CHADRON, Neb. – After a week of key conference matches against its two biggest rivals, Chadron State volleyball will wrap up its nonconference play for the 2026 season during the league's annual RMAC Power Pod week with Thursday and Friday matches in Spearfish.

The Eagles (8-12) will face Black Hills State (8-12) on Thursday night at 6 p.m., with those two programs battling for the third time this season overall and second at the Donald E. Young Center.

Chadron State will then remain in Spearfish for a Friday night showdown against Western Colorado (9-11), with that first serve scheduled for 5 p.m.

Chadron State, Black Hills State and Western Colorado are grouped together in the "Power Pod" due to finishing 13^th, 14^th and 15^th in last season's RMAC standings, with Black Hills State hosting as the No. 13 finisher from last year. 

All 15 RMAC schools are competing in "Power Pod" matches this week, in groups of three (1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15) according to last year's standings.

Numbers to Know

• 3-0: CSC's combined 2026 record against this week's opponents
• 17.01: Digs per set by Chadron State, which leads the RMAC
• 104: Blocks by Sarah Meservey, seventh in Division II
• 3: 20-kill performances this season by Mataya Ward, including last Tuesday against BHSU

How to Tune In
For the second straight year, the RMAC Network is under a pay-per-view model, with single-game, monthly and annual subscription options to watch all of Chadron State's home games and away conference games. 

PURCHASE: RMAC NETWORK

Fans can purchase monthly subscriptions to the RMAC Network for $25 or annual passes for $130. Those prices are both unchanged from the 2025-26 season.

All remaining Chadron State regular season volleyball games, both home and away, will be on the network.

Fans can also follow along via live stats and on social media (@cscvolleyball on X/Twitter, csc.volleyball on Instagram).

Looking Back
Chadron State played a pair of four-set matches, defeating Black Hills State on Tuesday before falling to South Dakota Mines on Saturday. While Chadron State faces both the Yellow Jackets and Hardrockers three times each during the 2026 season, last week's matches against both were the ones that counted in the RMAC standings.

RECAPS: Tuesday (BHSU) | Saturday (SDM)

While Chadron State faces both the Yellow Jackets and Hardrockers three times each during the 2026 season, last week's matches against both were the ones that counted in the RMAC standings. 

The Eagles used a 12-0 scoring run to take control in the first set against BHSU, turning a 17-10 deficit into a 22-17 lead, eventually winning the first set 25-21.

Max Mataya
Mataya Ward had another productive week, leading Chadron State in both kills and aces across both matches vs. Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines.

Against BHSU, Ward tallied 20 kills while hitting .340 for the match and tied a career high with four service aces. Ward also had a team-high 12 kills and three aces against the Hardrockers.

Ward's performance last Tuesday continues a pattern where the Belle Fourche, S.D. native has excelled against the Yellow Jackets in her career.

The junior has 20 and 17 kills in two matchups against the Yellow Jackets this season, while her season-highs of 20 kills from 2024 and 18 kills from 2025 both came against the Yellow Jackets. 

Much Improved
Chadron State, alongside Black Hills State and Western Colorado, are playing one another in a Power Pod this weekend because they were the bottom three teams in the RMAC standings last season in 2025. However, none of the three programs occupy bottom-three spots currently.

The Eagles, Yellow Jackets and Mountaineers will enter this week's pod with a combined overall record of 25-35 after the three schools combined to win just 12 matches across the entirety of the 2025 season.

Additionally, Black Hills State, Chadron State and Western Colorado finished a combined 3-39 in RMAC matches in 2025, with the only wins coming against one another. This season, Black Hills State and Western Colorado are already both 4-6 in the conference standings while the Eagles are 2-8.

Three teams – Westminster (3-17, 2-8 RMAC), New Mexico Highlands (3-18, 1-9 RMAC) and Regis (2-19, 1-9 RMAC) sit below Chadron State's 8-12, 2-8 RMAC record and the Eagles still have yet to face Westminster and Regis.

Stat Standouts

• Sarah Meservey leads the RMAC in total blocks (104) but ranks second in blocks/set (1.33). She is within the top 10 in Division II in both categories, ranking seventh in the nation in total blocks and eighth nationally in blocks/set.
• Avery Lacy ranks fifth in the league in digs/set (4.49) and is third in the RMAC in total digs (350).
• Jillian Donovan ranks fifth in the conference in assists per set (6.42) and total assists (475).
• Mataya Ward ranks fifth in the league in kills/set (3.21) and points/set (3.69).
• The Eagles have heavily featured Mataya Ward and Gibson Beckler in their attack. Ward ranks third in the RMAC in attack attempts/set (9.41) while Beckler is fourth with 9.20 attack attempts/set.

Here for a While
No RMAC team has played more sets in conference matches than Chadron State's 42.

South Dakota Mines and Colorado Christian are tied for the second-most RMAC sets played during conference matches with 39 each. Two other schools are at 38 while six other programs are at 37. Only three of Chadron State's 10 RMAC matches have gone the minimum three sets.

Chadron State had exactly four five-set matches in each of the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons – the Eagles are currently at six in 2026 with six matches left to play.

In the Polls
Chadron State was picked 15^th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll. The poll is voted on by the league's head coaches, who each rank the other 14 programs without voting for their own team.

