ALAMOSA, Colo.—After dropping two hard fought battles in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last week, the Grizzlies returned to the win column on Tuesday night with a five-set thriller over New Mexico Highlands. Adams State will turn their to the Regis Rangers, who are receiving votes in the national poll, on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Grizzlies have plated three games since their last match inside Plachy Hall. Last Friday they dropped a three-set match to No. 6 Colorado School of Mines with set scores of 10-25, 22-25 and 21-25. They then pushed Chadron State to a five-set match and ultimately fell in a close match with scores of 25-14, 23-25, 23-25, 25-14 and 13-15.
 
On Tuesday, the Grizzlies were in Las Vegas, N.M. and squeezed past the Cowgirls with a five-set thriller as they won with set scores of 20-25, 25-16, 24-26, 25-17 and 15-12.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS
The Grizzlies' win over Angelo State earlier this season was the Grizzlies first win over a Top 3 team. The Grizzlies had defeated then-ranked No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney in five sets in the 2008 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament quarterfinals on Nov. 14, 2008. Overall, against ranked (Top 25) opponents, since 2005, Adams State is 5-29 in matches and 27-94 in sets. That match win over Angelo State was the first sweep for the Grizzlies over a ranked opponent. So far this season the Grizzlies are 1-1 against ranked opponents as they fell to No. 16 Southwest Minnesota State, 3-0 (25-11, 25-10 and 25-11).
 
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES
Adams State has won seven of their last 13 overall as they enter the contest with a 8-10 overall record and a 3-3 RMAC record. 16th year Head Coach Lindy Mortensen now has 210 wins under her belt as the head coach. Adams State enters in eighth place in the conference.
 
Individually, senior middle hitter Shannon Mulkey is ranked 14th in hitting percentage (.280) and eighth in blocks per set (0.91).
 
Mulkey leading the Grizzlies with 151 kills for an average of 2.32 per set while Riley Rabedeaux is right behind her with 124 kills.
 
Freshman Madeleine Benally and junior Bailey Schlosser have split time at the setter position with Schlosser making ten starts to Benally's seven. Benally has recorded 269 assists in 47 sets, good for a 5.72 per set average.  Schlosser has a 6.55 per set average (321 assists) in 49 sets played.
 
Aileen Bugas leads the back row with 185 digs (2.85/set) while Freshman Sierra Leone Sanchez is close behind with 176 digs.
 
ABOUT THE RANGERS
Regis enters the game with a 7-1 conference record and a 12-4 overall record. Their lone loss of the season in conference play came at the hands of then-ranked No. 11 Colorado School of Mines as they lost in four sets.
 
The Rangers nearly swept the RMAC weekly awards as Caitlyn Burroway (Offensive) and Haley Kennedy (Defensive) earn RMAC Player of the Week awards.
 
Burroway picked up her first RMAC Offensive Player of the Week award in 2021 after setting a new career-high in kills, surpassing her previous record of 21 and 22 kills. She had 27 kills in the four-set win over Colorado State University Pueblo on Saturday, while also hitting .317 and adding 13 digs for a double-double. The night before, Burroway had 11 kills with a season-best .409 hitting percentage. Burroway led all players in the RMAC with a 5.43 kills per set average this past weekend.
 
Kennedy had 15 digs and six assists with four service aces at UCCS. The following night, she was even more impressive with 21 digs in four sets of work. She added another six assists and had two more service aces for a total of six on the weekend. Kennedy averaged 5.14 digs per set and .86 service aces per set.
 
UP NEXT
The Grizzlies are staying home to take on No. 2 MSU Denver on Friday (Oct. 22) and then Colorado Christian on Saturday (Oct. 23).