By Paxton Ritchey-CSC Sports Information
PUEBLO, Colo. – Bella Adams hit .625 for the match with 11 kills, but the Chadron State volleyball team came up short in four sets to the ThunderWolves of CSU Pueblo, with the home team winning 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21.
The Eagles (4-13, 0-7 RMAC) have lost three in a row while the ThunderWolves (11-6, 5-2 RMAC) snapped a three-game losing streak of their own with the win.
Behind Adams, Alejandra Briseno had 10 kills and Mataya Ward had nine. Chadron State finished with 10 total blocks, with Aiyana Fujiyama (six), Bella Adams (four) and Kally Kirkwood (four) chipping into that total. Fujiyama had two solo blocks while Adams had one.
Chadron State hit .197 for the match, led by a .357 clip in the third set that the Eagles won. CSU Pueblo hit .274, hitting over .300 in each of the final two sets of the match. Alondra Hernandez (13), Avery Lacy (11) and Kendyl Kirkwood (10) all had double-digit digs.
In the first set, Chadron State fell behind 7-2 early. Avery Lacy had two kills and Aiyana Fujiyama had a block to cut the deficit to 11-9, but Pueblo rattled off a 5-0 run to push its lead back up to seven. Mataya Ward had back-to-back kills late in the set, but Pueblo used an attack error to finish up the set with a 25-17 score.
Pueblo also opened up a 5-1 lead in set two, but Chadron answered with a block from Lacy and Fujiyama, a kill from Adams and a block from Adams and Kally Kirkwood to make it 5-4. Chadron used consecutive kills from Adams followed by an Alejandra Briseno kill to take a 9-8 lead.
The teams stayed within a point of each other all the way to 17-17, and a Mataya Ward kill provided the 12th tie score of the set at 20-20, but Pueblo won the final five points of the set, finishing with a service ace to go up two sets to none.
Chadron did not go down without a fight. Trailing 4-2, Chadron State scored six points in a row courtesy of a Kally Kirkwood kill, a Bella Adams solo block, three straight Alondra Hernandez aces and a bad set by Pueblo.
Hernandez had four service aces in the match and is tied for the team lead with 19 this season. Hernandez also served for back-to-back Chadron kills from Kally Kirkwood and Ward to put the Eagles up 17-11. The ThunderWolves built some momentum and rallied to within two points at 21-19, but Chadron got three points in a row on a service error, attack error and a block to bring up match point, eventually winning the set 25-20.
The Eagles took an early 8-6 lead in set four with another Adams kill, but a 4-0 Pueblo scoring run turned a 12-9 Chadron lead into a 13-12 ThunderWolves lead. CSU Pueblo eventually won four of the match’s final five points, taking the set and the match.
Chadron State continues its road trip tomorrow night at Adams State (4-14, 1-6 RMAC). The Grizzlies lost in straight sets Friday night to Colorado Christian. First serve is set for 6 p.m. in Alamosa. The match will be on the RMAC Network.