CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State volleyball lost in straight sets to Western Colorado in their first RMAC road game of the season, as the Mountaineers defeated CSC 25-14, 25-17, 25-23.

The Eagles (2-9) fell to 0-3 in RMAC play while Western (3-9) improved to 1-2 in the conference.

Alejandra Briseno had 10 kills while Kally Kirkwood had seven to lead the Eagles. Alondra Hernandez continued her conference-leading digs pace with 18 on the night as well as two service aces.

The Eagles hit .137 for the game with 32 kills and 16 errors. The Mountaineers hit .308 as a team, with 53 kills and just 14 errors. Western Colorado had three players with double digit kills – Olive Rolseth with 12, Seyun Park with 11 and Kennedy Kelly with 10. Kelly did not make an error throughout the match.

Western Colorado handily won the first set, hitting .278 as a team while CSC only hit .029. The Mountaineers benefitted from three service aces, while Chadron State had eight kills compared to seven attack errors. Western Colorado jumped out to a 9-4 lead and although the Eagles would close the gap to within two points on multiple occasions, WCU would soon lead by 10 at 22-12 and won the set 25-14.

Chadron State fell behind early in the second set 4-1, but used a 5-0 run to take the lead, punctuated by back-to-back aces by Alondra Hernandez. The Mountaineers struck back with a 7-2 run of their own to go up 11-8.

The teams traded points for a moment, but with Western clinging to a 15-14 lead, the Mountaineers closed the set on a 10-3 run to go up two sets to zero. The Mountaineers were on fire offensively in the second set, hitting .410 as a team. Olive Rolseth had five kills in the set for WCU.

The third set was closely contested from start to finish. Briseno collected three straight Chadron points on kills early in the set, then Maddison Wright collected two kills and a block in quick succession before two WCU attack errors tied the score at 14-14.

That was the first in a string of several ties in the set, as the two teams found themselves knotted at 16-16, 17-17, 18-18 and 19-19. Trailing by two at 21-19, the Eagles used a Mountaineer attack error followed by back-to-back kills from Briseno and Kally Kirkwood to take the lead, but the Eagles failed to win a key challenge and Western won the final three points of the match to take it in straight sets.

Chadron State will take the court Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Fort Lewis. The Skyhawks are 2-9 and 0-3 in RMAC play after losing in straight sets to Colorado Christian on Friday.