RAPID CITY, S.D. – Mataya Ward racked up 31 kills while
Avery Lacy tallied 43 digs and seven aces across two matches as the Chadron State volleyball program won twice over Lake Superior State (17-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-20) and Minnesota Crookston (25-23, 25-18, 25-17) to close out the Hardrocker Volleyball Invitational in Rapid City on Saturday.
The two victories improved Chadron State's record to 2-2, salvaging a weekend split after two losses on Friday. Lake Superior State fell to 0-4 while Minnesota Crookston, known as the Golden Eagles, fell to 1-3 after beating Lake Superior State in five sets on Friday.
The Eagles showed resilience after dropping the first set to Lake Superior State, winning the next three to earn the program's first victory after losing the first set since November 8, 2024 (a five-set comeback against Black Hills State) and maintaining the momentum to sweep Minnesota Crookston. All five of CSC's victories during the 2025 season were three-set sweeps.
In CSC's first match of the day, Lake Superior State came out on fire, only committing one attack error and hitting .344 in the first set. After that, however, Chadron State made an adjustment, holding the Lakers to .055 or worse in each of the final three sets and accumulating 10 team blocks.
Trailing 7-6 in set number two, Chadron State turned the tide of the game with a 10-1 scoring run. Senior
Kally Kirkwood had a hand in each of the final four points of that run, putting away two kills and combining with
Sarah Meservey for two blocks to put CSC up 16-8.
Brandi Helzer had her own mini scoring run to finish out the set. The sophomore finished a kill to give CSC a 22-17 lead, then went back to serve and sandwiched two aces around a setting error by LSSU to close out the set for the Eagles.
Aces continued to be a theme in set number three. With the score tied at 13-13,
Avery Lacy served a full hat trick of three consecutive aces to give CSC a three-point advantage, a cushion the Eagles maintained in winning the third set 25-22.
The fourth set was hard fought, but Chadron State ripped off a key scoring run at the perfect time, winning five of the match's final six points to turn a 19-19 deadlock into a five-point set win. Ward, Kirkwood and Ward again provided kills on the match's final three points to seal the win over the Lakers.
Chadron State didn't have a first set letdown against Minnesota Crookston, thanks in large part to Ward. As good as Ward was against Lake Superior State (14 kills, .216 hitting percentage), she was saving her best for last.
The Belle Fourche, South Dakota native put away six kills on an errorless 12 attempts in the first set, then followed it up with five kills in the second set and six more in the third. Ward's final hitting line – 17 kills and a .500 hitting percentage – was a career high in a three-set match, her third-most career kills in any contest and her most career kills while hitting .500 or better.
The Eagle offense only got better and better, as well – CSC hit .133 in set one but improved that number to .243 in the second set and .394 (17 kills, four errors in 33 attempts) in the third and final set. The Eagles hit .243 for the game, by far their best mark in the early going of 2026 and a total better than all but five matches of 2025.
Lacy continued to string together aces, going back-to-back in the first set to put CSC up 21-17 and finishing the second set with back-to-back aces to seal a 25-18 second-set win.
Chadron State did not let the Golden Eagles hang around in the third set. CSC leapt out to a 5-1 lead after back-to-back kills from
Gibson Beckler before a later 5-0 run put CSC in control with a 19-10 lead. Chadron State scored each of its final six points via kills, with Ward padding her stat line by slamming home three of the final four.
The Eagles have one more nonconference classic this Friday and Saturday before starting RMAC play the following week on September 11. Next weekend, the Eagles will face Augustana, Upper Iowa, UMary and Sioux Falls.
