CHADRON, Neb. – Before a two-week push to end the RMAC season, Chadron State volleyball will take its final reprieve from the conference schedule, hosting two nonconference matches as part of an RMAC "Power Pod" at the Chicoine Center. 

The Eagles (4-16) will begin the week with their third meeting of the season against Black Hills State (6-14) on Thursday night at 6 p.m., then face New Mexico Highlands (9-12) on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. 

In between Chadron State's two matches, Black Hills State and New Mexico Highlands will play a neutral-site match against one another at Chicoine on Friday night at 6 p.m. Chadron State, New Mexico Highlands and Black Hills State are grouped together in the "Power Pod" due to finishing 13^th, 14^th and 15^th in last season's RMAC standings, with Chadron State hosting as the No. 13 finisher from last year.

All three matches (CSC's two plus the neutral site) will be available to stream on the RMAC Network. Additionally, Thursday's match will have a live radio feed on Double Q Country/KQSK 97.5 FM, with Dave Collins on the call. 

Promotional Notes
With the Power Pod falling on Halloween weekend, local families are encouraged to show up in costume for a Chadron State Athletics edition of Trunk or Treat ahead of Thursday night's match. 

Children who arrive in costume will receive free admission to the game and an opportunity to trick or treat for candy at Chicoine Center. Accompanying parents can purchase a discounted gameday ticket for $5. 

Chadron State students and fans are also encouraged to wear costumes for Thursday's match.

RMAC Network Update
All RMAC matches will be livestreamed on the RMAC Network. Beginning in 2025-26, the RMAC Network has moved to a pay-per-view subscription system for all regular season and postseason RMAC contests. 

Fans have multiple subscription choices to choose from: $10 for a single game (access for 24 hours) or $25 for a monthly subscription and $130 for an annual subscription (monthly and annual subscribers have access to all games, regardless of school or sport, broadcasted on the RMAC Network). 

Any CSC staff, faculty or students with a csc.edu or eagles.csc.edu email address are eligible for $10 off an annual subscription under the RMAC's EDU Peak Pricing Promotion. With the discount, an RMAC institutional community member can purchase a yearly subscription for $120, which is more than half off a monthly subscription of the same length.

To purchase subscriptions, visit rmacnetwork.com/purchase. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their broadcast systems.

Fans will technical support issues can contact Hudl, visit the RMAC email the RMAC Network FAQ page, or directly email the RMAC at rmac@rmacsports.org.

Looking Back
Chadron State came up short in RMAC matchups against their two regional rivals, falling in straight sets to Black Hills State (25-22, 25-19, 25-21) and South Dakota Mines (25-19, 25-20, 25-15).

RECAPS: Black Hills State | South Dakota Mines

Chadron State played the Yellow Jackets on a Tuesday in Spearfish. The Eagles finished with two more kills and the same number of aces and digs as BHSU, but 23 Eagle attack errors compared to just nine for the visitors helped swing the score. The Yellow Jackets had 11 blocks to help boost CSC's attack error totals. 

Against South Dakota Mines, the Eagles were extremely competitive in the first two sets before the Hardrockers found another gear in the third. Three Eagles (Kally Kirkwood, Mataya Ward and Shelby Harding) tied for the team lead with seven kills while two (Rylee Ward and Jillian Donovan) tied with a team-high nine digs.

Stat Standouts

• Mataya Ward ranks seventh in the RMAC with 3.27 kills/set and eighth with 3.54 points/set.
• Jillian Donovan ranks third in the RMAC with 611 total assists, and fourth in the RMAC with 9.11 assists/set. 
• Shelby Harding ranks third in the RMAC with 0.41 aces/set, while her 27 total aces are tied for sixth. 
• Avery Lacy ranks 12^th in the RMAC with 3.55 digs/set, and 13^th with 231 total digs.
• As a team, Chadron State ranks 11^th in kills (11.69/set), 11^th in hitting percentage (.181), 12^th in blocks (1.48/set), and sixth in digs (16.16/set). 
• Chadron State is allowing the highest opponent hitting percentage (.254), kills/set by opponents (14.19) and highest digs/set by opponent (17.57) in the RMAC.

