CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State volleyball will play its final Tuesday game of the year at home against a nationally-ranked opponent before hitting the road for a Saturday matchup in Salt Lake City. 

The Eagles (4-14, 0-8 RMAC) welcome No. 17 Colorado Mesa (15-3, 7-1 RMAC) Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at the Chicoine Center before they travel to Utah to face Westminster (8-9, 4-4 RMAC) on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Tuesday night's home match will be Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Free t-shirts will be distributed to fans at the game. The match will also be a continuation of homecoming weekend, with the student royalty court recognized during the game.

Both matches will be streamed on the RMAC Network and Tuesday's match will also be broadcasted on Double Q Country 97.5 radio with Dave Collins on the call.

Looking Back
Chadron State had a winless week with a pair of road conference matches, falling to CSU Pueblo in four sets and Adams State in three sets. 

RECAPS: CSU Pueblo | Adams State

Bella Adams impressed in the match against Pueblo, hitting .625 with 11 kills against just one attack error in 16 attempts. The Eagles will look to rebound this week from their Adams performance, as CSC tallied their third-fewest kills (23) and second-fewest digs (38) as a team in any match this season against the Grizzlies on Saturday.

Century Club
Chadron State volleyball has two attackers with over 100 kills so far this season, with two others poised to reach triple-digits this week. 

Junior Alejandra Briseno has turned into CSC's top attacking option since transferring from Hutchison CC ahead of this season. Briseno leads the Eagles in both kills (142) and attempts (433), hitting .194 on the season.

Sophomore Kally Kirkwood has 112 kills on 432 attempts (1.81 kills/set), hitting .171 on the year. Kirkwood had a red-hot run from September 28-October 4, as she hit 35 kills with just three attack errors over a three-match span, hitting .409, .379, and .444 in those contests. 

Behind those two, junior Bella Adams (97 kills) and senior Aiyana Fujiyama (94 kills) are poised to get to 100 either Tuesday or Saturday. Adams is hitting .238, the best attack percentage on the CSC roster out of anybody with over 30 attempts. Fujiyama has avoided making an attack error in two of CSC's last three matches, finishing with three errorless kills against Adams State and five errorless kills back on October 12 against Regis.

Bo Knows
Junior Bo French has received an extended look at outside hitter over the past week and a half. 

The Brighton, Colorado native entered 2024 with just one set played in two seasons but has found her way into nine matches and 17 sets so far this year. Against UCCS, French stepped into the lineup after an injury and ended with a career-high 31 attempts, six kills and two errors. French played in two sets the following day against Regis, finishing with five kills. 

Last week, the junior played in all three sets against Adams State, the second match this year that French has appeared in every set. French hit .294, tallying six kills to lead the team in kills for the match, the first time in French's career that she has paced the Eagles attack.

Hernandez Tracker
Chadron State's Alondra Hernandez remains one of the top liberos in the league, but fell from some of her statistical perches this past weekend.

Hernandez racked up 13 digs against CSU Pueblo but tallied just seven against Adams State, marking the first time this season that Hernandez has finished a match with fewer than 10 digs. Hernandez has 303 digs in 64 sets played and just barely trails Colorado Christian's Shelby Hernandez for the RMAC lead in digs per set, 4.75 to 4.73. 

The Chadron libero's 303 total digs rank third in the RMAC, behind Regis's Bre Skala (313) and Shelby Hernandez's 304. Nationally, Alondra ranks 54^th in Division II in digs per set and 77^th in total digs. She also leads Chadron State with 20 service aces.

Hernandez is up to six games with 20 or more digs this season, with outputs of 21 against Cal State San Marcos, 32 against Mary, 22 against Missouri Southern, 20 against Fort Lewis, 21 against South Dakota Mines and 32 against UCCS. 

In the Polls
Chadron State has certainly had a tough schedule up to this point, as the Eagles have faced off against both the No. 1 and No. 6 teams in the country according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll – MSU Denver and Nebraska-Kearney. 

The Eagles have also faced No. 16 Point Loma. Against the three ranked opponents, the Eagles are a combined 0-3 with one set win. There are two RMAC teams nationally ranked in the AVCA poll – MSU Denver at No. 1 and Colorado Mesa, this Tuesday's opponent, at No. 17. 

