LAS VEGAS, N.M. – Chadron State volleyball ended the 2024 season with a sweep of New Mexico Highlands University on Friday night in Las Vegas. The scores were 25-13, 25-21, and 25-18.
 
The Eagles totaled 34 kills and 44 blocks with a hitting percentage of .240 in comparison to 27 kills and 33 digs with a hitting percentage of .069 for the Cowgirls.
 
For the Eagles, Kally Kirkwood led with nine kills and Natali Keni was right behind her with seven. Aiyana Fujiyama and Avery Lacy both ended the match with a hitting percentage of .500. Kendyl Kirkwood led the Eagles with 13 digs.
 
The Cowgirls were led in kills by Jada Lawson with eight and Jalyee Gonzales with seven. Meg Pfannerstill led the Cowgirls with 12 digs while also leading with nine and a half points and two service aces for her team. 
 
In the first set, the Eagles fell behind once, but retook the lead and never gave it back. CSC went on a run of six points, with five of those points coming from kills and one from an Alondra Hernandez service ace to make the score 11-7. NMHU responded with four straight points to tie the game, but the Eagles responded with 11 straight points after that, receiving multiple errors from the Cowgirls, two kills from Kally Kirkwood, and a kill apiece from Natali Keni and Bella Adams to give the Eagles an advantage of 22-11. The Eagles only gave the Cowgirls two more points during the set and sealed the deal with two errors from New Mexico Highlands to make the first set final score 25-13.
 
The second set was closer than the first, with the Eagles and Cowgirls staying within five points of each other. The Cowgirls started the scoring but with an attack error from NMHU shortly after, the Eagles got on the board. CSC took the momentum of the set when they tied the score at eight apiece and then won the next point from an error to keep the lead for the rest of the set. The Eagles were led by Natali Keni, Mataya Ward, Kally Kirkwood, and Aiyana Fujiyama, who combined for 11 kills in the set to help the Eagles clinch the set 25-21.
 
New Mexico Highlands won the first point of the third set, but like in the second set, the Eagles quickly answered by taking the lead with an error and a kill from Avery Lacy, making the score 2-1. Highlands would briefly came back to take the lead at 12-11, but the Eagles responded quickly to keep the lead the rest of the set. CSC compiled 12 kills by six different Eagles - Avery Lacy, Natali Keni, Aiyana Fujiyama, Mataya Ward, Kally Kirkwood, and Bella Adams - to win the last set 25-18. 
 
The result ends the season for Chadron State. The Eagles finish 2024 at 6-20 overall and 2-12 in the RMAC. Chadron State will either finish 13th or 14th in the league depending on the result of the New Mexico Highlands and Colorado Christian match tomorrow night. CSC will be 13th with a Cougars win. 

The focus now shifts to awards season, with RMAC All-Conference and All-Academic teams due to be announced in the coming weeks. 

Powers Scores 24 In Loss To No. 6 MSUB

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings used a 22-6 margin at the free throw line as the springboard to a 77-60 win over Chadron State in a nonconference women's basketball game played in Billings on Friday night. 

Chadron State senior forward Ashayla Powers led all scorers with 24 points. She made all nine of her field goal shots in the first half, finished 11-of-17 from the field for the game and sank both of her free throws.  She also was the Eagles' top rebounder with six. 

Montana State Billings led by just two points, 32-30, at halftime but outscored the Eagles 45-30 in the second half. Kylie Krise added nine points and Camren Morris and McKenzie Petersen six apiece for the Eagles, now 0-2 for the young season. The Yellowjackets, ranked No. 6 nationally in the WBCA Coaches Poll, improved their record to 5-1.

Powers got off to a great start early for the Eagles, scoring 10 points in the opening quarter on 5-for-5 shooting then adding eight points in the second quarter to have 18 at the break. In the first half, Powers was 9-for-9 from the field while the rest of the Eagles were a combined 5-for-14.

A senior named All-RMAC First Team in 2022-23 and Second Team in 2023-24, Powers has now gone over 20 points for the first time this season after doing so twice last year and nine times two years ago. The 11 field goals made in a single game are tied for the second most in Powers' career.

Montana State was 6-of-12 and the Eagles 1-of-3 at the line in the first half. The hosts were 16-of-22 and Chadron State 5-of-5 at the charity stripe in the second half to account for much of the difference on the scoreboard. Each team finished with 25 field goals, with the hosts making five 3-pointers, one more than the Eagles.

Aspen Giese, a 5-8 senior, led Montana State with 19 points, followed by Dyauni Boyce and Kaitlin Grossman with 13 apiece.  Kortney Nelson was 7-of-9 at the free throw line, finishing with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds. The Yellowjackets out-rebounded Chadron State 36-24 and had 14 turnovers, compared to CSC's 22.

