SPEARFISH, S.D.- The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (6-16 (2-8 RMAC)) head to Golden, Colorado on Friday for their only match this week and for their second to last road game of the season where they will face the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers (17-5 (7-3 RMAC)) who are one of the top teams in the conference and country. The Jackets will be looking to break the three-game losing streak and put themselves in a position to end the season strong.
 
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:
Date/Time/Location: Friday, November 7^th at 7 PM in Golden, Colorado at the Lockridge Arena
Tickets: Tickets for each match can be found at the link above.
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 the final road stretch of their season sitting at 6-16 overall and 2-8 in conference play. They are coming off back-to-back losses in the RMAC Power Pod where they were unable to get a third straight win on Chadron and were also unable to split the season series with New Mexico Highlands. The Jackets lost six of seven sets in Chadron, but remained competitive in most of them.
• The Yellow Jackets top stat categories this year have been team attacks per set (34.88), blocks per set (1.64), team total attacks (2,790), digs per set (14.90), and team total blocks (131.0).
• 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 12^th with Regis after a 2-8 start in conference play.
• Libero Ellie Thomas has been the top Libero in the RMAC this year. She leads the RMAC in total digs with 384 and is second in digs per set with 4.80 ranking 58^th and 48^th in the country in each respective stat. She also has 13 aces including a career high five in the matchup versus Augustana. Thomas has had 15 or more digs in 14 of the 22 games and has reached ten in all of them. She earned a RMAC Defensive Player of the Week (10-20-25) after putting up four 20 dig games in a row before that streak ended this past weekend. She had 30 total digs this past weekend versus Chadron and NMHU with 16 in the latter game.  
• Emily Freeland is leading BHSU in kills this 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 222 kills. She also leads in kills per set with 2.78. Freeland has had ten or more kills in eight of the 22 matches this season. She also is second on the team in digs with 167 and is leading the team in receptions with 495 and 251.4. She had her first double-digit kill game since October 4 with 14 kills in the game versus the Cowgirls while combining for 21 kills over the two matches in Chadron. She also added eight digs and three blocks.
• 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 355 to Tuioti-Mariner's 288 combining 643 assists between the two of them. They have also combined 239 digs. Elena Atkinson led the assists total for the third weekend in a row with 36 digs in Chadron, while Tuioti-Mariner had 28. They each reached the 20 assists mark in the game versus Highlands with Atkinson having 22 and Tuioti-Mariner having 21.
• Peyton McLeod and Jaeda Davis-Golliher have been a top middle duo for BHSU. Davis-Golliher leads the team with 53 total blocks and has a block in all but four games this year. She has had three or more in four of the last five games and also has 125 kills with at least three kills in all but three games this season. McLeod has 50 total blocks while also having 53 kills. She has had a block in 16 of her last 18 games and has had multiple in nine of the last 11 games including a career high seven versus Regis. Davis-Golliher had four total blocks in the game versus NMHU and also had eight kills. McLeod left Chadron blockless and had a season-high six kills versus the Cowgirls.
• 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 has a 195-245 career record with two WAC Coach of the Year awards and one NCAA Division 1 Tournament appearance.

 
COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES STORYLINES

• Colorado Mines comes into the matchup versus BHSU 17-5 and 7-3 in conference play. They have won five of their last six games and the only loss being to UCCS. The Orediggers just beat Fort Lewis in four sets in their most recent matchup and have been the only team to beat MSU Denver in conference play this year.
• Mines is currently top 40 in the country in three categories and top three in the RMAC in five. They are first in the RMAC and 37^th in the country in total blocks (178.5), 24^th in the country in blocks per set (2.35), 35^th in the country in win/loss percentage (.800), second in the RMAC in opponent hitting percentage (.161), and third in the RMAC in team assists (918)
• Colorado School of Mines was picked in a tie for ninth in the RMAC preseason poll this year with a second and third place vote. They are now sitting in a tie for fourth with a 7-3 conference record.
• Despite the fact that CSM had no players on the Preseason All-RMAC team, they do have one player competing for RMAC Player of the Year in Jenna McLaughlin. The sophomore Middle Blocker from Ohio is currently second in the conference in total blocks with 85.0. She is also seventh in blocks per set and is leading CSM in kills with 239. She is a two-time offensive player of the week (9-15-25, 11-3-25) and a one-time defensive player of the week (9-8-25). She has ten or more kills in 14 of the 22 games this year including a season-high 18 kills three times. She has also had three or more blocks in 14 of 22 games this year including seven three times. This past weekend was maybe her best weekend of her career. She had 32 total kills with a season-high 18 versus Fort Lewis and then had nine total blocks with a season high seven also in that Fort Lewis game. This earned her RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.
• Hailee Martinez is well on her way to being RMAC Setter of the Year. Martinez is currently leading the RMAC in assists with 813 and is also leading in assists per set with 9.68. She is a three-time RMAC Setter of the Week (9-8-25, 9-15-25, 10-13-25) and has had 30 or more assists in 17 of the 22 games including a season-high 58 versus Colorado Christian. This weekend Martinez kept her dominant streak going with 84 assists and at least 40 in both games. She had 44 versus Fort Lewis and 40 versus UCCS. She also had ten or more digs in each match putting her at 195 this year.
• Abbie O'Shay along with McLaughlin has been a dominant middle in the RMAC. O'Shay is second on the team in blocks sixth in the RMAC with 81 total. She is first in the RMAC in blocks per set with 1.08. She has had three or more blocks in 16 of the 21 matches she has played and had seven as well in a match versus Fort Lewis. She had five total blocks this past weekend with four against UCCS.
• Amanda Donais Dudley has been one of the top players for CSM as well. She has 225 kills and 69 blocks this season so far. She also has 230 digs. She has had a double-double in 11 games this year, reached ten kills 13 times, and had a block in all but two games. She is a one-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Week (10-6-25) when she had ten total blocks in a week. She had a double-double versus UCCS this past week with 12 kills and 11 digs.
• This is head coach Jamie Magalei's 18^th year coaching the Orediggers. She only has one losing season and that was last year when she went 9-17. She has a 380-144 record. She has won six RMAC regular season titles, five RMAC tournaments and went to the NCAA Tournament 12 years in a row from 2009-2022 with one trip to the sweet 16.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• The Yellow Jackets have only beaten CSM one time in the history of the matchup. They are 1-16 all time versus the Orediggers with their only win coming back in 2013.
• Since their last win BHSU has lost 13 straight to Colorado School of Mines and has only one five sets. They have never won two sets in a match against the Orediggers since 2013.
• Last year, these two faced off in Golden, and BHSU made it to at least 22 points in each set including losing the second set 26-24 before ultimately losing the match 0-3.