WAYNE, Neb. -- October 4, 2016 -- Rudy Leasau had a personal best 10 kills in a terrific first set by Chadron State College (3-12), taking the No. 8 Wayne State College Wildcats (13-3) to four set points in the opening frame but falling 3-0 to the in-state rivals.

The Eagles, who previously hit .149 as a team for the season, went .226 in the non-conference match, including a first set where they hit .432, their second-highest rate of the season in a single set.

"The first set tonight is some of the best volleyball we've played all season," said CSC head volleyball coach Riann Mullis. "We fell off the second set, and the third set was a combination of both."

"We did everything we had in our control," she continued. "We moved with the volleyball. The setter was placing the ball in the windows. That was really exciting to watch. We can do that every single set. We have the skill, we just have to implement it consistently."

CSC is hitting at a .206 clip on the road this season, nearly hitting their goal of .220, while trending just under .200 at home and a mere .060 at neutral sites.

Leasau's 15 total kills in the match against the lofty opponent were her career high for a three-set match. Her .333 hitting percentage led the team and matched her career performance in three sets.

The pivotal first set went down to the wire. The Eagles actually led the set for more points than they trailed, but after a WSC timeout with CSC up 23-22, the Wildcats got two quality kills from Alyssa Frauendorfer and Michaela Mestl, putting their team up for good.

The final two sets went handily to the home team, as Wayne State showed their volleyball pedigree. They finished leading CSC 13-4 in serve-receive errors and won the block battle 6-4. Four of those six blocks, including the winning stop on match point, came in the third set.

The Eagles travel to South Dakota Mines for a 7 p.m. match in Rapid City on Friday, before going to Spearfish, S.D., for a 5:30 p.m. contest at Black Hills State on Saturday. The matches are pivotal for the Eagles, who lost both road matches in five sets during the 2015 campaign and finished the season two matches out of an RMAC tournament bid. Chadron State hopes to even its conference record at 4-4 against a pair of opponents who are 0-6 in league play to date.
 

Set	1	2	3
Chadron State	26	11	18
Wayne State (Neb.)	28	25	25