DURANGO, Colo. -- October 13, 2017 -- The Chadron State College volleyball team officially started a win streak Friday evening at Fort Lewis College, as the Eagles pelted the Skyhawks for three straight sets to earn the 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-23) sweep on the road.

The shutout is the second the Eagles have pitched while traveling this season, after a 3-0 victory at Western State three weeks earlier.

Chadron State slips into the top half of the conference standings at 4-5 and 7-10 overall, while Fort Lewis went to 8-9 (3-6 RMAC) with the loss.

"After the first set I had a really good feeling," said CSC Head Volleyball Coach Riann Mullis. "We learned from Westminster the hard way, and we weren't going to feel that way here."

The first set was dominant for the Eagles, who never trailed. Varela went all set without an error, while putting down five kills.

Chadron State withstood a weaker offensive performance in the second set by chasing down balls on defense and limiting soft errors. The team committed nearly half of their hitting errors in that portion of the match, but delivered on defense with 30 of their 53 total digs.

The Eagles cruised to a win in the third set. Although Fort Lewis limited errors on their side, the Eagles earned 21 of their 25 points on kills and blocks, without help from the opponent's mistakes.

Many individual efforts by the Eagles were noted by the Chadron State coach.

"We have some people stepping up for sure," said Mullis. "To win three in a row is huge for us. Nae [Springs] is doing really well for us, as well as our middles. McKenna [Hartigan] had a huge hitting percentage. Everybody is pulling their weight on the hitting end. You can see it both visually and statistically. We just need to keep pushing off that momentum and keep improving every single day."

Junior Madison Webb was the anchor at setter with 38 assists, and she was one of three Eagles to finish with eight digs. 

The list of those helping with defensive pickups for CSC was long. Emily Bruce led with 18 digs, while Ashton Burditt finished with 10. Along with Webb, Andi Dowell and Gaby Varela also earned eight.

Varela was the statistical leader on offense, with 18 kills, hitting .294.

For Fort Lewis, Bailey Longacre and Maddie LeBlanc were the most productive contributors. Longacre led her team with 12 kills, a .375 hitting clip, and three total blocks. LeBlanc was key with four service aces, and added 10 kills at a hitting percentage of .364.

Chadron State will take on Adams State University on Saturday at 5 p.m., to attempt to get to .500 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The Eagles moved into a tie for seventh place in the conference standings, at the halfway mark in the league schedule.