Kearney, Neb.: Beginning the week, the Regis volleyball team was ranked ninth in the central region and was looking up to Colorado Mines in the eight spot.  The Rangers knew that if they had any chance of making it to the NCAA Tournament they would have to beat the Orediggers in the first round of the RMAC Tournament.  That is exactly what they did, after dropping the first set, the Rangers won the next three to exact revenge on two previous losses to Mines.

Regis is now 17-11 and will take on 10th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, who is the top seed in the RMAC Tournament and the host, on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m.  Colorado Mines (19-9) took the first set 25-21 but then the Rangers woke up and won the next two sets by identical 25-16 scores.

In the third set the Rangers trailed for much of the set including trailing by as many as five points as late as 16-11.  That is when the Rangers started chipping away at the Oredigger lead.  Regis pulled to within one at 17-16 before Mines won a point to go ahead 18-16.  The two teams traded sideouts until Regis scored two in a row to tie the set at 21.

Colorado Mines head coach Jamie Skadeland called a timeout but it did not stop the Ranger momentum.  Regis scored the next three points to take a 24-21 lead on the verge of closing out the Orediggers.  Two straight points by Mines closed the gap to 24-23 before RMAC Freshman of the Year Christy Henzgen, who had a match-high 21 kills put away her final one of the night to send the Rangers to the semifinals.

Senior Kerry Grady had one of her finest matches of the season as she tallied 12 kills, just two errors for a .303 attack percentage.  The Rangers outhit Mines .255 to .163 for Colorado Mines.  Senior Jessica Howe chipped in with 10 kills on 22 attempts for a .318 attack percentage. 

Freshman Sage Martinson gobbled up 20 digs, while Henzgen tallied another double-double with 13 digs.  Senior Devin Eckhardt dished out a match-high 49 assists, while seniors Erin Anderson and Sarah Keiter helped out with eight kills and nine digs respectively.

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