CHADRON, Neb. – After a dominant display in their season-opening competition, the Chadron State Eagles women's wrestling team will compete at the two-day Missouri Valley Open this Friday and Saturday, hosted by Missouri Valley University in Marshall, Missouri.
The action is set to begin at 8 a.m. MT (9 a.m. CT/local) both days.
Looking Back
The Eagles had a successful first competition, winning five of 10 contested weight classes at the Dickinson State Open last Saturday. The Eagles had nine top-three finishers among their 17 total placers.
RECAP:
Women's Wrestling Wins Five Weight Classes at Dickinson State
Katie Snyder (160 pounds) and
Martynique Davis (131 pounds) both needed to go 4-0 to win their respective brackets.
Mana Chanthasone (103 pounds),
Rylee Balcazar (110 pounds) and
Adrianna Lopez (117 pounds) all won three matches to take home their titles.
Davis and Snyder both won tournaments as true freshmen in their first-ever collegiate competitions. Davis, an Arizona native, did not allow a point in four matches while recording one fall and three tech falls (10-0, 11-0, 11-0).
Snyder recorded four falls in as many matches at 160 pounds, with three of those pins coming under 40 seconds into the match.
The Field/Tournament
As many as 62 teams are preliminarily registered for this weekend's event. That number includes all five other RMAC teams (Adams State, Colorado Mesa, Simon Fraser, Texas Woman's and Western Colorado) and five of the top 10 teams in the NWCA's Tournament Team Rankings (No. 2 Iowa, No. T-5 Lehigh, No. 8 Colorado Mesa, No. 9 Quincy, No. 10 Emmanuel (Ga.)).
Chadron State previously competed at the Missouri Valley Open in the 2024-25 season. That tournament two seasons ago featured 610 wrestlers. Among current Eagle wrestlers,
Esther Peters had a notable tournament, finishing 2-2 but with one of her losses to the No. 5-ranked national wrestler. Current assistant coach and former Eagle
Brianna Vollendroff had the most wins on the day for CSC, going 4-2.
The Polls
HerMat (formerly known as The Open Mat) released an updated set of their weekly rankings on Tuesday, November 10.
Rylee Balcazar is ranked No. 11 at 110 pounds,
Piper Cadden is ranked No. 13 at 131 pounds while
Esther Peters is ranked No. 11 at 207 pounds. Peters held steady from the previous rankings while Balcazar and Cadden each moved up one spot.
The NWCA is still on their preseason rankings from October 23. In those,
Piper Cadden is the only Eagle in the national rankings at No. 10 for 131 pounds (the NWCA only ranks 10 wrestlers at each weight).
In the NWCA's Regional Rankings, Balcazar is ranked No. 4 at 110 for Super Region 6, while Cadden is No. 2 at 131.
Coach's Corner
Head coach
Sammy de Seriere is in his second season at the helm of the Eagle program after spending two seasons as CSC's lead assistant coach. He is the third-ever women's wrestling coach at Chadron State.
In his three years on staff at CSC, de Seriere has contributed to the Eagles qualifying 11 wrestlers to the NCWWC and NCAA National Championships, working closely with
Esther Peters, who became CSC women's wrestling's first-ever All-American last in 2024-25.
De Seriere began his coaching career in 2022-23 as a volunteer assistant for his alma mater, the men's wrestling program at Western Colorado. De Seriere helped Western place fourth nationally at the Division II National Championships during his lone season on staff, the program's first team trophy in 19 years.
Joining de Seriere on the 2026-27 staff are first-year assistant coach Brianna Vollendroff, who became the first RMAC Champion in program history during the 2025-26 season, and coaching assistant Giovanni Cassioppi, who has been on staff since 2023-24.
