Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN DIEGO – September 2, 2016 -- Just one day into the Eagles' 2016 season, they have already matched their non-conference win total from all of last year, as Chadron State College volleyball split a pair of matches at the Point Loma Nazarene University Seaside Invitational in San Diego today.
 
The two clashes were like night and day, as the Saginaw Valley State team cruised to a 3-0 win (25-16, 25-13, 25-21) while the Eagles found momentum early in the match against host PLNU, rolling to a 3-0 sweep (26-24, 25-21, 25-20). Both opponents were NCAA tournament teams in 2015.
 
We got off to a rough start," said head coach Riann Mullis. "There were many things we could have done better today, but we really focused on what we did badly the first match, and bettered it. That's all you can really ask for. We did a 360-degree turnaround in a positive way, from one match to the next."
 
Against SVSU, the team had plenty of opportunities offensively, but struggled to land their shots. They finished with a 115 to 97 advantage in total shots, yet got outhit percentage-wise .216 to .052. Another discrepancy was receiving errors. The Eagles committed nine to the opponents' zero.
 
The CSC team was resolute, however, as they used the mistakes they made in the first match to improve in the second one.
 
"The girls didn't want to feel like we felt after SVSU," said Mullis. "We kept the momentum on our side. They just zoned in on what we needed to fix, and made those changes well."
 
The Eagles got off to a bit of a slow start versus PLNU. The Sea Lions took the first four points of the first set before the Eagles finally found some rhythm on offense. Chadron State got just enough to eventually tie it up at 8-8, keyed by three kills from Rudy Leasau and a service ace by Sierra Winkle.
 
CSC then scored 9 of their next 12 points offensively to stay with the Sea Lions, tying it again at 20 apiece.
 
The two teams traded points in a standoff until after a 24-24 tie, the Eagles got a break with two straight points to go up 1-0 in the match.
 
The next two sets were somewhat easier for Chadron State than the tense first set. CSC trailed for only one point in set two and three points in set three, cruising to the sweep.
 
Western New Mexico awaits the Eagles at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, Chadron time. CSC faces the Mustangs for the first time since their departure from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which occurred over the summer.
 
Mullis describes WNMU as "very aggressive", saying "they like to swing a lot". She added that because of that, blocking will be a key to the match.
 
The last time Chadron State met Western New Mexico, in Silver City last October, the Mustangs swept the Eagles, recording 40 kills versus only six attack errors.