CHADRON, Neb. – On one of its longest road trips of the season, Chadron State went 1-1 with a loss to Fort Lewis and a comeback win over Western Colorado. Now, Chadron State has a quick turnaround against two rivals to wrap up a stretch of four games in eight days.

The Eagles (6-6) will travel to Spearfish to take on Black Hills State (6-6) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before coming to the Chicoine Center to host South Dakota Mines (9-3) on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Both matches are part of the RMAC's annual "Regional Pod" weekend and will be nonconference matches. Thursday's match will also be the first CSC volleyball match in 2026 streamed live on the radio.

Numbers to Know

• 3.75: Kills/set by Mataya Ward during last Friday/Saturday
• 7: Straight losses in five-set matches before Saturday's five-set win
• .276: Hitting percentage by CSC against Western, its highest of 2026 so far
• 6: Different Eagles with an ace during Saturday's win

Promotional Notes
Thursday's home game will be a "white out" for fans in attendance, as Chadron State unveils a new, updated white jersey.

Thursday will also be CSC volleyball's annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night, with volleyball student-athletes selecting faculty and staff members at Chadron State College to accompany them on the court for starting lineups and player introductions.

How to Go
Fans can purchase single-game tickets at the door or ahead of time at chadroneagles.com/tickets. Season tickets are available at the same link.

New in 2026: Chadron State is now selling "Court Sport" passes – one season ticket that provides admission to every home event in the Chicoine Center (volleyball, basketball and wrestling) throughout the 2026-27 season. 

Court Sport season tickets are just $175 for an adult and $95 for a child/senior/military member and grants entry to over 25 home dates for that price.

How to Tune In
Thursday night's home match will be broadcast live on Double Q Country 97.5/105.9 FM and doubleqcountry.com, with Dave Collins on the call.

For the second straight year, the RMAC Network is under a pay-per-view model, with single-game, monthly and annual subscription options to watch all of Chadron State's home games and away conference games. 

PURCHASE: RMAC NETWORK

Fans can purchase monthly subscriptions to the RMAC Network for $25 or annual passes for $130. Those prices are both unchanged from the 2025-26 season.

All remaining Chadron State regular season volleyball games, both home and away, will be on the network.

Fans can also follow along via live stats and on social media (@cscvolleyball on X/Twitter, csc.volleyball on Instagram).

Looking Back
The Eagles salvaged a weekend with an incredible comeback, suffering a sweep to Fort Lewis and dropping the first two sets to Western Colorado before coming from behind to reverse-sweep the Mountaineers in five sets.

RECAPS: Friday (FLC) | Saturday (WCU)

The win over Western Colorado snapped what had been a seven-match losing streak in five-setters for the CSC program. It also was Chadron State's sixth win of the 2026 season, exceeding the Eagles' 2025 win total of five.

Regional Pod Week
This week's matchups will not count in the conference standings. For the past few years, the RMAC has introduced two new nonconference game weeks during the season to allow teams to play additional games against relevant conference opponents beyond the 14 (one against each RMAC school) that count in league play. 

The first of these pods is the "Regional Pod," in which the 15 RMAC teams are broken up into five groups of three according to regional rivalries. Chadron State is alongside Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines, so the Eagles will have a guaranteed second match-up with the Yellow Jackets and Hardrockers every year under this system. 

Last season during the regional pod, the Eagles lost to South Dakota Mines in three sets and Black Hills State in five sets. They would go on to defeat the Yellow Jackets later in the season. 

The second of these pod weekends, due this year to take place October 22-23, is the "Power Pod" weekend, when the 15 teams are placed in five groups of three according to last season's finish (1st/2^nd/3^rd... 7^th/8^th/9^th, etc.), with the top seed among the three hosting the round robin. 

Due to finishing 14^h in last season's RMAC standings, Chadron State is in a Power Pod with Black Hills State (13^th) and Western Colorado (15^th). Black Hills State will host all matchups, and the presence of BHSU in CSC's Power Pod creates a third matchup between the Eagles and Yellow Jackets.

Tale of Two Matches
Statistically speaking, Chadron State may have had one of its worst performances immediately followed by one of its best performances of the 2026 season during last weekend's action.

Against Fort Lewis, Chadron State had a season-low one block and season-low one ace while tallying the second-fewest kills (32), second-fewest assists (29) and third-lowest hitting percentage (.115) in a match this season.

