CHADRON, Neb. – It's a slightly earlier start and finish to the week for Chadron State volleyball as the Eagles depart for Rapid City for a pair of nonconference matches this Thursday and Friday. 

The Eagles (4-16) will face South Dakota Mines (12-7) on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in Rapid City, then will stay in the Hardrockers' gym to face CSU Pueblo (12-8) on Friday night at 5 p.m. 

Both matches will be streamed on the RMAC Network and can be followed via live stats. 

Looking Back
Chadron State fell at home in three sets on Tuesday to No. 17 Colorado Mesa, then battled Westminster on Saturday in a four-set loss where three of the sets were decided by two points.

RECAPS: Colorado Mesa | Westminster

Alejandra Briseno led the Eagles in kills in both matches, tallying 10 against the Mavericks and 14 against Westminster. Mataya Ward also had a good week, with eight kills against Colorado Mesa and 10 kills against the Griffins.

Schedule Breakdown
Neither game this week will count in the RMAC standings, but both matches still count as regional matches for overall NCAA Tournament resumes for all participating teams. This is the second of two weeks every year where RMAC opponents play one another without it being conference games, in what are being referred to as "pod" weekends. 

Previously, the RMAC held a "regional pod," where the RMAC's 15 teams are grouped into five groups of three roughly according to geographic proximity, allowing each team to get more games in without having to travel long distances. 

For Chadron State, this means an extra nonconference match every year with South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State. Those were held on October 1 and October 4, with Chadron State winning both matches but not getting credit for RMAC wins.

This week, RMAC teams will participate in a "competition pod", with five groups of three based on their finish in last season's standings. Chadron State will face off against South Dakota Mines and CSU Pueblo this weekend due to the Hardrockers, Thunderwolves and Eagles finishing fourth, fifth and sixth in the RMAC last year. As the highest finishing team (fourth), South Dakota Mines will host all matches. 

Similarly, around the RMAC this week, the teams who finished first through third, seventh through ninth, 10^ththrough 12^th and 13^th through 15^th are all meeting one another for nonconference matches. While these games will not count in RMAC play, it allows teams at the top of the 2023 standings to play one another again, boosting their strength of schedule for postseason consideration, and gives teams who struggled last season an opportunity to pick up more wins against fellow rebuilding programs.

South Dakota Mines landing in both Chadron's regional pod and competitive pod creates a unique scenario where CSC and the Hardrockers will face off three times in the regular season. The RMAC schedule sees Chadron State play all 14 other RMAC programs exactly once, which will count in the RMAC standings. 

Following this weekend's matches, all four remaining matches on CSC's regular season schedule will be conference games. 

Eagle Leaders
Chadron State volleyball currently has four players with over 100 kills – Alejandra Briseno (166), Kally Kirkwood (128), Bella Adams (109) and Aiyana Fujiyama (102). Freshman Mataya Ward (94) could join them this weekend. 

Setter Rylee Ward (.250), Adams (.232) and Fujiyama (.230) are the three Eagles who currently have a hitting percentage above .200. 

CSC has four players with double-digit aces so far in 2024 – Alondra Hernandez (22), Avery Lacy (21), Ward (16) and Kendyl Kirkwood (11). 

Aiyana Fujiyama is the Eagles' block leader. The senior Hawaiian has racked up 67 total blocks on the year, averaging out to 0.96 per set, which ranks sixth in the RMAC. 

Get Set
Senior setter Kendyl Kirkwood had back-to-back strong performances, collecting two of her top four single-game assist totals of the season and notching two double-doubles.

Kirkwood had 28 assists in three sets against Colorado Mesa before adding a season-high 40 against Westminster. While 40 assists is a season-high for Kirkwood across all matches, the 28 assists were Kirkwood's highest total of the year in a three-setter.

Kirkwood added 11 digs against CMU and 10 digs against Westminster for her seventh and eighth double-doubles of the year. No other CSC player has more than two.

