CHADRON, Neb. – In a match that went the full five sets with two sets going to extra points, the Chadron State volleyball program came two points short on their home court against Regis, falling 27-29, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 16-14 on Tuesday night in Chadron.

The Eagles (5-20, 1-12 RMAC) came within a whisker of what would have been their first win against Regis (4-21, 3-10 RMAC) since 2007. Chadron State fell to 0-4 in five-set matches this season. 

The Eagles received a landmark performance from Shelby Harding, who set new career highs with both 19 kills and 18 digs. Bella Adams had 13 kills with no errors on a .464 hitting percentage and Avery Lacy chipped in 20 digs, her third match with 20 or more this season. 

Chadron State set a new single-match season-high in kills (66) and had the second-most team digs (88) and aces (nine) in a match this year. The Eagles had four players with multiple aces on the night – Lacy led with three while Harding, Mataya Ward and Cydnie Eskew had two apiece. 

Ultimately, both teams had moments where it seemed they were going to run away with the match, and neither team did. Regis came out on fire, opening up a 10-2 lead in the first set by collecting kills and capitalizing on CSC errors. 

The Eagles slowly clawed back into the set, using a 4-1 run to cut the deficit to 14-9 then making a move with a 5-0 run to trim Regis's lead to one at 17-16, thanks to back-to-back aces from Ward and a Gibson Beckler kill. A 5-1 run gave CSC the lead for the first time courtesy of kills from Adams (two), Harding (two) and Chloe Grady. 

With the teams tied at 23, Cydnie Eskew went over on two for a kill to give CSC the first set point of the match, but Regis answered with a kill. Regis would save three set points and the Eagles would save one before Harding put one away with CSC up 28-27, giving the Eagles a marathon set one win after 34 minutes. 

Regis mostly cruised in set two, hitting a match-high .429. Chadron State flirted with another big comeback, rattling off five straight points including three Lacy aces in a row to turn an 18-11 deficit into just a two-point cushion at 18-16, but Regis responded and took the second set 25-21. 

CSC answered with their best offensive set in the third, hitting 17 kills with five errors on 45 attempts for a .267 team percentage. This time, the Eagles took the early advantage with a 5-1 lead, which the home team maintained throughout the set. A solo block from Chloe Grady gave the Eagles an 18-11 lead and despite a service error on CSC's first set point, the Eagles went to Grady for a set-ending kill to go ahead two sets to one with a 25-19 set win.

After landing the third set counterpunch, it seemed that Chadron State had all the momentum, but Regis refused to go away. Unlike the first three sets, when one team jumped out to a huge lead, the Eagles and Rangers had 16 ties in the fourth set between 1-1 and 19-19, but a 3-0 Regis run gave the visitors the lead for good as Regis closed out set four 25-22. 

Despite going to just 15, the fifth set had seven lead changes. Regis led 4-2 early, but Harding earned the side out with a kill, then served for a Regis attack error and poured in her second ace to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead. Regis answered with two points, but senior Alejandra Briseno put away a kill, then combined with Grady on a combo link to put the Eagles up 7-6.

The Eagles led by two as late as 12-10 in the fifth set, but Regis came up with two big blocks while Chadron State committed hitting errors with the score at 13-13 and 14-14. The Rangers converted their second match point of the fifth set to win the decider, 16-14, with freshman Sabrina Landman providing the knockout kill. 

Aside from Harding's heroics, Briseno set a season-high with six kills and matched a season-high with six digs. Gibson Beckler also finished with 13 kills. Jillian Donovan had a team-high 31 assists to go with nine digs while Eskew chipped in 22 assists and nine digs alongside her two aces. 

Chadron State concludes the 2025 season on Friday night against Colorado School of Mines. The Eagles will play their season finale, then hold a Senior Night ceremony after the match. First serve Friday night is set for 6 p.m. at the Chicoine Center.