Volleyball team drops final games of season

The Eagles volleyball team dropped its final two games of the season to Colorado Christian University, Lakewood, and Colorado School of Mines, Golden. CSC fell to 7-20 overall, 6-12 in the RMAC.
Against CCU, Alia Brennan, senior of Chadron; Gaby Varela, junior of Dorado, Puerto Rico; and Rudy Leasau, senior of LaMesa, California, each completed 13 kills. Setter Madison Webb, sophomore of Loveland, Colorado, accomplished 42 assists.
Leasau and Timmi Keisel, redshirt freshmen of Fleming, Colorado, each pulled off four blocks with Brennan accounting for two. Emily Bruce, junior of Centerton, Arkansas, finished off the game with 22 digs, while Leasau and Ashton Burditt, freshman of Spearfish, South Dakota, each added nine and Webb completed seven.
In the first half, each set was close with CSC managing to score first in each of them. Colorado Christian rallied to win the first set 25-20.
In the second set, the Eagles fought back to win a close one 25-22. Each team managed to ensure two five-point streaks in the set.
When it came to the third set, Colorado Christian was ahead most of the time by five points or more, winning the set 25-16.
The fourth set, the Eagles created attempts to catch up and owned the lead a few times. In the end, the Cougars caught up and won the set 28-26, ending the game.
“Overall, we did well, because we made progress,” Head Coach Riann Mullis said.
Against Mines, CSC held their best score, losing 25-21 during the first set. However, the Eagles only continued to decline during the last two, ending 25-16 and 25-15, respectively.
CSC held the lead until the Orediggers caught them at 14-14 in the first. CSC then trailed Mines closely, not falling behind more than three points until the final score, which was sealed by a combination of kills logged by Colorado Mines and several errors from the Eagles.
During the second set, the Eagles trailed the Orediggers by a few points until Mines scored four pulling ahead from 13-11 to 17-11. An attack error got the ball back for the Eagles but they lost it again after a kill delivered by CSM’s Janice Jin, sophomore of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Right side hitter, Varela reclaimed the ball for the Eagles but it was lost again when Leasau logged an attack error.
Mines pushed the score from 19-13 to 22-13 before CSC regained possession. The Eagles scored three more points but then lost the ball again and committed two attack errors followed by a kill from the Orediggers, which ended the set.
The Eagles again started out with the lead in set No. 3, but lost it quickly at 4-4. From there, CSC struggled to hold possession. Mines logged two four-point runs early on from 8-6 to 12-6 and then again from 18-14 to 22-14. The Eagles only found one more possession before the game finished; an attack error by Varela ended the game.
The Eagles logged a total of 26 errors throughout the game compared to the 15 of the Orediggers.
Leasau led the team in kills with 16, followed by Varela with 11 and Keisel, three. Webb logged 31 assists, close to her general average.
Two Eagles earned conference honors, Leasau and Brennan. Leasau made the All-RMAC Second Team, while Brennan received an honorable mention
“The last game is always hard whether you win or lose,” Mullis said. “Overall I’m happy with the progression throughout the season, I wish our win-loss record reflected that progression a bit better.”