CHADRON, Neb. – Mataya Ward hit over .500 and four Eagles had double-digit digs, but Chadron State volleyball dropped its first of two RMAC regional pod matches on Friday night, falling to South Dakota Mines 25-20, 25-20, 25-16.
Ward hammered home a team-high 11 kills with no attack errors on 21 attempts, good for a .524 hitting percentage while Kally Kirkwood contributed eight kills and four blocks. Shelby Harding ended with two service aces and led the team with 12 digs while Avery Lacy, Josie Loosevelt and Gibson Beckler each had 10 digs apiece.
The loss, which does not count in the RMAC standings, moves CSC's record to 4-9 overall. South Dakota Mines improved to 4-10.
Chadron State led 4-2 early in the first set after a Kally Kirkwood kill, but South Dakota Mines took control with a 6-1 run to take a 10-6 lead. The Hardrockers got their final six points of the set via kill, taking down the opening frame 25-20.
The second set mirrored the first. Chadron State again took a 4-2 lead after solo blocks from Mataya Ward and Chloe Grady, but the Hardrockers flipped the script with scoring runs of 4-1 to go up 12-9 in the set and 4-0 to expand to an 18-13 lead. Ivy Vindivich put away a kill to make the second set finish with the same score as the first, 25-20.
After 12 kills in the first set and 14 in the second, Chadron State could only manage 10 kills in the third and final set while the Hardrockers hit .278 in the frame as a team. The Hardrockers jumped out to a 6-2 and never trailed in set number three as they finished the match in the minimum amount of sets.
South Dakota Mines finished with a 45-36 advantage in kills and also had more aces (5-2) and digs (63-54) than the Eagles. Chadron State did finish with more blocks than the hosts, coming up with seven total blocks to the Hardrockers' six. Behind Kirkwood with four blocks, Bella Adams contributed and Grady two.
Chadron State volleyball is back in action Saturday night against Black Hills State in more regional pod action. First serve between the Eagles and Yellow Jackets is set for 2 p.m. in Spearfish.
