RAPID CITY, S.D. - The Colorado State University Pueblo Volleyball Squad stopped their two-game slide on Friday Night, defeating Chadron State College three games to none in a neutral site Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference pod game.

With the match being a pod game, it did not count as an official RMAC game despite the two teams being conference foes. 

With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 13-8 overall on the season, and remain 6-4 in RMAC play. With the loss for Chadron State, the Eagles fall to 4-18 overall on the season, and remain 0-10 in conference play.

The Pack were led by Kaitlyn Hall (Colorado Springs, Colo./Falcon) on the offensive end, as the redshirt-freshman went for a team-high 12 kills in the three-set match.

Kendall Schmitz (Lee's Summit, Mo./Arkansas-Fort Smith) had a superb performance, as the setter led all players with 20 assists. 

Maddox Richtmyre (Suprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon), Hall, and Golden Finch (Albuquerque, N.M./Cal State Bakersfield) anchored the defense for the Pack. Richtmyre led the ThunderWolves with 11 digs, while Finch and Hall led all players with two blocks.

ABOUT THE MATCH

CSU Pueblo dominated from the start, as the Pack opened the match up with an 11-2 run 

The ThunderWolves were never threatened in the first set, maintaining a level seven to nine point lead for most of the first set.

The Eagles countered in the second set, despite falling behind 8-4 early on to the Pack.

Chadron State went on an 11-4 run to take a shocking 15-12.

CSU Pueblo countered with a run of their own to eventually take back the lead at 18-17 after Ceanna O'Loughlin (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit), and Hall threw down kills. 

Chadron countered with two straight points to retake the lead at 20-18, prompting Head Coach Austin Albers to take a timeout.

That timeout proved huge for the Pack, stopping the Eagles' run. 

The Pack rallied, going on a run to take back the lead at 22-21, and 23-22 after Megan Mattingly (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway) threw down two kills. 

The Pack's strength and determination proved too much for Chadron State, as the ThunderWolves closed out the final two points with kills from Mattingly and Hall to win the second set 25-23.

CSU Pueblo had no resistance in the third set. The Pack opened up the third set with an early 11-8 lead. That is as close as Chadron State would get for the rest of the match.

The ThunderWolves dominated the rest of the third set, eventually winning soundly 25-16.

WORDS FROM HEAD COACH AUSTIN ALBERS

"The ladies played well tonight and we had the offense clicking. I thought we served tough and did a good job of keeping tempo in our offense, which was a focal point of our practices this week." Albers also said, "If we can continue to emphasize the serve and pass game and keep our hitters in rhythm, we can give ourselves a great chance to compete."