The 2022 Chadron State College volleyball season was served up on Friday. The Eagles went 1-1 on their first day of a tournament in Billings, Montana, winning 3-1 over the University of Mary in the afternoon, and losing 1-3 to Saint Martin’s University in the evening.
Mary got its best showing in its first set against when it won 25-11.
The Eagles got stronger as the match went on. They closed out the four sets winning 26-24, 25-18, and 25-17. Mary’s team hitting percentage fell from .276 in the first set, to .077 in the fourth, while CSC’s went from .000 to .205.
Junior Lexi Hurtado and sophomore Aiyana Fujiyama each had 10 kills to pace the Eagles in the win. True freshman Bella Adams led in total blocks with four.
In the second match of the day, CSC saw the exact opposite result. The Eagles won their first set against Saint Martin’s, 25-23, but dropped three consecutive sets after that.
Accurate stats weren’t immediately available for CSC’s second match on Friday.
“We played well, for our first matches of the year,” said CSC Head Volleyball Coach Jen Stadler. “We saw some great moments, and we also saw some things that we need to clean up. There was a lot of scrappy defense. We learned a lot today, and we look to turn around quickly for our early match tomorrow morning.
CSC is back in action in Billings on Saturday, facing MSU-Billings in a match scheduled for 8 a.m., and Minnesota State-Moorhead at 2 p.m. Later matches ran one to two hours behind on Friday.