Eagles win one, lose one in SD

This weekend the Eagles volleyball team split a pair of South Dakota matches, winning 3-1 against South Dakota Mines, Friday, and falling 3-1 against Black Hills State University, Saturday.

The matches bring the Eagles to an 8-17 record with just two matches remaining.

Against Black Hills, Saturday, the Eagles fell victim to the Yellow Jackets in four sets 25-22, 13-25, 21-25, 18-25. 

Chadron managed a win in the first set despite giving away an early 5-3 lead and trailing through mid-set. The Eagles managed to tie the set at 16-16, but couldn’t gain the lead until going ahead 20-19 late. 

Despite tying again at 20-20, Chadron would begin to pull toward the set win after kills from Brooke Gardner, junior of Princeville, Illinois, and Shelby Schouten,  junior of Alton, Iowa, put the team up 24-21. Another kill from Schouten, set up by Madison Webb, senior of Loveland, Colorado, put the set away. 

Unfortunately for the Eagles, it would be their only set win of the match. 

Gardner hit .265 during the match and recorded a season high 22 kills to lead Chadron State. Teammate Schouten hit a team high .333, recording 15 kills on 39 attempts.  Despite their two leading performances, the Eagles as a group hit just .098 

Webb had a double-double in the match with 45 assists and 13 digs. Teammate Ashton Burditt, junior of Spearfish, South Dakota, recorded a team leading 27 digs, while Karli Noble, sophomore of Cheyenne, Wyoming, had 16. CSC’s Mickey Trimble, senior of Platte City, Missouri, and Aracely Hernandez, freshman of Greeley, Colorado, each had 11.

The Eagles were without their current blocking leader, Chandler Hageman, freshman of Chadron, due to injury. 

In contrast to Saturday’s match with the Yellow Jackets, Chadron lost their first set 20-25 against South Dakota Mines, Friday, before coming back to win each of the next three sets, 25-16, 25-22, 25-18.

A pair of Eagles had career highs in the match, Burditt with 36 digs to lead the team, and Webb with 47 assists. The senior setter also hit a team-leading .375 while recording seven kills.

Gardner once again led the Eagles offensively with 18 kills, and Schouten contributed 16 while hitting .317. Hernandez hit just .135 with ten kills, but achieved a double-double in the match with 23 digs.

The Eagles end their season this week in matches at Metropolitan State University at Denver. Both the match on Thursday and the match on Friday are set to begin at 7 p.m.