RAPID CITY, S.D. – The No. 5 seeded Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball saw its 2023 season end here Tuesday evening as the ThunderWolves dropped a hard-fought five-set match to No. 4 seeded South Dakota Mines (23-25, 25-13, 30-32, 25-15, 12-15) in the quarterfinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament held at the King Center.
 
With the setback, the Pack closes its season with a 13-14 overall record, while South Dakota Mines improves to 18-9 and advances to a Friday semifinal tournament match at No. 1 seeded and seventh-ranked MSU Denver.
 
The Pack, who were making their fifth straight appearance in the RMAC Tournament, fell to 7-12 all-time in the tournament and dropped its third straight match to the Hardrockers, all of which were played in Rapid City.
 
Tuesday's match, which was the lone RMAC Tournament quarterfinal match to go over three sets, featured 44 ties and 20 lead changes, including 19 ties and six lead changes in third set that the Hardrockers won 32-30.
 
"Our team played pretty well tonight. Outside of an error-filled first set I was pleased with how we competed. The offense was efficient, and we blocked well. But as it usually does in these tight matches it came down to a few little moments and situations where we missed an opportunity or South Dakota Mines made a great play. Credit to them for finding a way to make the plays when it mattered," CSU Pueblo head coach Austin Albers said. "I'm proud of the way that this team stuck together and continued to play hard after a rocky start to the season. We got better as the year went along and found ways to compete at a high level at times. But losing stings, we feel like we are a better team than our record showed. But it's only failure if we choose not to learn from it."
 
The Pack, which hit .304 in the match, was outhit, .619 to .250 in the fifth and final set that sealed South Dakota Mines' victory. The Hardrockers' 18 wins this season are the most in a season since winning 27 matches in 2011.
 
CSU Pueblo's offense was paced by the play of redshirt sophomore Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn University) as the 2022 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American tallied 19 kills, eight digs, a career-high tying eight blocks and hit .395. In addition to Van Veen, sophomore outside hitter Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) and freshman outside hitter Ceanna O'Loughlin (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) each had 12 kills, while Scoville added 15 digs for her team-leading 13th double-double and hit .323.
 
The fourth Pack that recorded double-digit kills was sophomore opposite side hitter Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark) as she had 11 kills and hit .333.
 
The Pack held a 13-3 edge in blocks in the match as redshirt sophomore middle blocker Golden Finch (Albuquerque, N.M./Cal State Bakersfield) tied a single-match school record 11 blocks. The 11 blocks tied the record set by Lindsay Black against Angelo State in 2008.
 
Senior setter Grace Jansen (Sandy, Utah/Jordan) tallied a career-high 29 assists and added 12 digs for her sixth double-double of the season in her final collegiate match and also had a match-high five aces. Along with Jansen, junior setter Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) added 19 assists and 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.
 
Freshman libero Maddox Richtmyre (Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon) paced the Pack defense with 18 digs.
 
South Dakota Mines got 17 kills each from Alessandra Meoni and Paisley Gibson, while Jenna Curtis added 13 kills and hit .346.
 
The Pack finished the game with 63 kills, 77 digs and 10 aces, while the Hardrockers had 68 kills, 80 digs and three aces. SDSM also committed 27 attack errors and nine service errors in the win. SDSM hit .219 in the match as a team.
 
Tuesday's match marked the final collegiate matches for the Pack's four-member senior class. This year's seniors are Jansen, defensive specialist Kealey Marshall (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail), opposite side hitter Bailey Combs (Fresno, Calif./Central Oklahoma) and senior libero Taylor Maguire (Lyons, Colo./Lyons).
 
"This season is going to be an important catalyst for the changes that need to happen within our program to get back to doing the little things that it requires to win consistently and at a higher level," the fifth-year Pack coach said.
 
Set 1: The first set featured 12 ties and nine lead changes as the teams combined for 23 kills and five aces. CSU Pueblo held an early 5-3 lead, before the Hardrockers used an 8-5 run to take an 11-10 lead. The Pack, though, responded by scoring three straight points to take a 14-11 lead. The run began with a kill by junior middle blocker Josey Nunn (Kingwood, Texas/Porter) and was capped by back-to-back attack errors by Ivy Vindivich. SDSM mounted a comeback as they scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 20-16 lead. The Pack would respond with a 6-1 run capped by back-to-back kills from Van Veen and Nunn, before SDSM scored three straight points to take a 24-22 lead. A kill by Van Veen brought the Pack within a point at 24-23, but SDSM sealed the 25-23 win with a service error by Scoville. In the set, the Pack hit .219 and had 11 kills, while SDSM hit .121 with 12 kills.
 
Set 2: The second set belonged to the Pack as they hit .333 and had two aces and three blocks to lead them to a 25-13 lead. The set had four ties and two lead changes which came early in the set. SDSM pushed out to a 5-4 lead early in the set, before the Pack used an 18-4 run to take a 22-9 lead. The run began with a Hardrockers service error and was capped by a set error from Meoni. After SDSM scored two straight points to cut the Pack lead to 22-11, the Pack closed the set on a 3-2 run and capped the 25-13 win with a kill by Harrington. Harrington had four of the Pack's 12 kills in the set, while SDSM had nine kills and committed 11 errors.
 
Set 3: The third set might've been the set of the season as it featured 19 ties and six ties. SDSM jumped out to a 12-8 lead early in the set, before the Pack used an 11-5 run capped by a kill from O'Loughlin to take a 19-17 lead. The Hardrockers would respond by scoring four of the next six points to tie the set at 21-all. CSU Pueblo, though would score three of the next four points to push in front 24-22, before SDSM rallied to score three of the next four points to tie the set at 25. From that point, the teams would take turns trading points until the Hardrockers scored the final three points of the set to seal the 32-30 win. The win was capped by back-to-back from Curtis. In the set, the Pack hit .280 and had 17 kills, including six kills by Van Veen and three blocks, while SDSM hit .333 with 25 kills, including eight by Gibson and seven by Meoni.
 
Set 4: Much like the second set, the Pack dominated the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set. In the set, the Pack hit .417 with 16 kills and five blocks, including six kills and five blocks by Van Veen, while SDSM hit .023 with nine kills and eight attack errors. The Hardrockers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and led 9-3 when the Pack rallied thanks to a 15-3 run to take an 18-11 lead. After kill by Vindivich stopped the Pack run, the visitors closed the set by scoring seven of the final 11 points to seal its 25-15 win. Van Veen and Scoville combined for 10 kills and hit .667 in the set.

Set 5: The Pack jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set and led 5-2 following a kill by Van Veen before SDSM used a 4-1 run to tie the set at 6-all. After the teams traded points, SDSM scored three of the next four points to take a 10-8 lead. The Pack, though, retied the by scoring two straight points, including capping the run with an ace by Scoville. Once again, the teams traded points before SDSM used a 3-0 run to take a 14-11 lead. Van Veen would stop the run with a kill to pull within 14-12, but SDSM secured the 15-12 victory with a kill by Meoni. In the set, the Pack hit .250 with seven kills and three aces, while SDSM had 13 kills and hit .619.