SPEARFISH, S.D. – Chadron State volleyball scuffled in its second match in as many nights at the A2 Arena in Spearfish, falling in a neutral site, nonconference contest to Western Colorado in straight sets – 25-22, 25-13, 25-17 – as the RMAC Power Pod concluded on Friday evening.
The loss drops Chadron State to 9-13 while Western Colorado improved to 10-11.
Just one day after setting season-highs with a .290 team hitting percentage and 65 kills in a win over Black Hills State, CSC set a new season-low with an .085 hitting percentage for the match and tallied 30 kills, tied for the team's second fewest in a match this year.
Mataya Ward had a team-high seven kills, hitting .190 on 21 attempts.
Brandi Helzer and
Kally Kirkwood had six apiece while
Sarah Meservey and
Gibson Beckler had four kills each.
Avery Lacy led the way defensively with 13 digs, with
Jillian Donovan (10) also in double digits. Donovan also led the Eagles with 13 assists.
The first set featured 13 ties – seven prior to the media timeout (first team to 15 points) and six additional during the remainder of the set – plus six lead changes.
Western Colorado stood out with six blocks in the opening set to CSC's zero, although Chadron State made only two attacking errors outside of WCU blocks. Trailing 18-17, CSC used a
Brandi Helzer kill, attack error and
Jillian Donovan ace to take a 20-18 lead before Western outscored the Eagles 7-2 the rest of the way to take the opening frame 25-22. Helzer had five kills and hit .571 in the opening set.
The Mountaineers took a 4-0 lead in set number two and pushed it to 9-4 before Chadron State recorded its first two blocks of the match on back-to-back points, first a combo by
Gibson Beckler and
Sydney Strode and then a solo by
Sarah Meservey, then had a BHSU attack error confirmed by replay to trim the lead to 9-7.
It didn't stay close for long, as Western used a 13-2 scoring run to open up a big lead, eventually sealing the set 25-13. In the second frame, Chadron State hit .000 with eight kills against eight errors. The Mountaineers hit .162 as a team, but won 71 percent of their side-out points.
The Eagles also fell behind two sets to zero during their first meeting with Western Colorado on September 19, but stormed back to reverse sweep the Mountaineers in five. Unfortunately, there would be no comeback on this occasion.
After Western Colorado took a 13-7 lead in set three,
Kally Kirkwood hit back-to-back kills before back-to-back blocks by
Mataya Ward/
Sydney Strode and
Kally Kirkwood/
Sydney Strode trimmed the margin to 13-11.
The Eagles went a 3-0 run, featuring a Ward kill,
Kiera Schra/
Sarah Meservey block and Meservey kill to pull within two points at 18-16, but the Mountaineers immediately responded with a kill and a block to reach 20 points in the set, then quickly won five of the next six points to end the match with a 25-17 third-set win.
Chadron State has four matches remaining in the 2026 season, all of which will count in the RMAC standings. The Eagles face Regis next Tuesday on the road in Denver before hosting Colorado Mesa and Westminster at the Chicoine Center on October 30-31.
