CSC rise above CSU-Pueblo, fall to Mountaineer attack

Last weekend the Eagles’ volleyball team split two tough home games against the Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves and the Western State Colorado University Mountaineers.

In the first game against the ThunderWolves, the Eagles came out aggressively on offense and played smart defensively. Offensively, the Eagles were led by Gabby Varela, sophomore of Dorado, Puerto Rico, who collected 22 kills in the four-set match. The Eagles also had four aces, two of which came from Sina Mauga, senior of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, who has been a key contributor for the Eagles this season. Madison Webb, freshman of Loveland, Colorado, helped the Eagles out by having a total of 61 assists.

The Eagles’ defense played a big part in winning the match, as a team they collected a total of 80 digs. Chloe Guillen, sophomore of San Antonio set the tone on defense with 19 digs. Kenzie Chrisman, freshman of Sterling, Colorado, and Mauga tied for the most blocks of the evening with seven each. The Eagles took off with the match from the beginning and never looked back, eventually winning the match 3-1. Guillen was pleased with the team’s effort.

“It was honestly one of the best and most complete games that we’ve played as a team this season,” Guillen said.

On Saturday, trying to keep the momentum from the previous win, the Eagles faced off against the Mountaineers of Western State.

Offensively, Varela once again led the Eagles in kills, this time with a total of 12. In an effort to keep up the momentum on offense, the Eagles served a total of five aces. Varela and Mauga tied with two this game and Webb served one.

Mauga showed her defensive abilities, totaling five blocks, making it hard for the Mountaineers to hit anything her way in the four-set match. Jamie McLain, senior of Chadron, came in and gave hard effort and collected a total of 10 digs. While the Eagles fought hard and kept every set close, holding leads in all of them, they were eventually outmatched by the Mountaineers losing 3-1, in close matches.

“We didn’t come out as strong as we were capable of doing against Western which eventually led to the loss,” Guillen said. “We are going to learn from both games and practice what we need, to get better at in order to beat these next upcoming teams”.

This weekend, the Eagles will be on the road playing against Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota, Friday and then traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota, to play South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m., Friday, and 3 p.m., Saturday.