CHADRON, Neb. – After a season-opening tournament at home, Chadron State volleyball will travel for the first time in 2025, heading to Minnesota to participate in the Maverick Invite, where they will face three unfamiliar opponents and one familiar one. 

The Eagles will take on tournament hosts Minnesota State-Mankato on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. MT (7:30 p.m. CT/local). The Eagles will play two matches on Friday, facing Upper Iowa at 11 a.m. and Minnesota Crookston at 3 p.m. (MT). On Saturday, Chadron State will have a rematch against now No. 22-ranked Northern State, who went 4-0 at the Eagle Classic in Chadron last week. 

All matches will be available on a free livestream on the NSIC Network. 

Looking Back
Chadron State hosted five other programs in the three-day Eagle Classic in the Chicoine Center last weekend, with the Eagles finishing 1-3. 

RECAPS: Saint Martin's | Augustana/Northern State | UMary

The Eagles lost their first three matches of the weekend, dropping a back-and-forth five-setter against Augustana and falling in straight sets to Saint Martin's and nationally-ranked Northern State before ending the week on a high by sweeping UMary 25-12, 25-22, 25-15. 

In total at the Eagle Classic – Northern State went 4-0, Augustana and Saint Martin's each went 3-1, UMary also went 1-3 and Black Hills State went 0-4.

Get Set
An early standout from the opening weekend was freshman setter Jillian Donovan, who played every point during her first collegiate weekend. Donovan totaled 154 assists (9.57 per set), which ranks second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. 

Donovan topped 20 assists in all four of her matches last weekend, but stood out in the five-set thriller with Augustana. Against the Vikings, Donovan recorded 50 assists, obviously a career high but also 10 more assists than any Eagles setter recorded in a match last season. The single-game school record for assists in a five-set match remains at 72, set by Kim Osborne in 1995.

Donovan also showed some chops on the offensive end, recording 11 kills on 26 attempts with a .308 hitting percentage.

Showing No Rust
Sophomore Mataya Ward ranked third on the team in kills last season as a true freshman and got off to a great start in her second year. 

Ward racked up a team-high 36 kills (2.77 per set) and hit at a .227 clip across four games at the Eagle Classic. Ward had two games with double-digit kills, tallying 13 in the five-set match against Augustana, then was at her best in the win against Mary. Against the Marauders, Ward was lethal, picking up 12 kills against just one attack error and hitting .478 for the match. 

The Belle Fourche, South Dakota native also chipped in 11 digs, six blocks and three aces across last week's action. 

Different Jersey, Same Production
Last year, Chadron State received prolific production from libero Alondra Hernandez, who led the RMAC in digs per set and recorded double-digit digs in 25 of 26 matches last season. 

The player CSC has entrusted to replace Hernandez – junior Avery Lacy – is also off to a strong start, leading CSC with 47 digs through four matches. Lacy, averaging 3.36 digs per set, is 4-for-4 in crossing the double-digit dig barrier, racking up 11 digs three times against Saint Martin's, Augustana, and Mary with a 14-dig performance against No. 25 Northern State. 

New Faces
Chadron State's six-woman starting lineup (not including Lacy at libero) for the first four matches of the season has been halfway made up of players who were not on the Eagles roster last year, including Donovan at setter. 

The other two are both transfer additions to Jennifer Stadler's roster. Shelbi Hazlitt, who began at Nebraska-Kearney before becoming a standout contributor for Division III's Coe College, has 23 kills against just three errors on 49 attempts for a .408 hitting percentage that is currently the highest on the Eagles. 

Gibson Beckler, a Missouri native who came over from junior college Missouri State-West Plains, ranks third on the team through a weekend with 28 kills, hitting .149 and impressing with her raw hitting power. 

While not technically among the starters, Lincoln Southwest HS freshman Shelby Harding played in every set over the first four games and racked up nine service aces, tied for third in the RMAC. Harding is also fifth on CSC with 18 digs on the defensive end. 

Scouting the Opponents
Minnesota State-Mankato
MSU Mankato will be the hosts of the Maverick Invite, which features the Eagles and their four opponents as well as Quincy and Lake Superior State. The Mavericks are 4-0 without dropping a set after a season-opening weekend where they swept Missouri S&T, Missouri Southern, Christian Brothers and Northwestern Oklahoma State at a classic. 

Minnesota State was picked to finish ninth in the NSIC poll (one spot ahead of Augustana, who the Eagles lost to in five sets last weekend). The Mavericks made their first conference tournament since 2018 last season. 

Junior outside hitter Mary Satori was an early standout, racking up 36 total kills, including 17 on a .538 hitting percentage against Northwestern Oklahoma State. Sophomore Avery Klein added 32 kills, Ellie Kline had 46 digs and middle blocker Emily Kern had 13 blocks.

Upper Iowa
Upper Iowa is 0-4 after a winless weekend at an invitational hosting by Wayne State, falling to Cedarville, Wayne State, Winona State and Northwood. The Peacocks earned two set wins across their four matches. 

The Peacocks were picked 12^th among 14 teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Preseason Coaches Poll. Outside hitter Martha Pace led the team with 28 kills, with junior Kailey Porter not far behind with 26. Upper Iowa had two setters with over 45 assists last weekend in Grace Fruzen (60) and Jaeden Cook (49). Sophomore Morgan Block leads with 59 digs. 

Minnesota Crookston
The Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles will also be undefeated at 4-0 heading into this weekend's action, the first time the program has been unbeaten through a weekend since 2014. The Golden Eagles began the season with a five-set win over Assumption University before toppling Saint Anselm College in four sets and sweeping Felician University and Southern New Hampshire. 

In the ultra-competitive NSIC, the Golden Eagles were picked 15^th out of 16 programs in the Preseason Poll (one spot below UMary, who the Eagles swept last week), but have turned heads with their start. The Golden Eagles had 37 aces as a team over their four wins.

Junior Kailee Waasdorp leads the conference early on with 93 digs (6.2 per set) and is the reigning NSIC Defensive Player of the Week. Minnesota Crookston also picked up a conference Offensive Player of the Week award courtesy of junior Madison Carsten, who racked up 77 kills while hitting .332. It marks the first time in program history the Golden Eagles have taken home multiple POTWs in the same week.

No. 22 Northern State
Chadron State is familiar with nationally-ranked Northern State, who got off to a 4-0 start at the Chicoine Center last weekend, including a straight-sets win over the Eagles. Northern State, which also competes in the NSIC, was picked to finish fifth in that preseason poll after advancing to the 2024 conference tournament semifinals. The Wolves have moved up to a No. 22 national ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll. 

Northern State returns a star in libero Abby Schauer. Last season (as Abby Meister), Schauer was the Northern Sun's Libero of the Year and earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors for averaging 5.67 digs/set and digging 578 balls in total. Schauer tallied 71 digs last weekend. 

Linnea Nesheim leads the Wolves with 58 kills while Abby Brooks has racked up 21 blocks. The Wolves offense is hitting .321 as a team while holding opponents to a .149 attack percentage.

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.