By Lauren Zimmerman CSC Sports Information
The 17th-ranked Colorado Mesa volleyball team swept Chadron State in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match Tuesday night. The scores were 25-17, 25-17, 26-24.
The Eagles put up a good fight in all three sets, hitting .206 for the match while the Mavericks had a hitting percentage of .263. The Mavericks finished with a total of 45 kills and nine service aces while CSC had a total of 35 kills but also 47 digs for the match.
For the Eagles, Alejandra Briseno had 10 kills and both Kally Kirkwood and Mataya Ward had a total of eight kills. Kirkwood also only had one attack error and led the Eagles with a hitting percentage of .333. Alondra Hernandez led the Eagles with 16 digs.
The Mavericks were led by Nicole Martin with 14 kills while Sydney Leffler finished with 10. Martin also led the Mavs with a hitting percentage of .500. Leffler and Allison Waller tied for the team lead with a total of 11 digs.
In the first set, the Mavericks jumped out to a 4-1 lead and kept the lead for the entire game. Briseno kept the Eagles in close range with four kills throughout the set, but the Eagles hitting percentage of .250 wasn’t enough to outpower the Mavericks’ .300 hitting percentage. After a Briseno kill that made the score 12-10 CMU, the Mavericks scored seven of the next eight points to take a 19-11 lead, eventually winning the set 25-17.
Going into the second set the Eagles came out ready for a different outcome. Four straight kills from Avery Lacy, Kally Kirkwood, Alondra Hernandez and Bella Adams gave the Eagles a 7-1 lead. The Mavericks came back, however, as Nicole Martin had four straight kills to turn a 12-9 Eagles lead to a 13-12 Mavericks lead. The score stayed close until 18-17 in favor of Mesa before the Mavericks finished the set with seven straight points to win the second set 25-17.
The third set was the closest set of the match with 13 ties throughout the set. The Eagles started by pulling ahead 8-4 with five attack errors from the Mavericks and a pair of kills from Mataya Ward. The Mavericks tied up the set with the score 9-9 with a kill from Nicole Martin, an ace from Jordan Woods and an attack error. The Eagles and the Mavericks rallied back and forth with points until the Eagles took a three-point lead with kills from Ward and Kally Kirkwood and an attack error from the Mavericks to make the score 19-16. The Eagles led 24-23 and had a set point, but the Mavericks tied the game at 24 with a block from Stormi Tadlock and Sierra Hunt, followed by a pair of kills from Hunt to win the final set 26-24 and clinch the match.
After Tuesday’s match, Chadron State is 4-15 overall and 0-9 in the RMAC. The Eagles will take on Westminster University in Utah on Saturday, October 26 at 4:00 pm. The Griffins are 8-9 overall and 4-4 in the RMAC.