CHADRON, Neb. – After a 1-1 "Power Pod" weekend at home, Chadron State volleyball is embarking on both its last and longest RMAC road trip of the season when they head to the Western Slope and the Beehive State for two conference contests. 

The Eagles (5-17, 1-9 RMAC) will take on Colorado Mesa (12-9, 6-4) at Brownson Arena in Grand Junction on Friday night at 6 p.m. before heading to Salt Lake City to face Westminster (13-9, 5-5 RMAC) at 4 p.m. Saturday. 

Although the Eagles have been eliminated from RMAC tournament contention, seeding in the conference standings remains important for next season's Power Pods, with the Eagles earning hosting rights if they finish 10^th or 13^th in the RMAC. 

Both matches will be available to stream on the RMAC Network with live stats available.

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 snapped a losing streak with a resounding three-set sweep of Black Hills State, but were on the opposite side of a sweep two nights later against New Mexico Highlands.

RECAPS: Black Hills State | New Mexico Highlands

Neither contest counted for Chadron State's conference record, with the three teams grouped together in the "RMAC Power Pod" due to finishing 13^th (CSC), 14^th (NMHU) and 15^th (BHSU) in last season's RMAC standings. Additionally, Highlands and Black Hills State faced one another in a neutral-site match played at the Chicoine Center, with the Cowgirls defeating the Yellow Jackets in four sets.

Stat Standouts

• Mataya Ward ranks sixth in the RMAC with 3.31 kills/set and 3.62 points/set.
• Jillian Donovan ranks third in the RMAC with 640 total assists, and fourth in the RMAC with 8.89 assists/set. 
• Shelby Harding ranks tied for third in the RMAC with 0.39 aces/set, while her 28 total aces are tied for eighth. 
• Avery Lacy ranks 12^th in the RMAC with 3.49 digs/set, and 13^th with 248 total digs.
• Chadron State has three players averaging over two kills per set – Ward, Kally Kirkwood (163 total, 2.26/set) and Gibson Beckler (150, 2.11/set). 
• Chadron State has three players who have recorded over 30 blocks on the season – Bella Adams (38), Shelbi Hazlitt (35) and Kally Kirkwood (31).
• As a team, Chadron State ranks 12^th in blocks (1.55/set), and sixth in digs (16.25/set). 

High Percentage
Chadron State put together arguably its best offensive week of the season last weekend at home. 

The Eagles had two of their team's top five single-match hitting percentages from the season over their past two matches, hitting a season-best .409 in the win over Black Hills State and still hitting .248 as a team in a loss to New Mexico Highlands, fifth-best this year.

Chadron State's 52 kills and seven errors against the Yellow Jackets were simultaneously CSC's third-most kills in a match this season (most in a three-set match) and fewest errors in any match in 2025. Despite the loss to Highlands, the Eagles still only had 11 attack errors, tied for the fourth fewest all season. 

Chadron State's offensive numbers don't match a team near the bottom of the standings. The Eagles rank 11^th in kills per set (11.96), ninth in hitting percentage (.193) and 12^th in points/set (14.7). 

The Eagles had several big individual performances on the week, as well. Chadron State had a player in each contest with no errors on 10-plus attempts, with Chloe Grady (7 kills, 0 errors, .700) doing so against Black Hills State and Bella Adams (10 kills, 0 errors, .467) doing so against Highlands. Also in the win over BHSU, freshman outside hitter Shelby Harding slammed home a career-high 12 kills on a .611 hitting percentage.

Cydnie Show
Redshirt sophomore setter Cydnie Eskew had the most extended action of her career during last week's action. 

With two career sets played entering last Thursday's match, Eskew quadrupled that total by appearing in all six sets between the Black Hills and New Mexico Highlands matches. The Casper, Wyoming native also made her first career collegiate start against the Cowgirls on Saturday. 

