Volleyball team earns 1 win at home

The Chadron State College volleyball team took on Western New Mexico University, New Mexico Highlands University, and Colorado State University-Pueblo in a three-game home stand this weekend.

Thursday, the Eagles took the floor against WNMU in CSC’s home opener. Entering the match, Chadron had never before defeated the Mustangs, who owned a 9-0 record against the Eagles prior to Thursday.

This time the outcome was different, with CSC earning their first-ever victory over WNMU by scores of 25-18, 14-25, 25-18, 28-26.

The Eagles hit .216 as a team en route to their four-set win.

“We basically had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Middle Hitter Lelalelei Nomura, junior of Pago Pago, American Samoa, said. “We went into the game with great energy. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we played like there was no tomorrow.”

CSC and WNMU traded leads in the final set until Middle Hitter Alia Brennan, sophomore of Chadron, powered a hit between two Mustangs defenders to put an end to the match.

Three hitters finished the match with double-digit kills for the Eagles, led by Outside Hitter Erika Royal, senior of Denver, with 19 kills. Nomura hit a team high .387 as she delivered 15 kills. Outside Hitter Hanna Flaming, senior of Benton, Kansas, added 10 kills of her own.

WNMU was limited to a hitting percentage of just .174 thanks to the defensive efforts. The back line for the Eagles made a large contribution as Defensive Specialist Alyssa Bauer, senior of Rapid City, South Dakota, finished with 20 digs and defensive specialist Brittany Oddo, senior of Peoria, Arizona, added 11. The Eagles had nine blocks collectively, led by Middle Hitter Ana Kasljevic, senior of Banja Luka, Bosnia, with six. Nomura assisted on five blocks.

The match was balanced for both teams. Setter Shelby Gardner, redshirt freshman of Colby, Kansas, dished out 40 set assists for the Eagles.

Friday, NMHU also displayed balance against the Eagles, as the Cowgirls came out 25-22, 25-17, 25-22  in the win over CSC.

The Eagles played NMHU close in all three sets, but the errors throughout the game led to a quick defeat. CSC finished the game with 23 hitting errors, while allowing the Cowgirls to serve seven aces. The Cowgirls also had nine blocks.

Flaming finished with 11 kills and hit .318. Roybal had a team high 13 kills, and Nomura added five.

Gardner had a match high 31 assists.

The Eagles finished their three-day weekend against CSU-Pueblo. The ThunderWolves defeated the Eagles in four sets 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 25-19.

Chadron State (3-11, 2-4 RMAC) had trouble with the front line of CSU-Pueblo. Nomura and Brennan each contributed nine kills, Flaming had eight, and Roybal added seven. This was overshadowed, however, by Chadron hitting .055 and committing seven service errors as a team.

“We made a lot of unforced errors,” Nomura said. “The other teams didn’t beat us because they’re better. We beat ourselves, which is what we need to work on as a team.”

Gardner had 34 assists for the match, and Brennan and Nomura each finished with two blocks.

Bauer led the Eagles defensively with 26 digs. Outside Hitter Alexis Farris, freshman of Blair, and Outside Hitter Ashlyn Hanson, freshman of Seward, each added 12 digs. Nomura and Oddo had 10 apiece.

“Although the outcomes of Friday and Saturday were disappointing, there were times when we saw what this team has the potential to do,” Hanson said.

CSC will compete against Regis University Friday and the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Saturday. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.