CHADRON – The Chadron State College volleyball team opened its first home match in exciting fashion by turning back Western New Mexico 25-18, 14-25, 25-18, 28-26 Thursday evening at Armstrong Gymnasium in Chadron.
 
In addition to opening the home stand on a positive note – Chadron State also hosts New Mexico Highlands Friday and CSU-Pueblo Saturday – the Eagles earned their first-ever victory over the Mustangs. Entering Thursday's match, Western New Mexico owned a 9-0 advantage over CSC.
 
The Eagles would not be denied, though, and hit .216 as a team en route to their four-set win.
 
Chadron State (3-9, 2-2 RMAC) traded leads with the Mustangs in the final set before Alia Brennan squeezed a shot between two Mustang defenders to finish the match.
 
Chadron State had three hitters with double digit kills on the night, led by Erika Roybal's 19 kills. Lelalelei Nomura closed out the Mustangs with 15 kills and hit a team high .387. Also for the Eagles, Hanna Flaming had 10 kills.
 
Defensively, the Eagles limited Western New Mexico to a hitting percentage of .174. The Eagles' backline was solid as libero Alyssa Bauer finished with 20 digs and Brittany Oddo added 11. As a team, the Eagles had nine blocks led by Ana Kasljevic's six. Nomura also assisted on five blocks.
 
The Eagles also benefited from a balanced offense dished out by Shelby Gardner, who finished with 40 set assists.
 
The Mustangs were also balanced. Five players had at least six kills, led by Heather Verrill's 10.