The Eagles will play Simon Fraser of Canada in Billings, starting at noon Saturday. They'll be home at 6 p.m. Wednesday night to play Southwest Minnesota State in the Chicoine Center. 

Chadron State—Ashayla Powers 24, Kylie Krise 9, Camren Morris 6, McKenzi Petersen 6, Bati Assefa 5, Tyra Eriksson 3, Kadyn Comer 3, Megan Counts 2, Olivia Waufle 2. Totals: 27-47 FG, 4-13 3PT, 6-8 FT. 60 points, 23 rebounds, 18 assists, 22 turnovers. 

Montana State Billings—Aspen Giese 19, Dyauni Royce 13, Kaitlin Grossman 13, Chloe Williams 9, Korney Nelson 9, Layla Baumann 4, Chenoa Louie 3, Avery Burkhart 3, Indie Browning 2, Alli Logicki 2. Totals: 25-56 FG, 5-14 3PT, 22-34 FT. 77 points, 36 rebounds, 14 assists, 14 turnovers.

Eagles Use Threes To Beat Ottawa

KANSAS CITY – Darrius Miles and Dalton Peterson both scored 18 points, with Peterson hitting six threes, as Chadron State men's basketball defeated Ottawa University 83-67 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. 

The win brings Chris Francis's group back to a .500 winning percentage at 2-2 overall with a second consecutive 1-1 weekend. The Eagles will have their home opener this upcoming Friday, November 22, against Sioux Falls. 

In Friday's win, Chadron State shot 49 percent from the field, 34 percent from three and 78 percent from the line. Peterson led the effort from beyond the arc, hitting 6 of 10 three-point attempts to score a season-high and finish two points off his career-high.

Miles, a 6-foot-11 UT Arlington transfer, went to work inside, finishing 8 of 12 from the field, recording five rebounds and a block, and personally scoring the first nine points of the game.  

Julio Phipps recorded 10 points while shooting 80 percent from the floor to finish in double figures for the second straight game. Jalen Thomas finished with nine points and six rebounds. Point guard Zach Smith had eight points and seven assists, the most assists in a single game by a CSC player this season so far. 

Defensively, CSC totaled up eight steals (including two apiece from Peterson, Phipps and John Jenkins) and three blocks. Ottawa finished with 10 assists and 11 turnovers.

On offense, the Eagles finished with a season-high 18 assists and a season-low 14 turnovers. Their .492 field goal percentage was CSC's best mark of the season, beating out the .455 percentage from their earlier win over Texas A&M-International. All that helped offset Chadron State losing the rebounding battle for the first time all season, as the Eagles finished with 36 boards while their opponents had 45. 

Chadron State asserted its will early, taking a 9-0 lead courtesy of Darrius Miles, who scored on back-to-back dunks before hitting a three-pointer and jumper to stake Chadron to a lead right off the bat. 

With Chadron State up 13-4, the Eagles caught fire from three-point range as Peterson hit three three-pointers and Trey Harris hit another to put CSC up 25-7 after nine minutes of game time. Although Ottawa closed the deficit to 10 points at 41-31 for halftime, Chadron State led by double digits for the final 14:17 of the first half. 

Ottawa trimmed the lead to just five by scoring the first four points of the second half to make it 41-36, but Peterson answered again, hitting a three, getting a steal at the other end and dishing a pass to Zach Smith for an and-one fastbreak layup. Smith made the free throw to put CSC up 11.

With CSC up eight, 60-52, with just over 10 minutes to go, Zach Smith kickstarted a scoring run with a four-point play after he was fouled on a made three-point basket. That was the first four points of a 12-0 scoring run for CSC, as Miles made two baskets while Treyson Neff and John Jenkins each made one to give the Eagles their largest lead of the night at 72-52. The Eagles led by double digits the rest of the way. 

Chadron State— Darrius Miles 18, Dalton Peterson 18, Julio Phipps 10, Jalen Thomas 9, Treyson Neff 8, Zach Smith 8, John Jenkins 4, Trey Ballard 3, Trey Harris 3, Zy Wright 2. Totals: 29-59 FG, 11-32 3PT, 14-18 FT. 83 points, 37 rebounds, 18 assists, 14 turnovers.

Ottawa —Micah Williams 19, Landyn Tyler 15, Najee Jones 14, Trey Twa 8, Keith Robinson 5, Jayden Hibbitt 4, Deondre Buggage 2. Totals: 26-75 FG, 3-20 3PT, 12-16 FT. 67 points, 45 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 turnovers.