The script flipped completely against Western Colorado. The Eagles tied season highs with nine aces and 12 total blocks while setting a new single-match highs with four solo blocks, 59 kills, 54 assists and a .276 hitting percentage.

Last season, Chadron State's season-high and season-low matches for kills were over two months apart, and were over one month apart for blocks, aces and hitting percentage.

Stat Standouts

• Avery Lacy ranks tied for fifth in the league with 18 aces. She ranks eighth in the RMAC at 0.40 aces/set.
• Lacy also ranks sixth in the league in digs per set (4.27) and 192 total digs.
• Sarah Meservey is tied for third in the RMAC with 1.13 blocks per set. Her 51 total blocks and 10 solo blocks each rank fourth. Kally Kirkwood ranks 12^th in the same category with 0.82 blocks/set.
• Jillian Donovan ranks fifth in the conference in assists per set (6.36) and total assists (280).
• Mataya Ward ranks tied for eighth in the league in kills/set (3.04).

In the Polls
Chadron State was picked 15^th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll. The poll is voted on by the league's head coaches, who each rank the other 14 programs without voting for their own team.

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.

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, New Mexico Highlands, Western Colorado and Black Hills State rounded out the poll, finishing just ahead of CSC's 38 points. 

MSU Denver is the only RMAC program ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll at No. 24. Colorado Mesa is receiving votes in the poll.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Black Hills State is 6-6 with a 2-2 RMAC record. BHSU's six wins are equal to the total of the 2025 team that went 6-20. The Yellow Jackets were picked 14^th in the RMAC Preseason Poll.

In conference matches, the Yellow Jackets have played the same four opponents as Chadron State with very different results. BHSU defeated Fort Lewis, which swept CSC, in five sets, but got swept by Western Colorado, which lost to CSC. The Yellow Jackets also defeated Colorado Christian in four and lost to CSU Pueblo in three.

The Yellow Jackets will feature the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week in libero Keira Thompson, who racked up 6.29 digs/set (44 total), with 20 against Colorado Christian and 24 against CSU Pueblo. Thompson ranks seventh in the RMAC in total digs (187) and digs/set (4.25).

BHSU has a virtual three-way tie in attack, with Izzy Saiki (127 kills), Zoie Husman (125) and Carsyn Mettler (123) leading the charge. BHSU has two setters – Emma Kruger (225 assists) and Elena Atkinson (222 assists) and four players with double-digit aces.

The Yellow Jackets have a second-year head coach in Grayson DuBose, a Division I veteran who spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Eastern Washington but was previously the head coach at Utah State University for 14 years, where he was a two-time Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Coach of the Year.

Scouting the Hardrockers
South Dakota Mines is 9-3 overall. After going 3-1 at their home classic, where the Eagles also competed, and at a UCCS classic, the Hardrockers knocked off Western Colorado (four sets), Fort Lewis (three) and CSU Pueblo (five) before losing to Colorado Christian in five sets last Saturday.

The win over Pueblo was a reverse sweep over the ThunderWolves and marked the first-ever win for the Hardrocker program in Pueblo.

South Dakota Mines features two of the top four attackers in kills. Lexi Glendenning is third with 155 kills and Cate Warren is fourth with 152. Warren was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week back on September 14 after SDM's 2-0 week. Glendenning is hitting .335 on the season, the fourth-highest hitting percentage in the RMAC, with more total kills than the three names in front of her.

The Hardrockers have four players with over 100 digs and two of the top 10 blockers in Maria Bouman (sixth, 45) and Grace Mak (10^th, 40).

Lauren Prochazka is entering her eighth season with the Hardrockers. Prochazka is 121-121 overall as a head coach and won the 2024 RMAC Coach of the Year honor.

Coach's Corner
Head Coach Jennifer Stadler will begin her eight season in charge of the Chadron State volleyball program in 2025, accumulating a 56-115 record in her first seven seasons. 

Prior to CSC, Stadler coached for eight seasons at Sheridan College in Wyoming, racking up three straight 20-win seasons from 2012-2014. She was a player, assistant coach and interim head coach at current RMAC foe Black Hills State, back when the Yellow Jackets competed in the Dakota Athletic Conference. 

In her first year at CSC in 2019, Stadler immediately led the Eagles to a winning record of 14-12 and coached the RMAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in Ashton Burditt. The Eagles had a banner year in 2023, finishing 15-12 for the program's highest win total since 2003. Chadron also had an 8-6 conference mark in 2023, finishing sixth in the league and qualifying for the RMAC Tournament for the first time in 20 years.