The Chadron State College volleyball team was in Durango on Saturday to visit the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks and play a neutral match against the Colorado Christian Cougars. CSC split the pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matches, winning over host FLC, 3-0 (25-22,25-23,25-17) and dropping the second match 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 14-25) to CCU.

“Our first match was great,” said CSC Head Volleyball Coach Jennifer Stadler. “We passed well, which allowed our offense to be in system and execute at a high level. We came out flat in our second one and never could get things going. CCU played well.”

CSC, now 4-9 (3-8 RMAC) had its second-best hitting percentage of the season in the first match, which began at 11 a.m. The Eagles hit at a .214 clip, led by middles Chandler Hageman, at .417, and Rhiannon Nez, at .389.

A five-point head start gave CSC the lead for good in set one, in which it led by as many as nine points at 20-11. Nez scored the winning kill.

In the second, CSC had to rally after a 5-1 surge by FLC to start the set. Besides scoring the first point of the match, the Eagles took their next lead at 18-17 and went back and forth with the Skyhawks down the stretch before outside hitter Lexi Hurtado’s kill at set point.

The Eagles grabbed early momentum in the third and final set with the first six points, and later maxed out their lead at 21-13. They had their best set hitting percentage of the match with a .273, limiting hitting errors to only five.

Hurtado finished with 11 kills, two service aces, and eight digs to lead the Eagles with 13.0 points. Nez was second with 10 kills and one block assist for 10.5 points.

Fort Lewis fell to 4-8 (4-7 RMAC) with the loss.

Things shifted away from the Eagles’ favor in the CCU match.

In set one, CSC went the first 11 points without a kill, and gave up seven of the final eight in a 25-17 CCU win.

The Eagles played better in the second, grabbing an 8-5 lead early. However, following a timeout by the Cougars, CSC succumbed to an 11-1 run from which they were unable to recover. Despite gaining five of those points back on a streak of their own, the Cougars outraced the Eagles to 25, winning by two.

Set three was the shortest, with CSC notching only six kills as a team in a 25-14 Cougars win.

For CCU, which improved to 4-8 (4-6 RMAC), middle hitter Jasa Scheierman provided 11.0 points on six total blocks, five kills, and a pair of aces.

In two matches, Hurtado finished the day with 20 kills, good for 3.33 per set.

Chadron State’s season finale is set for this Friday, March 26, at 7 p.m. in Rapid City, South Dakota. The South Dakota School of Mines Orediggers host a match which could determine the postseason fate of several teams vying for RMAC Tournament bids.