In a preseason vote of the league's head coaches, Chadron State was picked to finish eighth out of 15 teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, receiving 96 points in the poll. 

MSU Denver led the way with seven first-place votes and 189 points. The Roadrunners have won the last three RMAC regular season titles. Colorado Mesa received six first-place votes and 183 points to narrowly finish second in the preseason poll. Regis was picked third, receiving the final two first place votes. 

The other teams picked ahead of Chadron by the coaches are South Dakota Mines, CSU Pueblo, Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Christian. After the Eagles in eighth, the rest of the poll is rounded out by Fort Lewis, Westminster, UCCS, Adams State, Western Colorado, Black Hills State and New Mexico Highlands. 

Scouting the Mavericks
No. 17 Colorado Mesa will come to Chadron on the tail end of a road trip which will see them play three matches in five days. The Mavericks took home four-set wins over UCCS and Regis on Friday and Saturday. 

They are 15-3 overall with a 7-1 RMAC record, losing only to MSU Denver in conference. In an interesting statistical note, the Mavericks have won the first set in every single match they have played so far this season.

The Mavericks feature offensive firepower, having taken home each of the past two RMAC Offensive Player of the Week awards. This week's winner, reigning RMAC Player of the Year Sydney Leffler, leads the RMAC with 4.18 kills per set and 4.82 points per set. The week prior, the honor went to redshirt junior Sierra Hunt, who has 240 kills and 3.69 kills per set. 

CMU also features a decorated setter in Sabrina VanDeList, a four-time First Team All-RMAC selection who leads the conference with 12.28 assists per set. VanDeList also has 25 service aces on the year. On the defensive end, Allison Waller has 254 digs while middles Nicole Martin and Stormi Tadlock have 46 and 42 blocks, respectively.

Mavericks head coach Dave Fleming is in his 20^th season with Colorado Mesa. Fleming holds a career record of 382-181 and is the longest serving and winningest active coach in the RMAC. He is a four-time RMAC Coach of the Year while leading the Mavericks to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. Chadron State is just 3-35 all-time against CMU. The Eagles have not won since 1995.

Scouting the Griffins
Saturday's matchup with Westminster will feature the RMAC's western-most (Salt Lake City) and eastern-most (Chadron) universities. The Griffins are 8-9 overall with a 4-4 RMAC record. 

In conference, the Griffins have defeated Fort Lewis, Western Colorado, Adams State and CSU Pueblo while losing to MSU Denver, Colorado School of Mines, Regis and UCCS. However, the Griffins lost to Western Colorado in a nonconference match.

The Griffins feature three attackers with over 100 kills – Claire Cook (185), Breegan Huntsman (171) and Mailei Myers (123). Myers also has 29 service aces, ranking fourth in the RMAC in aces per set at 0.44, while also ranking 13^th in the conference with a .300 hitting percentage. 

Defensively, Alanna Lee leads the Griffins with 272 digs, 4.12 per set, which ranks eighth in the RMAC. Myers leads the team with 58 blocks. 

Chadron State is 4-5 all-time against Westminster, with all matches taking place since 2015. Chadron last won in 2021, earning a reverse sweep over the Griffins in a 24-26, 22-25, 30-28, 25-23, 15-13 thriller. The match also went five sets last season, with the Griffins prevailing. 

Coach's Corner
Head Coach Jennifer Stadler will begin her sixth season at the helm of the Chadron State volleyball program in 2024. 

In her first year in charge in 2019, Stadler immediately led the Eagles to a winning record of 14-12. That year, Stadler coached the RMAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in Ashton Burditt, who is now an assistant coach on her staff.

The Eagles had a banner year in 2023, finishing 15-12 for the program's highest win total since 2003. Chadron also had an 8-6 conference mark in 2023, finishing sixth in the league and qualifying for the RMAC Tournament for the first time in 20 years. 

Prior to CSC, Stadler coached for eight seasons at Sheridan College in Wyoming, racking up three straight 20-win seasons from 2012-2014. She was a player, assistant coach and interim head coach at current RMAC foe Black Hills State, back when the Yellow Jackets competed in the Dakota Athletic Conference. 

Entering the 2024 season, Stadler has a career record of 45-74 at Chadron State.