GOLDEN, Colo. – Chadron State volleyball faced a nationally-ranked opponent in its final game of the 2026 regular season, and the No. 20-ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers won their 15
th match in a row, defeating the Eagles 25-19, 25-16, 25-13 in straight sets on Friday night.
The result drops CSC to 10-16 overall and 3-11 in the RMAC. Five of those RMAC losses (and six overall) were in five sets. Colorado School of Mines improves to 22-3 with an 11-2 mark in conference play. The Orediggers have one more match remaining.
Despite the win, Colorado School of Mines hit just .189, the Orediggers' second-lowest attack percentage of the entire season behind a four-set loss to MSU Denver. Chadron State continues to lead the RMAC with 16.8 digs/set.
Mataya Ward finished her junior season with a team-high six kills while four different Eagles (
Kally Kirkwood,
Gibson Beckler,
Brandi Helzer and
Sarah Meservey) had four kills each.
Libero
Avery Lacy concluded her career with a 15-dig performance while fellow seniors
Kiera Alfred and
Josie Loosvelt had six apiece. Chadron State totaled nine blocks, led by six block assists from
Sarah Meservey and two solo blocks from
Gibson Beckler.
The Eagles totaled 23 kills, their fewest of 2026, and 20 attack errors to hit .029 in Friday's three sets, also a low mark of the season.
Despite the final outcome, Chadron State was with the Orediggers in the early part of all three sets before Mines pulled away late. Across three sets, the Eagles and Orediggers combined for 18 ties and nine lead changes.
The Eagles led 4-1 early in the first set before Mines rallied to tie at 5-5. Kills by
Kally Kirkwood and
Sydney Strode gave the Eagles a 14-13 lead before the Orediggers finally took the lead for good with a 3-0 run to take a 16-14 lead and used a 7-0 scoring run to put some distance in the set after the Eagles had rallied for the set's eighth tie at 16-16.
Once again, the Eagles took an early lead in set two off a Ward kill, Ward/Meservey block and Meservey kill. The Orediggers hit .226, the best single-set performance of either team on Friday, overriding CSC's match-best .128. An Oredigger ace put the home team up 16-9 and Mines won four of the set's final five points to win 25-16.
The third set started out point-for-point, with seven ties and four lead changes all before 8-8. After that, however, the Orediggers used one 7-0 run and another 6-0 run to eventually open up the 25-13 winning margin.
Although the other 14 RMAC programs will complete their seasons with one final conference match on Saturday, Chadron State's 2026 volleyball season has officially concluded.
