By: Paxton Ritchie
CSC Sports Information Director
KEARNEY, Neb. – Chadron State volleyball won its second consecutive match and earned its first sweep of the 2024 season with a decisive win over Missouri Southern, but closed out the Rosella Meier Fall Classic with a straight sets loss to hosts Nebraska Kearney, the No. 6-ranked team in the nation.
The Eagles (2-6) rolled over Missouri Southern (0-8) by set scores of 25-16, 25-18, 25-23, but had no answer for the nationally-ranked Lopers (9-0), falling to UNK 25-13, 25-16, 25-13. The Lopers have yet to drop a set in their nine victories this season.
Newcomer and junior outside hitter Alejandra Briseno had a total of 22 kills on the day and has now led the Eagles in kills in three straight matches. Briseno, a native of Mexico who previously played at Hutchison Community College in Kansas, had 15 kills and hit .310 during the win over Missouri Southern, then had seven kills while hitting .278 against Kearney.
Senior middle Maddison Wright (six kills, .417 hitting percentage) and junior middle Bella Adams (six kills, no errors, .375 hitting percentage) also excelled against Missouri Southern. As a team, the Eagles racked up 42 kills against just eight errors against the Lions, including a first set where CSC hit .325 as a team with only one error.
The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 start immediately in that first set, taking advantage of three MSSU attack errors plus a service ace from Avery Lacy. With an 11-7 lead, Chadron ripped off a 5-0 run with a kill from Aiyana Fujiyama followed by two kills from Briseno sandwiched around back-to-back aces from Lacy, who finished with four aces in the match.
Chadron fell behind 6-3 early in the second set, but chipped away and took the lead with back-to-back-to-back kills from Kally Kirkwood, Wright and Rylee Ward to make it 10-9, CSC. After Missouri Southern took a narrow 14-13 lead, Chadron rattled off the next six points, featuring two kills from Bella Adams, to take control with a 19-14 lead and winning the final three points of the set to go up 2-0 in the match.
Missouri Southern hung around and kept the third set close, but the Lions were hurt by 23 attack errors in the game, including nine apiece in each of the final two sets. Briseno punctuated the match with her 15th kill on CSC's second match point to secure a 25-23 win in set three and run Chadron State's win streak to two.
Unfortunately, the Eagles couldn't convert that momentum into much against Nebraska Kearney, the first ranked opponent CSC has faced so far this season. The Lopers hit over .400 as a team in all three sets and hit .459 for the match. Briseno had seven kills while Kally Kirkwood and Fujiyama had six each.
After eight matches away from Chadron, the Eagles will play in the Chicoine Center for the first time this upcoming weekend, which will also open up RMAC play. Chadron State will welcome Colorado School of Mines (3-5) on Friday night and MSU Denver (7-1) on Saturday, with both matches scheduled for 6 p.m.