By: CSC Sports Information
MANKATO, Minn. – Chadron State volleyball earned two wins in style Friday at the Maverick Invite, hosted by Minnesota State, as the Eagles swept Upper Iowa 25-22, 25-21, 25-22 before another three-set win over Minnesota-Crookston by nearly identical scores of 25-20, 25-21, 25-22.
The two wins raise Chadron State's record to 3-4 on the season. The 2025 Eagles are already halfway to matching last season's win total before first serve of the RMAC conference season.
Mataya Ward had two games with double-digit kills while Kally Kirkwood posted a team-high 15 in the Crookston win. Avery Lacy continued her season-long streak of double-digit digs in every contest while Gibson Beckler had a Chadron State career-high of 21 digs in CSC's second match of the day.
Against Upper Iowa, the Eagles fell behind 3-0 and remained in the set until a kill from Ward tied the score 17-17. Chadron State took the lead with a four-point run featuring two kills from Adams, one from Kirkwood and one from Ward. The Peacocks tried to catch up but fell short when the set ended 25-22 with a kill from Hazlitt.
The Eagles carried their momentum through the second set, opening up a four-point lead to start the period. Chadron State kept a narrow lead through the set until the Peacocks tied the score 16-16. The two schools continued to stay within two points of each other before the Eagles took the last three points of the set with two kills from Ward and one from Gibson Beckler, ending the set 25-21.
Chadron State quickly took the lead in the third set and leaned on Mataya Ward, who racked up six kills in the third frame alone. Upper Iowa made their last attempt to stay in the match with a three point run that cut the Eagle lead to 23-22, but Ward's sixth kill and an attack error sealed the sweep.
Ward led the team with 17 kills against the Peacocks, followed by Kally Kirkwood and Bella Adams with eight. Shelby Harding and Ward also led the team with two aces each. Shelbi Hazlitt led the team with four blocks, followed by Ward and Adams with three.
The Eagles then faced Minnesota-Crookston, a team entering at 5-0 with four wins from a classic in New Hampshire and an earlier win against the same Upper Iowa side. Minnesota-Crookston, whose nickname is the Golden Eagles, took an early 5-2 lead in the first set before a 6-2 CSC run with two kills from Bella Adams, two from Kirkwood and two attack errors put the Eagles in front. The Eagles took control of the set with a decisive 4-0 run holding a 21-20 lead, with Shelbi Hazlitt and Ward hammering home kills before an Avery Lacy ace and a Ward/Adams combo black helped CSC seal its fourth set win in a row.
The other two sets were similarly hard-fought, but the Eagles executed down the stretch to win both sets and emerge unscathed. The Eagles swung the second set with a 6-0 run to turn a 15-9 deficit into a tie game, featuring back-to-back aces from Gibson Beckler. Another 4-0 run gave the Eagles a 22-18 lead and a kill by Ward finished it off.
The third and final set featured a 10-1 CSC scoring run that allowed the Eagles to open a 14-5 lead as Ward, Adams and Beckler all had multiple kills. Although the Golden Eagles whittled down the lead and fought all the way back to tie the score 22-22, a service error handed the side out back to CSC and a Minnesota-Crookston attack error and Kirkwood kill closed out the match.
Against Minnesota-Crookston, Kirkwood led with 15 kills while Ward had 10. Bella Adams smashed home nine kills with just one hitting error and a .421 hitting percentage. While Avery Lacy racked up 15 digs, Beckler emerged with 21 to become the first player other than Lacy to lead the team in a single game.
The Eagles will play early at 9 a.m. MT against No. 22 Northern State, who previously swept CSC last weekend in Chadron.