CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State went the distance in its home opener, treating local fans to a five-set thriller with Colorado Christian, but the Cougars emerged with a 20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 15-6 victory over CSC on Friday night in the Chicoine Center.
Colorado Christian improved to 4-3 overall and 1-0 in the RMAC and defeated the Eagles for the 12
th time in the last 13 meetings, and for the second consecutive year in five sets. Chadron State's record is now 5-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
A lopsided final set was an anticlimactic conclusion to a match that saw an active Eagle home crowd and hardly anything separating the two teams through the first four sets.
Gibson Beckler finished with 20 kills on 63 attempts (.206 PCT) to lead CSC's offense, with
Mataya Ward (16 kills) and
Kally Kirkwood (12) also in double digits.
Avery Lacy tallied a team-high 19 digs and two of CSC's four aces, while
Jillian Donovan racked up 42 assists and 16 digs of her own.
Sarah Meservey recorded six blocks (two solo) while Kirkwood tallied four (one solo) as the Eagle front line combined for nine total blocks on the night. CSC's nine blocks were tied for third-most in a match this season while the Eagles' three solo blocks were second-most.
Chadron State came out with intent, with two Kirkwood kills, a Ward kill and Ward ace giving the Eagles an early 4-1 lead in set one. While the Cougars battled back to tie at 6-6, Chadron State took control of the set with a 4-0 run that put the home team up 17-12, and the Eagles closed out the opening frame by a five-point, 25-20 margin.
Colorado Christian took set two, utilizing a key 7-1 scoring run to turn a 14-14 tie into a 21-15 advantage as the Cougars evened the score by winning the second set 25-19.
The Eagles took a 7-2 lead in the pivotal third set after
Avery Lacy's second ace of the day followed a solo block from Kirkwood and a combo block by
Gibson Beckler and
Rayssa Da Silva. That would be the largest lead of the entire set.
Chadron State and CCU combined for 10 ties during the third, including at all of 20-20, 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23. A service error turned the tide back to CSC and gave the Eagles set point, and the combo of junior transfer Da Silva and freshman
Kiera Schra stuffed a CCU attack at the net to give the Eagles a 25-23 set three win.
The Cougars took a 21-15 lead in set four, but the Eagles answered emphatically by winning six straight points to tie the score with help from a CCU service error, three straight attack errors by CCU's Connelly Kilgore and back-to-back
Kally Kirkwood kills.
Colorado Christian found four kills in a six-point span to close out the fourth with their own 25-23 win, and seemed to have all the momentum in the fifth. After the Eagles recorded double-digit kills in each of the first four sets, Chadron State could only muster three against five errors on 22 attempts in the decisive fifth set.
For the match, Colorado Christian hit .216 while the Eagles hit .168. The visitors had more kills (69-54), digs (104-93) and aces (9-4). It was Chadron State's first five-set match of the season, while CCU is now 3-0 in five-setters.
The Cougars were led by Sienna Thatcher with 23 kills and Kilgore with 20. Setter Krista Traynor had 59 assists and four aces. Libero Allie Allen had 35 digs.
Chadron State remains at home Saturday night as the Eagles will host CSU Pueblo at 6 p.m. in the Chicoine Center. The ThunderWolves (4-6, 1-0 RMAC) swept Regis on Friday.
