) and is hitting .264 and Harrington is third in kills (168) and kills per set (2.71) and has had 21 blocks and is hitting .300. Scoville leads the team in double-doubles with nine and has posted five straight double-digit kill matches and four straight double-doubles, while Van Veen has hit over .300 and had double-digit kills in two straight matches and Harrington has also had two straight matches with 10 or more kills.

The Pack offense is directed by junior setter Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) and senior setter Grace Jansen (Sandy, Utah/Jordan). King leads the team in assists with 347 and is averaging 5.18 assists per set and has had 114 digs and is third in aces with 21, while Jansen has recorded 346 assists and is averaging 5.16 assists per set and has had 128 digs and is second in aces with 28. Both Jansen and King have each recorded four double-doubles on the year.

One of the biggest strengths this season for the Pack is serving aces as they enter this week's action second in the league in total aces (122) and third in aces per set (1.82). Five Pack players have recorded double-digit aces, including Scoville (29), Jansen (28) and King (21) all recording 20 or more aces on the year. The Pack have had five or more aces in a match 14 times, including recording six straight matches with five or more aces.

Another strength for the Pack is their blocking as they are averaging 1.86 blocks per set and have recorded 124.5 blocks on the year. Seven Pack players have recorded 10 or more blocks on the year with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Golden Finch (Albuquerque, N.M./Cal State Bakersfield) leading the way with 50 as she is averaging 0.93 blocks per set, which is 10th-best in the RMAC. She has had three or more blocks in a match 11 times, including a high of seven blocks at Black Hills State. In addition to Finch, Van Veen are junior middle blocker Josey Nunn (Kingwood, Texas/Porter) are each second in blocks with 44. Scoville has had 25 blocks, while Harrington has had 21, freshman middle blocker Macy Wood (Sandy, Utah/Alta) has recorded 12 blocks and freshman outside hitter Ceanna O'Loughlin (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) has had 11 blocks. The Pack have had five or more blocks in a match 14 times, including a season high 10 blocks against both UCCS at the RMAC Regional Pod on Sept. 29 and last Thursday at Chadron State.

As a team, CSU Pueblo has recorded 869 kills, 997 digs, 122 aces and is hitting .247 on the year, which is fourth-best in the league. The Pack are averaging 11.90 assists pet set, which is fourth-best in the RMAC and their opponents are hitting .212 on the year.

ABOUT COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
The Orediggers have been an up-and-down team most of the season as they were tabbed to finish fourth in the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, but enter play this weekend sporting a 9-8 overall record and are tied for ninth in the RMAC with a 3-4 record. The Orediggers, though, have won three of their last four matches with the lone setback being a four-set loss last Friday at South Dakota Mines.

Much like the Pack, Mines has played a majority of its matches away from home this season as the Orediggers have played just seven home matches and are in the midst of a current road match road trip that ends this weekend with its matches at CSU Pueblo and Adams State. Mines is 5-5 away from home this season, but just 1-4 on the road in RMAC action.

Leading the way for the Orediggers offensively this season is graduate student outside hitter Rose Stuewe. Stuewe has recorded 218 kills and is averaging 3.30 kills per set and is hitting .238 on the year. She has recorded 1,142 career kills for Mines and is just 124 kills shy of breaking into Mines' all-time career list for kills.

In addition to Stuewe, redshirt junior outside hitter Madison Glasco is second in kills with 166 and is also second in digs with 135 and is hitting .219. A third Mines player, senior opposite side hitter Shannon Perna has recorded 113 kills and is hitting .267.

Setting the table for the Mines offense is freshman setter Presley Powell. Powell is second in the RMAC in both assists (714) and assists per set (10.82). She has also had 124 digs and leads the team with 17 service aces.