UCCS finished atop the poll with 187 points and eight first-place votes after capturing a share of the RMAC regular season championship a year ago, the first such title in program history. Colorado Mesa (169 points, one first-place vote) came second in the poll and had the most second-place votes (five) of any school.

MSU Denver received four first place votes, second-most in the league, but only ended up tied for third in the poll, receiving 165 points alongside Colorado School of Mines. 

CSU Pueblo is in fifth, while Colorado Christian, Fort Lewis, South Dakota Mines, Westminster and Regis round out the top 10. Adams State, New Mexico Highlands, Western Colorado and Black Hills State rounded out the poll, finishing just ahead of CSC's 38 points. 

NPI Check-In
For the first time this season, the field for the NCAA Tournament in each sport for Division II and Division III is being determined by the NCAA Power Index (NPI).

NPI is a mathematical formula instituted to remove the human subjectivity around the previous system of regional rankings committees. To learn more about the NPI system and how it is calculated, click here.

With the NCAA's release of the first NPI rankings update, Chadron State is ranked No. 23 out of 33 teams in the South Central region. Eight teams from the South Central region will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. 

There are five RMAC teams in the top eight of the latest rankings update – Colorado School of Mines as the No. 2 seed, Colorado Mesa at No. 3, MSU Denver at No. 5, UCCS at No. 7 and South Dakota Mines at No. 8. Lone Star Conference teams Angelo State (No. 1), Dallas Baptist (No. 4) and UT Tyler (No. 6) make up the other spots.

Because NPI values strength of schedule and weights home and away results differently, the formula rankings can certainly change between now and the end of the regular season.

RMAC Update
Colorado School of Mines found its way into the AVCA National Coaches Poll at No. 25 overall while Colorado Mesa and MSU Denver are receiving votes.

There are four teams within a game of the title race while three teams are also within a game of Fort Lewis, which holds the No. 8 seed and final RMAC Tournament spot.

Here is a look at the current RMAC standings:

Team	RMAC Record	Overall Record
#RV MSU Denver	9-1	14-6
#25 Colo. Sch. Of Mines	8-2	17-3
#RV Colorado Mesa	8-2	16-4
UCCS	8-2	13-7
South Dakota Mines	7-3	15-5
Adams State	6-4	12-10
Colorado Christian	6-4	9-9
Fort Lewis	5-5	11-9
Western Colorado	4-6	9-11
CSU Pueblo	4-6	9-12
Black Hills State	4-6	8-12
Chadron State	2-8	8-12
Westminster	2-8	3-17
New Mexico Highlands	1-9	3-18
Regis	1-9	2-19

Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Black Hills State is 8-12 overall, the same record as CSC. In tallying eight wins, BHSU is already past their 2025 season total of six, which itself was the program's most wins since 2021.

After falling to Chadron State on Tuesday, BHSU earned its fourth conference win of the season by defeating Regis last weekend. The four RMAC wins are double the program's 2025 total of two.

Carsyn Mettler (225 kills) and Izzy Saiki (223) provide a one-two punch for the BHSU offense. They rank 11^th and 12^th, respectively, in the RMAC in kills/set. Mettler had a season-high 23 kills last week against Chadron State.

Libero Keira Thompson has an RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award on her resume from earlier this season, but Makayla Dorsey has won the libero jersey recently and recorded a season-high 23 digs against the Eagles.

The Yellow Jackets have a second-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.

Scouting the Mountaineers
Western Colorado is 9-11 and is coming off a banner 2-0 week where they defended home court against New Mexico Highlands (three sets) and Adams State (five sets). WCU had lost four straight and six of its past seven prior to those two results. The Mountaineers have also defeated Black Hills State and Regis in conference play.

Three Mountaineers have over 100 kills – Sierra Long (165 kills, 2.58/set), Maggie Legg (162, 2.28/set) and Andrea Torres (136, 2.67/set). Long is the most efficient of the three, hitting .209 on the season.

Libero Galatia Andrew has been busy, collecting 4.64 digs/set which ranks fourth in the RMAC. Breanna Novaha is one of nine RMAC players to be averaging over a block per set, racking up 55 in 50 sets played. Kyra Kidd also has 51 blocks.

Sonia Morales-Jones is in her second season at WCU after nine seasons at Benedictine University Mesa (Arizona), where she compiled a 166-88 record and qualified for the NAIA national tournament in 2020, 2022 and 2023. 

5-for-5
Under a new eligibility ruling passed by the NCAA this summer, all NCAA student-athletes will have five years of eligibility upon entry to college while developmental redshirts and medical waivers that previously could grant another year of eligibility have been eliminated – with exceptions for military service, religious missions and pregnancy.

To accommodate this new system, Chadron State is changing how student-athletes are labeled on its sport rosters – using the term "freshman" for a player in their first year of college, "sophomore" for a player in their second, "junior," "senior," and "fifth-year," regardless of whether the player has previously received a redshirt year.

For example, a player now being referred to as a "junior" has been with Chadron State or another college volleyball program for two seasons (regardless of if they played or not during those seasons) and has three years of eligibility remaining, including 2026.

Coach's Corner
Head Coach Jennifer Stadler will begin her eight season in charge of the Chadron State volleyball program in 2025, accumulating a 56-115 record in her first seven 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.