Volleyball Wins Fourth Straight RMAC Title

This past weekend the Mines volleyball team won their conference game against CMU. The win confirmed them as RMAC Regular Season Champions for the fourth year in a row. Not only did the lady Orediggers take the champion title, but they are also the top offensive team in the RMAC and were the first RMAC team to get a seat in the postseason tournament.
“After conference we have the RMAC tournament. That will start the weekend before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving is the regional tournament. We might have to travel or we might stay close. It just depends on the rankings,” states sophomore volleyball player Ellie Monarch. The team has one more conference game on Nov. 14 which will determine whether Mines will host the RMAC Tournament.

“I’m getting excited for the tournament and to see how we do. We really are a strong team and have overcome a lot this year, and we are starting to click more. I’m really excited to see how we do at the RMAC tournament and at regionals,” says Monarch.
“If we get through regionals where there are eight teams, and we win out, we’ll go to the NCAA tournament the weekend after. We’re hoping to get through that. Our main goal right now is to get past the semifinal round. That would be the farthest we’ve gotten, so hopefully as a team we can achieve that,” states Monarch.

The team is ranked #18 by the NCAA Division II Coaches’ Poll. Their success can be attributed to how well the team works together.

“I think just the connection of being as a team and playing more together has gotten well and the connections overall have improved. We’ve just improved individually and as a team so it’s definitely helped us in the games,” says Monarch. “As a team we are overcoming a lot of the things we were struggling with before, but we still have to perform so overcoming weaknesses is still important.”

The last conference game, the RMAC tournament, and regionals are rapidly approaching. Monarch speaks for the whole team: “I’m excited to see how we do at the tournament and regionals! Hopefully we can get past both and go from there!”