By Paxton Ritchey-CSC Sports Information
CHADRON, Neb. – It’s a slightly earlier start and finish to the week for Chadron State volleyball as the Eagles depart for Rapid City for a pair of non conference matches this Thursday and Friday.
The Eagles (4-16) will face South Dakota Mines (12-7) on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in Rapid City, then will stay in the Hardrockers’ gym to face CSU Pueblo (12-8) on Friday night at 5 p.m.
Both matches will be streamed on the RMAC Network and can be followed via live stats.
Looking Back
Chadron State fell at home in three sets on Tuesday to No. 17 Colorado Mesa, then battled Westminster on Saturday in a four-set loss where three of the sets were decided by two points.
Alejandra Briseno led the Eagles in kills in both matches, tallying 10 against the Mavericks and 14 against Westminster. Mataya Ward also had a good week, with eight kills against Colorado Mesa and 10 kills against the Griffins.
Schedule Breakdown
Neither game this week will count in the RMAC standings, but both matches still count as regional matches for overall NCAA Tournament resumes for all participating teams. This is the second of two weeks every year where RMAC opponents play one another without it being conference games, in what are being referred to as “pod” weekends.
Previously, the RMAC held a “regional pod,” where the RMAC’s 15 teams are grouped into five groups of three roughly according to geographic proximity, allowing each team to get more games in without having to travel long distances.
For Chadron State, this means an extra non conference match every year with South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State. Those were held on October 1 and October 4, with Chadron State winning both matches but not getting credit for RMAC wins.
This week, RMAC teams will participate in a “competition pod”, with five groups of three based on their finish in last season’s standings. Chadron State will face off against South Dakota Mines and CSU Pueblo this weekend due to the Hardrockers, Thunderwolves and Eagles finishing fourth, fifth and sixth in the RMAC last year. As the highest finishing team (fourth), South Dakota Mines will host all matches.
Similarly, around the RMAC this week, the teams who finished first through third, seventh through ninth, 10th through 12th and 13th through 15th are all meeting one another for nonconference matches. While these games will not count in RMAC play, it allows teams at the top of the 2023 standings to play one another again, boosting their strength of schedule for postseason consideration, and gives teams who struggled last season an opportunity to pick up more wins against fellow rebuilding programs.
South Dakota Mines landing in both Chadron’s regional pod and competitive pod creates a unique scenario where CSC and the Hardrockers will face off three times in the regular season. The RMAC schedule sees Chadron State play all 14 other RMAC programs exactly once, which will count in the RMAC standings.
Following this weekend’s matches, all four remaining matches on CSC’s regular season schedule will be conference game.