Dig This
In Tuesday's match against Black Hills State, Chadron State racked up 76 digs. That is tied for CSC's second-highest single-match total this year, despite the match only lasting three sets. 

That number is tied with Black Hills State, who also accumulated 76 digs in the same contest, for the most digs by an RMAC team in a three-set match this season. The 25.3 digs per set average by both teams is the second-highest single-match average in the conference this year and the highest in a conference game. 

Four Eagle players had double-digit digs in the match – Avery Lacy with 19, Gibson Beckler with 13, Josie Loosvelt with 11 and Jillian Donovan with 10. 

Making it Count
Kally Kirkwood had only the fourth-most attack attempts on Saturday against South Dakota Mines, but she did a lot with them. 

The Fleming, Colorado junior had 13 attempts and converted over half, finishing with seven kills and no errors for a .538 hitting percentage, which is the highest single-match percentage of Kirkwood's career. 

Kirkwood becomes the fifth CSC performance this season with a .500 hitting percentage or better on over 10 attack attempts. 

• Shelbi Hazlitt – 8 kills, 0 errors, 13 attempts, .615 pct vs. Saint Martin's, 9/4/25
• Bella Adams – 8 kills, 0 errors, 15 attempts, .533 pct vs. Upper Iowa, 9/12/25
• Mataya Ward – 16 kills, 0 errors, 29 attempts, .552 pct vs. Western Colorado, 9/27/25
• Mataya Ward – 11 kills, 0 errors, 21 attempts, .524 pct vs. South Dakota Mines, 10/3/25

On the season, Kirkwood ranks second on the team with 150 kills, trailing Ward (183) and just ahead of Gibson Beckler (139).

Strode Onto the Court
True freshman Sydney Strode made her collegiate debut during Saturday's match against South Dakota Mines. The Parker, Colorado native recorded one kill on two attempts while seeing action in the third set, where she was part of the set's starting lineup.

Strode's debut brings the number of players who have seen the court this season for the Eagles to 17 overall, a total that includes all four true freshmen on the roster.

Under a new NCAA rule passed for 2025-26, freshmen can play in up to 30 percent of a team's matches as true freshmen and still preserve a redshirt year of eligibility. Two CSC freshmen (Jillian Donovan and Shelby Harding) have blown past this threshold and will not redshirt, but for players like Strode, the opportunity now exists to receive some game action without burning eligibility.

Big Numbers
Chadron State has authored some of the top team and individual single-match performances in the RMAC this season.

The Eagles have the sixth and seventh best single-match team hitting percentages of the season in the conference after hitting .378 in a September 6 win over Mary and .375 in a three-set win over Western Colorado. 

In a five-set win over Black Hills State, the Eagles totaled 97 digs, which are the fourth-most in any match and the third-most in a five-set match by an RMAC team during the 2025 season. 

In CSC's second match-up with BHSU, the Eagles racked up 76 digs in three sets, tied for the most in a three-set match by an RMAC team this season with the Yellow Jackets, who did it against the Eagles in the same contest.

Individually, Avery Lacy tallied 32 digs in the five-setter against the Yellow Jackets, which is tied for the most any RMAC player has had in a single match so far during the 2025 season with Westminster's Kristina House, who did it October 18 against Colorado Christian. Lacy's previous season high and career high was 20 digs, set against Upper Iowa in a three-set win on September 12 of this season.

Gibson Beckler's 23 kills against BHSU were the most by a Chadron State player in a match this season and tied for the sixth-most by an RMAC player in a match this season. Mataya Ward's 17 kills from a September 12 win over Upper Iowa are the second-most by an RMAC player this year during a three-set match.

Jillian Donovan's 56 assists during the five-set win over Black Hills State are also the third-highest single-game total in the conference while her 43 sets from the Western Colorado match are six more assists than any other setter has tallied in a three-set match. Donovan has four of the top six marks in three-set matches this season.