The Coloradan finished with 9.71 assists per set across both matches last week. Kirkwood currently ranks 12^th in the RMAC in assists per set, but a pace of 9.71 per set over the entire season would be good for fourth in the conference. 

Hernandez Tracker
Chadron State's Alondra Hernandez reclaimed her spot at the top of the digs leaderboard in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with two more double-digit dig performances. 

Hernandez had 16 digs against Colorado Mesa and 22 against Westminster to give her 341 total digs for the season, or 4.80 digs per set. The digs per set mark leads the RMAC and ranks 48^th in Division II.

The Utah native has recorded double digit digs in all but one game this season and has recorded 20 or more digs seven times, including last Saturday. Between her two seasons at Central Wyoming College, one season at Division I Norfolk State and her time at Chadron State, Hernandez is currently at 2,093 career digs across all collegiate stops.

In addition, Hernandez leads Chadron State in service aces with 22. She ranks 15^th in the RMAC in aces per set, at 0.3. 

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. 5 teams in the country according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll – MSU Denver and Nebraska-Kearney. 

The Eagles have also faced No. 15 Point Loma and No. 16 Colorado Mesa. Against the four nationally-ranked opponents, the Eagles are a combined 0-4 with one set win, which came against the No. 1-ranked Roadrunners. The Eagles are one of only two RMAC teams to take a set off MSU Denver this season. 

MSU Denver and Colorado Mesa are the currently the only two nationally-ranked teams in the RMAC.

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 Hardrockers
It's been a little bit of a tale of two seasons for South Dakota Mines volleyball. The Hardrockers are 7-2 in RMAC play and hold third place in the conference standings. However, the Hardrockers are just 5-5 in nonconference games, including a five-set loss to Chadron State earlier this season, for a 12-7 overall record entering Thursday's matchup. 

The Hardrockers continue to be led by Italian opposite Alessandra Meoni, who averages 4.01 kills per set to rank second in the conference behind only Colorado Mesa's Sydney Leffler, the reigning RMAC Player of the Year. Meoni also ranks 10^th in the conference with a .316 hitting percentage. 

Libero Hannah Benes leads the RMAC with 42 service aces, 13 more than any other player, and leads with 0.56 aces per set. She ranks third in the RMAC in digs per set with 4.65, and leads the conference in total digs with 349, eight ahead of CSC's Alondra Hernandez. 

Head Coach Lauren Prochazka joined the Hardrockers ahead of the 2018 season. Under Prochazka, South Dakota Mines has qualified for the RMAC Tournament in three of the last four seasons, the only appearances in program history. The Hardrockers finished 18-10 with 10 RMAC wins last year, both of which were Division II program records. 

Including the matchup earlier this year, Chadron State is 26-21 all-time against South Dakota Mines, with the Eagles and Hardrockers having split the last six matchups.

Scouting the ThunderWolves
CSU Pueblo is 12-8 overall so far in 2024. In RMAC play, the ThunderWolves are 6-4, tied for fifth in the league standings. That conference record includes a four-set win over the Eagles just two weeks ago on October 18. 

Junior Sadie Scoville has brought the heat this season, with 192 kills and a .254 hitting percentage. Scoville ranks seventh in the RMAC with 3.43 kills per set and third in the league with 0.45 aces per set, having racked up 25 on the year. 

Other offensive options for the Pack include redshirt freshman Kaitlyn Hill (2.52 kills/set, .271 hitting percentage) and senior Rayliene Jones (2.56 kills/set, .260 hitting percentage). Two ThunderWolves have over 40 blocks – sophomore Macy Wood (44) and senior Josey Nunn (41).

CSU Pueblo head coach Austin Albers is in his sixth season. He has taken the ThunderWolves to an RMAC Tournament berth in all five of his seasons at the helm, with two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022. Prior to Pueblo, Albers was the head coach at Laramie County CC in Wyoming and was an assistant coach at Sheridan College and Black Hills State University where he coached under Jennifer Stadler.

Chadron State is 5-13 all-time against CSU Pueblo, with the ThunderWolves winning the last five meetings. 

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.