SPEARFISH, S.D.- The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (4-9 (1-3 RMAC)) are starting their regularly scheduled RMAC games again with a trip to face #12 MSU Denver (11-3 (3-1 RMAC)) on Friday night and then will face (RV) UCCS on Saturday afternoon in Colorado Springs. BHSU is looking to get a statement win this season after reverse sweeping Chadron this past Saturday.
 
Know Before You Go:
Date/Time/Location: #12 MSU Denver: Friday, October 10, 2025 at 6 PM at the Auraria Event Center in Denver, Colorado
(RV) UCCS: Saturday, October 11 at 3 PM in the Gallogly Events Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Tickets: Tickets for each match can be found at the link above. UCCS does not have a ticket link. You can buy them (cash only) one hour to tip-off or sooner at the arena.
RMAC Network: Beginning in the 2025-26 season the RMAC Network will now move to Pay-Per-View. Fans can purchase a single game ($10), monthly ($25) or annual subscription ($130). Individuals with bhsu.edu or yellowjackets.bhsu.edu email address can still take advantage of the Peak Pricing Promotion by using the code Y26-RMACEDU.
 
BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES

• Black Hills State is entering this ranked weekend 5-9 and sitting 10^th in the conference after starting their RMAC schedule 1-3. They are coming off a major win over Chadron State, where they fell behind 0-2 and won the next three sets to take the match 3-2. The Yellow Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak with that win and will now head to face two of the top teams in the RMAC.
• BHSU was almost dead even with Chadron State in almost every stat, but one stat stood out for the Yellow Jackets. They had a .276 hitting percentage and held Chadron State to a .225 hitting percentage. This was helped by Jaeda Davis-Golliher having a .444 hitting percentage and Carsyn Mettler having a .407 hitting percentage. Randi Wellhoefer also made a huge impact with a career-high 21 kills in the matchup and it is a season-high for BHSU.
• The Yellow Jackets were able to capitalize on a few key areas and are ranked tenth in the conference in four stats: blocks per set (1.56), opponent hitting percentage (.216), win-loss percentage (.357), and total blocks (81.0).
• Black Hills State was predicted to finish 15^th in the conference in the preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll after finishing 15^th in the conference last season. They are currently sitting in a tie for tenth after a 1-3 start in conference play.
• Emily Freeland is having an incredible start to the season. After tying her career high in kills with 20 in the season opener versus Augustana, Freeland has continued to pile on the kills. She currently sits at 156 kills which is eighth in the RMAC and also ranks eighth in attempts with 444. She's ninth in kills per set with 3.00 and 11th in attacks per set with 8.54. Freeland has had ten or more kills in seven of the 14 matches this season. She also is second on the team in digs with 113 and is leading the team in receptions and points with 302 and 177.0. She had 15 kills in the match versus Chadron State and had a .307 hitting percentage with only two errors in 41 attempts. She also had a career high 20 digs in that matchup as well as two aces.
• Libero Ellie Thomas has been one of the top Liberos in the RMAC this year. She ranks second in total digs with 233 and second in digs per set with 4.48. She also has nine aces including a career high five in the matchup versus Augustana. Thomas has had 15 or more digs in seven of the 14 games and has reached ten in all of them. She is coming off the best game of her season where she had a season high 28 digs in the matchup versus Chadron. In her two matches versus SDM and CSC, she combined for 42 digs, which led the conference.
• BHSU is running a two-setter system, so Sydnie Tuioti-Mariner and Elena Atkinson are both taking on setting duties this year. Tuioti-Mariner had an All-Tournament honor in Minot after leading BHSU with 62 assists and also having seven aces including five in the game versus Minot State. Atkinson had 57 assists that weekend and is leading the season with 236 to Tuioti-Mariner's 193 combining 429 assists between the two of them. They have also combined 150 digs. Tuioti-Mariner took on the major load versus Chadron having a season-high 26 assists with Atkinson having eight.
• Jaeda Davis-Golliher has been the top middle for BHSU, she leads the team with 31 total blocks while also having 82 kills and 11 aces. She has had a block in all but three games and had three in the matchup versus CSUP this past weekend. She has had three or more kills in all but one match including a season high of ten in the game versus WCU. Over the five sets of the Chadron match, she had two total blocks, two aces, and nine kills with a very impressive .444 hitting percentage.
• Head coach Grayson DuBose enters his first season with the Yellow Jackets but has 14 years of head coaching experience at the D1 level prior to joining BHSU. He was head coach at Utah State for all 14 years and had a 194-238 record with two WAC Coach of the Year awards and one NCAA Division 1 Tournament appearance.