Poll Numbers
Chadron State volleyball is projected for a 13^th-place finish in the RMAC, matching its finish in last season's standings, according to the RMAC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll. 

MSU Denver, who have won four straight RMAC regular season championships, is the runaway favorite to win the league this season, receiving 13 of a possible 14 first-place votes. Colorado Mesa is second in the poll, earning the final two first-place votes and 11 second-place votes. Colorado Christian, who advanced to the finals of the RMAC Tournament last season, comes in third in the preseason poll, ahead of last season's surprise third-place finishers South Dakota Mines in fourth. 

The rest of the top 10 features CSU Pueblo, Regis, Westminster, UCCS and Adams State and Colorado School of Mines in a tie for ninth. Spots 11-13 are incredibly close, with 11^th-place Fort Lewis receiving 59 points in the poll, 12^th-place Western Colorado receiving 57 and the 13^th-place Eagles receiving 55. The poll is rounded out by New Mexico Highlands and Black Hills State. 

The RMAC has just one school ranked in the AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II national women's volleyball poll – MSU Denver at No. 12. UCCS is receiving votes. 

The Eagles are 0-4 against currently nationally ranked teams this season, losing once to MSU Denver, twice to No. 22 Northern State and once to No. 24 Minnesota State.

Scouting the Opponents
Black Hills State
Picked to finish 15^th and last in the RMAC in preseason, Black Hills State (6-14, 2-8 RMAC) has already exceeded its win totals in overall matches and RMAC matches from last season with six regular season matches to go. 

Two of those wins have come against the Eagles, one in a conference match in three sets and the other in an RMAC Regional Pod in five sets, but both of those matches were contested in Spearfish. After defeating the Eagles at home on Tuesday of last week, Black Hills State lost in five sets to Regis on the road in Denver.

Black Hills State libero Ellie Thomas is leading the RMAC in digs per set with 4.85. Thomas has double-digit digs in every match this year and has her two highest single-match totals (28 and 26) against the Eagles. Offensively, Emily Freeland (201 kills, .186 pct), Randi Wellhoefer (181 kills, .107 pct) and Carsyn Mettler (133 kills, .195 pct) lead the charge in volume while Jaeda Davis-Golliher (114 kills, .302 pct) is the team's most efficient hitter. 

The Yellow Jackets have a first-year head coach in Grayson DuBose, a Division I veteran who spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Eastern Washington but was previously the head coach at Utah State University for 14 years, where he was a two-time Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Coach of the Year. 

New Mexico Highlands
After a 14^th-place finish in 2024, the Cowgirls of New Mexico Highlands are outperforming that this season as they sit tied for 10^th at 9-12 overall and 4-6 in the RMAC. 

The Cowgirls previously defeated Chadron State in three sets in a conference match in Las Vegas on October 11. They are 2-3 since, beating Black Hills State in straight sets and beating winless Western Colorado in five while losing to South Dakota Mines in three, Fort Lewis in five and nonconference opponent Eastern New Mexico in four.

New Mexico Highlands has three attackers with over 500 attempts and no other attackers with more than 276. Senior Arianna Jameson has 213 attempts on a .154 hitting percentage while Aziza Morris has 202 on a .215 percentage. Meg Pfannerstill and Becca Wiersema rank third and fourth in the RMAC with 30 and 29 aces, respectively.

Head Coach Meg Grose is in her second season as the head coach at NMHU. Grose was previously a head coach for one season at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, but honed her skills as an assistant coach at NMHU from 2020-22. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Grose has Nebraska ties as she was a four-year starting setter for Peru State College.

Coach's Corner
Head Coach Jennifer Stadler will begin her seventh season in charge of the Chadron State volleyball program in 2025, accumulating a 51-94 record in her first six seasons. 

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. 

In her first year at CSC in 2019, Stadler immediately led the Eagles to a winning record of 14-12 and coached the RMAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in Ashton Burditt. 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.