Defensively, Mines is led by the blocking of sophomore middle blocker Morgan McChesney and Perna. McChesney leads the team with 44 blocks and is averaging 0.88 blocks per set, while Perna has had 31 blocks and is averaging 0.62 blocks per set. Sophomore defensive specialist Jada Price leads Mines in digs with 252 and is averaging 3.82 digs per set.

As a team, Mines is hitting .241 and have recorded 865 kills, 819 assists, 902 digs, 120 blocks and 71 aces, while their opponents are hitting .229 on the season.

The Orediggers are coached by Jamie Magalei, who is in her 16th season with the Mines volleyball program. She has compiled a 348-117 record and is the school's all-time leader in both wins and winning percentage. Magalei has coached 31 All-Americans, three Academic All-Americans and 63 All-RMAC performers. In addition, she has led Mines to six regular season RMAC titles, five RMACTournament titles and 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

ABOUT MSU DENVER
MSU Denver, who plays at Adams State on Friday before facing the Pack on Saturday, come into this week's action ranked No. 6 in the latest AVCA/Taraflex Division II Coaches' Poll as the Roadrunners are sporting a 14-3 overall record and are the lone undefeated team in the RMAC with a 7-0 league record. MSU Denver has won 11 straight matches since suffering back-to-back losses at the Colorado Premier Challenge to No. 1 ranked West Texas A&M and Lewis University. The Roadrunners other loss this season was a five-set loss at then No. 19 ranked Cal State-San Bernardino in its fourth match of the 2023 season.

The Roadrunners come onto this weekend's action having won 47 consecutive regular season RMAC matches as MSU Denver has won two straight RMAC regular season titles and have made 22 straight NCAA Tournament appearances and have played in seven straight RMAC Tournament title matches.

Leading the way offensively for MSU Denver is junior outside hitter Riley Anderson. Anderson, who was a Third-Team AVCA All-American last season, is averaging 3.95 kills and 1.98 digs per set and is hitting .304 on the year. In addition to Anderson, junior right side hitter Maddy Williams is averaging 2.02 kills, 0.97 blocks and is hitting .234 on the year.

The third Roadrunner to record double-digit kills this season is senior outside hitter Rylee Hladky. Hladky, who is a two-time RMAC Player of the Year and two-time AVCA First-Team All-American, is averaging 2.86 kills and 2.36 digs per set and is hitting .223. She is a member of the school's 1,000 Kill/1,000 Dig Club and is seventh among active Division II players with 151 career aces and fifth among active Division II players in career kills (1,352).

MSU Denver runs a two-setter system as junior setter Amela Qershia leads the way with 345 assists and is averaging 5.75 per set and also leads the team in aces with 27 and averages 1.52 digs per set. The other setter is junior Delaney Eckhardt, who has recorded 290 assists, is averaging 4.75 assists per set and is second in aces with 22 and is averaging 1.51 digs per set.

Defensively, MSU Denver is paced by the play of junior Abbie McCrimmon as she averages 3.69 digs per set and has added 15 aces. In addition to McCrimmon, senior middle blocker Mikayla McClinton averages 1.03 blocks per set and she is currently third among active Division II players in career blocks with 389 and senior middle blocker Ember Canty averages 1.31 blocks per set.

As a team, MSU Denver has recorded 820 kills, 754 assists, 807 digs, 116 aces and 163 blocks and is hitting .262 as a team, while their opponents are hitting .131.

The Roadrunners are coached by Jenny Glenn, who is in her ninth season at MSU Denver and has compiled 180-43 overall record and is 119-8 in RMAC play. She has led the Roadrunners to an NCAA Tournament appearance in all of her seasons with the program (there was no NCAA Tournament in 2020), three regular season RMAC titles and an RMAC Tournament title last season.

UP NEXT FOR PACK
Following this weekend's home matches, the Pack will return to the road to play another RMAC Regional pod next weekend (Oct. 27-28) hosted by Mines. At the regional pod, the Pack will face Colorado Christian on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. and then face Mines at 5 p.m. on Oct. 28.