 
MSU DENVER STORYLINES

• MSU Denver is ranked #12 in the country and sits at 11-3 overall with a 3-1 conference record. They won two of their last three games with a three-set loss to Colorado School of Mines, but they beat Colorado Christian and (RV) UCCS in three sets each. Due to their loss versus CSM, the Roadrunners dropped outside the top ten in the national AVCA rankings. The Roadrunners are looking to win their third straight game.
• The Roadrunners are ranked top 50 in the country in six categories. They are ranked 18^th in hitting percentage (.259), kills per set (13.71), 28^th in assists per set (12.62), 37^th in win-loss percentage (.786), 43^rd in total assists (694), and 44^th in total kills (754). However, they are very low in digs per set ranking 13^th in the conference (14.02), and are ranked 12^th in total attacks per set (34.76).
• MSUD was picked to finish first in the conference with 13 first-place votes and 194 points. They are currently sitting in a tie for fourth with a 3-1 conference record.
• Karyna Werley has been the star for MSU Denver this year. The setter has been a do it all player for the Roadrunners. Not only is she second on the team with 133 kills, she's also second on the team with 289 assists, second on the team with 19 assists, and third on the team with 97 digs. She leads the conference with two triple doubles, having 11 kills, 32 assists, and 10 digs versus Wayne State (NE), and 11 kills, 22 assists, and 10 digs versus Colorado Mesa. She has had 20 or more assists in eight games this year, ten or more kills in six games, and ten or more digs in four games. She was named setter of the week once this year and this past weekend she had 14 kills, 40 assists, and 17 digs.
• Mia Accomazzo has been the top libero for MSUD this year with 193 digs. She has had 12 games with 10 or more kills including each of the last six games. She has had 20 or more digs in three of the last six games and had 25 versus Westminster. This past weekend Accomazzo she had 23 digs and had two aces.
• Alyssa Boyte has been the top middle blocker for MSU Denver this year and she is ranked fifth in the conference with 51 total blocks. The 6'0" sophomore also leads the team with 390 receptions. She has had three plus blocks in ten games this year and had seven twice versus West Texas A&M and Colorado School of Mines. Boyte is coming off a weekend where she had five total blocks and 13 kills.
• Head coach Jenny Glenn is entering her tenth season with MSU Denver. She has a 231-53 record in her time with the Roadrunners and has only had double-digit losses once in her career and has had five or less losses in four of the last five seasons.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• The Yellow Jackets still do not have a win versus the Roadrunners in their history. BHSU is 0-20 versus MSUD all time. The Yellow Jackets have only four set wins all time versus MSU Denver and have not won a set in their last 11 matches dating back to 2016.
• Last year, BHSU lost their match 0-3 in A2 Arena but did win 23 points in the first set.

 
UCCS STORYLINES

• UCCS is receiving votes in the AVCA rankings after starting the year 11-0 before losing two of their last three matchups to CSU Pueblo and MSU Denver. This puts the Mountain Lions at 12-2 this year. UCCS was swept by MSUD but made it to five sets versus MSU Denver.
• The Roadrunners are ranked in the top 25 in the country in four categories. They are ranked 17^th in win-loss percentage (.857), 25^th in assists per set (12.66), 25^th in kills per set (13.72), and 25^th in hitting percentage (.251), while also ranking second in the RMAC in total aces with 99.
• UCCS was picked to finish eighth in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll with 104 points. They now sit in a tie for fourth with a 3-1 conference record.
• Payton Thompkins has been the top attacker for the Mountain Lions this year. She has 168 kills, 14 aces, and over 100 digs this season. She has caught fire recently with ten or more kills in each of the last six games and 11 of the 14 games this season. Her season high was 20 in the five-set loss to CSU Pueblo. She had 43 kills this past week and 31 digs with two double doubles.
• The Mountain Lions run a two-setter system and both Maylen Mitrovic and Audrey Dowd have been major contributors to this offense. The two have combined for 521 assists this season. Mitrovic currently leads with 264 to Dowd's 257. Mitrovic has ten or more assists in all but one game this year and had a season-high 30 versus St. Mary's (TX) in the first game of the season. Dowd has had ten or more assists in all but three games this season with 31 versus St. Mary's (TX). They both had over 50 assists in the three games last week with Mitrovic having 61 and Dowd having 59.
• Nicole Martin has been UCCS's top defender this year with 48 total blocks and one defensive player of the week honor. She has had a block in all but one game this year and had eight versus Colorado Mesa and seven versus Hawaii Pacific. Martin had seven total blocks this past weekend to go along with her fourth ten or more kill game of the year when she had 11 versus Regis.
• Tara Hittle is in her fourth season as head coach at UCCS. She has a 44-48 record so far but is in the midst of her best season at the helm. She has never had a winning record in a season and is on pace to do that this year.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• The Yellow Jackets are 3-14 versus the Mountain Lions all time and have lost six of the last seven matches including each of the last four. The last time BHSU beat UCCS was 2019, when BHSU won 3-1 in Colorado Springs.
• The last time these two teams met, UCCS won 3-1 in A2 Arena last September.