COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Ahead of the 2026 season, Chadron State volleyball has been picked 15^thin the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released by the league office on Tuesday alongside the Preseason All-RMAC Team. 

The poll is voted on by the league's head coaches, who each rank the other 14 programs without voting for their own team. The Preseason All-RMAC team, which features 14 student-athletes from around the conference, is comprised of the leading vote-getters from last season's all-conference teams that return to the league this season. 

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.

Opinion is split on MSU Denver. The Roadrunners have won the past five RMAC titles and are the defending Division II national champions, but will have a new coach and mostly new roster because of that team's success. That uncertainty meant 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 (62 points), New Mexico Highlands (52), Western Colorado (44) and Black Hills State (43) rounded out the poll, finishing just ahead of CSC's 38 points. 

The Eagles finished 5-21 last season with a 1-13 mark in RMAC play. All five teams that the Eagles defeated in 2025 (nonconference opponents Minnesota Crookston, Upper Iowa and UMary plus RMAC foes Black Hills State and Western Colorado) appear on CSC's 2026 schedule. 

Chadron State does return plenty of production to the 2026 roster. Mataya Ward (233 kills in 2025), Kally Kirkwood (185), Gibson Beckler (180) and Shelby Harding (104) all return, making up four of the five players to tally triple-digit kills on the season in 2025. 

Rising sophomore setter Jillian Donovan, a Lincoln native who ranked fourth in the RMAC in total assists (721) and assists per set (8.29) as a true freshman, also returns for another season in Eagle colors. 

Defensively, each of CSC's top five digs leaders also return – libero Avery Lacy (313 digs, 3.64 digs/set), Harding (233), Beckler (231), Donovan (191) and Josie Loosvelt (191). 

Under eighth-year head coach Jennifer Stadler, Chadron State has added plenty of size in a pair of middles from the junior college ranks as 6-foot-2 Sarah Meservey (Central Wyoming College) and 6-foot-1 Rayssa Da Silva (Dodge City CC) each join the roster for 2026. The freshman class includes Loveland, Colorado's Kiera Schra and Spearfish, South Dakota's Kali Reiners, whose father John Reiners coached track and football at CSC and whose mother Jennifer Vasey Reiners is in the Chadron State Athletics Hall of Fame as a volleyball alum.

The Eagles open the 2026 season at a classic in Rapid City, South Dakota hosted by South Dakota Mines from August 28-29, facing Jamestown, the host Hardrockers (in a nonconference match), Lake Superior State and Minnesota Crookston. 
CSC's home opener, also its RMAC conference opener, will be on Friday, September 11 against Colorado Christian at 6 p.m., with a home match against CSU Pueblo the following day. Chadron State will play at the Chicoine Center eight times in the 2026 regular season.
 

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference 2026 Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
PL	Team	1sts	2nds	3rds	Points
1.	UCCS	8	4	1	187
2.	Colorado Mesa	1	5	3	169
T3.	Colorado School of Mines	2	3	4	165
	MSU Denver	4	2	2	165
5.	CSU Pueblo		1	4	155
6.	Colorado Christian			1	125
7.	Fort Lewis				112
8.	South Dakota Mines				107
9.	Westminster				83
10.	Regis				67
11.	Adams State				62
12.	New Mexico Highlands				52
13.	Western Colorado				44
14.	Black Hills State				43
15.	Chadron State				38
Notes: Head coaches were not permitted to vote for their team. 14 points for a 1st-place vote, 13 for 2nd, etc. 196 points maximum in volleyball

 

2026 Preseason All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference: Volleyball
Pos.	Player	School	Yr.	Hometown
DS/L	Mia Accomazzo	MSU Denver	Jr.	Litchfield Park, Ariz.
MB	Aesha Alrashed	Colorado Mesa	5th	Greeley, Colo.
DS	Alyx Daugherty (2)	Fort Lewis	So.	Mesa, Ariz.
OH	Brooke Gennerman (2)	MSU Denver	So.	Monument, Colo.
OH	Lexi Glendenning (1)	South Dakota Mines	So.	Parker, Colo.
MB	Nicole Himebauch (1)	UCCS	Sr.	Colorado Springs, Colo.
MB	Sydney Hyde (2)	UCCS	So.	Meridian, Colo.
OPP	Henley Madsen (2)	Colorado Mesa	So.	Park City, Utah
MB	Jenna McLaughlin (1)	Colorado School of Mines	Jr.	Zanesville, Ohio
OH	Alina Nunez	Fort Lewis	Sr.	Tucson, Ariz.
S	Elena Stankovic (SotY, 1)	CSU Pueblo	Sr.	Cajetina, Serbia
S	Ashlyn Tafoya (2)	Colorado Mesa	So.	Loveland, Colo.
OH	Payton Tompkins (1)	UCCS	Jr.	Dallas, Texas
OH	Sydnee Walker	UCCS	Sr.	Kailua, Hawaii
Symbols in parentheses are 2025 All-RMAC Recognitions: SotY – was the Setter of the Year; 1 -was a First Team All-RMAC selection; 2 - was a Second Team All-RMAC selection.