Eskew set a new career-high with 15 assists against the Yellow Jackets and added 13 in her starting effort against the Cowgirls. Eskew also racked up nine digs across the two matches. 

Eskew is already tied for second on the team in assists with 37 despite only playing in three matches. It's a long gap to first-place Jillian Donovan (640, 3^rd in the RMAC), but Eskew's emergence has given the Eagles an alternative option that can allow Donovan to take a breather, as the true freshman has played in all but one set this season and scarcely left the court over the season's first two months.

Block Party
Chadron State racked up nine total blocks against New Mexico Highlands, CSC's second-most in a game this year. It marked CSC's most blocks in over three weeks and just the third time after the month of September that the Eagles had over five blocks in a match.

Chloe Grady recorded six blocks individually against the Cowgirls, tying Bella Adams on October 10 against Adams State for the highest individual single-match total of the season.

Lucky and/or Good
Chadron State's opponents have been at their best and relatively mistake-free this season, making it more difficult for the Eagles to get over the top. Chadron State ranks last in the RMAC in several statistics that have more to do with opponents' execution than the Eagles'. 

The Eagles are 15^th in opponent kills/set (14.16) and opponent hitting percentage (.251). Chadron State is saving plenty of opponent attacks, ranking sixth in the league with 16.25 digs/set, meaning that the opponents' cumulative success rate is in part due to not making many attack errors and not giving the Eagles free points.

With the Eagles on offense, Chadron State has excelled at getting attack attempts past the block, as the Eagles are fourth in the RMAC in fewest opponent blocks/set at 1.82. Despite this, Chadron State is last in the league in opponent digs/set (17.45, more than any other school's opponents), meaning Eagle opponents have done abnormally well at saving inbounds shots from CSC in the back row. 

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. 11. 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
Colorado Mesa
Projected to finish second in the RMAC in preseason, a current four-game losing streak has Colorado Mesa at 12-9 overall with a 6-4 mark in the RMAC.
 
The Mavericks went 0-2 in their recent Power Pod, falling in straight sets to both MSU Denver and South Dakota Mines, and had two RMAC losses to Westminster and Colorado School of Mines the week prior. Colorado Mesa has lost five of seven overall. The Mavs began the season in the top 25, peaking at No. 18, but have not been ranked since the October 13 poll. 

Colorado Mesa is still loaded with talent, starting with attackers Sadie Scoville (233 kills, 2.95/set) and freshman Henley Madsen (208, 2.77/set). Veteran libero Allison Waller (3.62 digs/set) leads the Maverick defense while redshirt junior middle blocker Aesha Alrashed is tied for third in the RMAC in blocks per set (1.06) and in total blocks (84).

The Mavericks have a new head coach in Austin Albers, who joined CMU after six seasons at fellow RMAC member CSU Pueblo. Albers had a 93-61 record with the ThunderWolves and was the head coach of Laramie County CC prior to that.

Westminster
The Westminster Griffins sit at 13-9 overall, with a 5-5 RMAC record. 

After recording a historic win over Colorado Mesa, recording the program's first-ever win in Grand Junction, the Griffins were swept by Colorado School of Mines then went 1-1 in a home RMAC Power Pod last week with a win over Western Colorado and a five-set loss to Adams State. 

The Griffins have two attackers averaging over two kills per set – freshman Sadie Parrish (215, 2.59/set) and senior Breegan Huntsman (199, 2.24/set). Senior Hailey Killett has the second-highest hitting percentage in the RMAC, hitting .363 on 155 attempts. Senior Mailei Myers has the most total blocks in the league with 88 while her 0.98/set ranks eighth. 

Westminster head coach Sue Delaney is in her fourth season with the Griffins. Delaney led the Griffins to their first-ever RMAC Tournament appearance last season as the No. 8 seed. No stranger to Salt Lake City, Delaney spent 14 seasons at the helm of Salt Lake Community College, leading SLCC to six regional championships.

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.