CHADRON – Chadron State College's volleyball team began its season this afternoon in tournament play in Billings, Montana. The Eagles suffered a four-set loss to Minot State University in their first match and a three-set setback to host Montana State University-Billings in the second match.
 
Erika Roybal and transfer Lelalelei Nomura led the Eagles with 17 kills apiece in the two matches. Nomura also had a team high .294 hitting percentage in the first match.
 
Also for CSC, true freshman Ashlyn Hanson of Seward, Nebraska, put down eight kills and 12 digs in the first match and four kills and seven digs in the second match.
 
The Eagles opened up slow against Minot State University with a 10-25 loss, but came out well in a second set win behind Justine Ackie's 31 match assists, and 11 against MSUB. Brittany Oddo was the stronghold for the Eagles, leading the team with 26 digs on the day.
 
Chadron kept it close in the final two sets against Minot, losing both by three points. The Eagles led for most of the last set, but Minot State's Mallory Sall and Jen Dixon had 16 and 13 kills respectively, finishing out the match on an 11-2 run in which Sall had four kills.
 
Against Billings the Eagles fell 15-20, 23-25 and 20-25.
 
The Eagles play two matches Saturday. The first match is set for 9 a.m. against University of Mary, and CSC ends its tournament against conference rival Black Hills State University at 2 p.m.  Saturdays match, however, will be a non-conference affair.
 
Chadron State flies to St. Petersburg, Florida, next weekend to compete in the Eckerd Classic.