CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State rode waves of momentum to record a hard-earned second RMAC win and got out of the building in less than five sets, defeating Black Hills State 25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18 in a Tuesday night match at the Chicoine Center.
The win improves CSC to 8-11 with a 2-7 mark in RMAC play and is CSC's second win of the season over the rival Yellow Jackets after previously beating BHSU in a nonconference match in September. Black Hills State fell to 7-12 overall and 3-6 in the RMAC.
More importantly, the victory is Chadron State's first at home this season after the Eagles lost each of their first five home matches, all in five sets. Chadron State improves to 1-5 at home alongside their 3-5 road record and 4-1 neutral-site record.
Mataya Ward led the way with 20 kills and tied a career high with four service aces, just one off her career high in kills and her third 20-plus kill match this season. Ward hit .340 over 50 attack attempts, committing only three attack errors.
The Eagles had slight statistical edges in kills (58-52), digs (79-75) and assists (55-50). Chadron State recorded seven aces to BHSU's four, although the visitors came up with 10 blocks, one more than CSC's nine.
Libero
Avery Lacy led the Eagles with 21 digs defensively and recorded the other three service aces for Chadron State. All three of Lacy's aces came during a pivotal first-set stretch when the Eagles won 12 points in a row to turn a seven-point deficit into a five-point lead.
Kally Kirkwood recorded 12 kills while hitting at a .375 clip, her second-highest hitting percentage this season, while
Gibson Beckler chipped in eight kills.
Jillian Donovan (24 assists) and
Cydnie Eskew (19 assists) split setter duties.
Shelby Harding (12 digs) and Beckler (10) joined Lacy in double digits for digs while
Sarah Meservey recorded a team-high six blocks, followed closely by Kirkwood and Beckler with four apiece.
Black Hills State jumped out to a 17-10 lead in the first set, but the Eagles roared back with a 12-0 scoring run that essentially put the momentum in the home team's favor for the rest of the game.
Kirkwood kicked the run off with two kills sandwiched around a bad BHSU set. Two attack errors from the Yellow Jackets along with back-to-back aces from Lacy tied the score at 17-17.
Ward thundered home a kill to give the Eagles the lead before Lacy hit another ace, her third in the span of five points. Ward hit back-to-back kills after that and the Yellow Jackets pushed another attack out of bounds to make it 22-17 Eagles before BHSU finally scored a point.
Chadron State would win the first set 25-21 and jumped out to an 11-5 lead in set two, using a 6-0 scoring run this time that featured two aces from Ward. Black Hills State used a 7-0 run of its own to tie the score at 13-13, one of eight tie scores in the set. After the teams went point-for-point for a stretch, CSC reeled off another 7-0 run, again with Ward at the service line, to snatch a 25-20 second-set win.
The third set saw Black Hills have a match-best .231 hitting percentage while the Eagles were a match-worst .135 in the third set, leading to the visitors extending the match with a 25-21 set win.
Chadron State ensured the five-set streak would end, however, responding by hitting .300 as a team in set number four and leading for the entire set. Yet another 7-0 scoring run staked the Eagles to a 9-1 lead, with five of those points coming off Ward kills, and the Eagles did enough to stay in front, winning the fourth set 25-18.
Chadron State has four days until their next game, when they battle South Dakota Mines on the road in Rapid City on Saturday at 2 p.m.
