CSC Athletics
John Murphy, Sports Information Assistant
ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Chadron State College volleyball team suffered two losses to begin the season, falling 2-3 in a heartbreaker to the Urbana Blue Knights and 0-3 to the Lindenwood Lions on Friday.
The Eagles won the first two sets against the Blue Knights 26-24 and 25-21, but lost set three and four 21-25 and 22-25 respectively. In set five, the team had four chances at match point, but fell 21-23 to lose their first match of the season.
In the evening match, CSC held their largest lead of the night at 15-12 in the second set before the Lions went on a 13-3 run to win. Lindenwood went on to drop the Eagles 3-0 (25-18,25-18,25-8).
“Other than our last set of the night, I was impressed,” head coach Riann Mullis said. “We had a lot more energy, played better, and were more competitive than the past.”
Despite the two losses, the Eagles had moments of bright play.
Against Urbana, senior Madison Webb recorded a double-double with 59 assists and 25 digs while junior Ashton Burditt tied the school record for most digs in a match since rally scoring to 25 points began in 2008, with 36.
Freshman Aracely Hernandez led the team in kills after collecting a match high 19 against the Blue Knights while Chadron product Chandler Hageman accounted for 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .256.
“We need to be more consistent,” Mullis said. “Our overall consistency needs to get better. We played consistent and had good runs and leads, but we let them slip away. We just need to focus on the little things.”
The Eagles continue the Lindenwood Challenge tomorrow as they face the Missouri S&T Miners at 10:30 a.m., and Southern Nazarene at 3:30 p.m.