CHADRON, Neb. -- October 6, 2016 -- The Chadron State College volleyball team (3-12, 2-4 RMAC) will look to even their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record this weekend as they travel to two South Dakota opponents. The Eagles square off with South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (1-16, 0-6 RMAC) Friday evening in Rapid City before taking the short hop over to Spearfish for Saturday's match against Black Hills State University (2-12, 0-6 RMAC).
Both teams finished 4-14 in 2015 conference play, four matches behind the Eagles. SDSMT, now in their second year in the league, was listed 14th of 15 teams in the preseason RMAC coaches' poll, while BHSU, a conference member for four years, was selected just behind CSC at 11th.
The Eagles also split home and away matches with both opponents last season. While Chadron State swept both teams at home, they were tripped up twice on this very same road trip last season, falling in five sets in both matches. The pair were the only two five-set losses on the schedule for CSC, who finished one match behind the eighth and final tournament qualifier in league play.
South Dakota Mines got great play from right side Darla Drenckhahn, as well as middle hitters Emily Newton and Darla Breidt, when they hosted No. 6 Augustana on Wednesday. The trio combined for 18 kills, hitting at a combined rate of 30 percent, but the rest of the team showed offensive inconsistency as the Hardrockers were swept at home by the team that also swept CSC twice earlier in the season in Sioux Falls.
The Hardrockers picked up their lone win at home, sweeping NAIA member Dickinson State. They also lost on the road to the Blue Hawks.
Black Hills State has fared somewhat better than their RMAC neighbors, winning a pair of NCAA Division II matches at a tournament in Kearney, Nebraska, and taking three other Division II opponents to five sets away from home.
The Yellow Jackets also met up with Augustana this week, participating in a neutral-site match on Tuesday in Rapid City. Like the Hardrockers and Eagles, they were overtaken by the nationally-ranked Vikings in straight sets. Despite leading for extensive periods in two of the three stanzas, Black Hills State was unable to keep pace offensively.
BHSU's front row minds the net remarkably well, as they average 2.73 team blocks per set which is tops in the RMAC and second nationally. The bulk of those stops have been earned by middle hitters Fehrin Ward and Cheyenne Palu, both of which are listed at under six feet in height, and both of which average more than 1.3 blocks per set. The duo is number one and number two in the conference, individually.
The defensive-minded Yellow Jackets also feature a libero, Lacy Stevens who leads the league in digs per set with an average of 5.4.
The scrape with SDSMT happens at 7 p.m. in Rapid City on Friday. The Eagles will then play BHSU at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
