The Chadron State College volleyball team will host South Dakota School of Mines on Thursday and Black Hills State on Saturday, with the two South Dakota schools playing each other in Chadron on Friday in the Chicoine Center.
Due to the contests occurring in an “Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Pod”, they will not count against the team’s conference records.
The Eagles are currently 7-5 overall and 3-1 in RMAC play, ranking them fifth in the conference. Thursday’s opponent, the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers are 8-4 overall and 2-2 in RMAC play.
In CSC’s third match this season, the Hardrockers defeated the Eagles in four sets. South Dakota Mines had ten service aces in the match and won their three sets by a combined nine points.
Since the two teams met on opening weekend, the Hardrockers have had nine matches. Eight of them have been three set matches expect their most recent, when they defeated CSU-Pueblo in five sets.
Of the eight, the five victories were against non-conference opponents MSU-Moorhead, University of Mary, Texas A&M Kingsville, MSU-Billings and Adams State. The losses occurred against Northern State and RMAC opponents UCCS and Regis.
Alessandra Meoni has led the Hardrockers at the net offensively with 145 kills and an attack percentage of .335. She ranks third in the conference with an average of 3.54 kills a set. Meoni recorded 17 kills in the victory over CSC.
Kiley Metzger has the setting duties for South Dakota Mines, recording 373, an average of 9.1 per set.
The conferences top three liberos will all be playing in Chadron this weekend. Haedyn Rhoades from Black Hills State leads the RMAC with 245 digs, while Hannah Benes for the Hardrockers has 207 and Alondra Hernandez has 206 for CSC.
Benes averages 5.05 digs per set, also good for second in the RMAC. Kiera Walsh has 36 blocks to lead South Dakota Mines and Annelise Larson has 32.
First serve for the Eagles and Hardrockers match is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Saturday’s matchup at 3 p.m. with the Yellow Jackets will be the first meeting between the two teams this season.
Black Hills State is 4-8 overall and 0-4 in RMAC play. The Yellow Jackets fell to UCCS and Adams State in four sets and Regis and CSU-Pueblo in three sets.
Abigail Renner leads Black Hills offensively with 152 kills, an average of 3.23 a set. Emily Freeland and Audrey Brgoch each have over 100 kills, recording 126 and 122 respectively.
Hannah Lamon does the setting duties for the Yellow Jackets, recording 428 assists, an average of 9.11 per set.
Defensively, Haedyn Rhoades leads the team and the RMAC with 245 digs and an average of 5.21. Her brother, Harley Rhoades, is an assistant coach on the CSC volleyball team.
Randi Wellhoefer has a team high 34 blocks for the Yellow Jackets.
Each match will be streamed at rmacnetwork.com