Date/Time/Location: Chadron State: October 22 at 6 PM 

Western Colorado: October 24 at 10 AM

All games will be played at A2 Arena in Spearfish, S.D.

Live Stream: RMAC Network (Pay-Per-View)

Linear TV: BHSU Athletics has partnered with Forum Communications to bring you BHSU games to your live TV. You will now be able to watch select home events on cable at the KNBN-2 Station in Rapid City and the KSFL-TV station in Sioux Falls. Channel numbers and schedules for each of those channels for all sports can be found at the link above.

Tickets:

 Tickets can be purchased at the link above.

• Black Hills State is now 8-12 (4-6 RMAC) as they continue to stay in the RMAC playoff race. BHSU was able to sweep Regis in a dominant performance where the Yellow Jackets hit over .300 and finished one short of their season-high for aces. That helped them go on 1-1 on the week as they feel to Chadron State in four sets in Chadron earlier that week. BHSU has now won two of their last four games with a win over NMHU last weekend.
• The Yellow Jackets were able to have a 4-4 non-conference schedule after taking out MSU Billings, Western New Mexico, UMary, and Upper Iowa in the non-conference tournaments. BHSU was able to get revenge on UMary, who beat them early in the season as they produced the best hitting percentage in BHSU's D2 history, hitting .452 over the course of the game with only six attack errors.
• The Yellow Jackets entered the season fresh off a season where they had the most wins in a season since 2021 and the most conference wins since 2022. The Yellow Jackets went 6-20 (2-12 RMAC) last season. They went 3-1 in the 1st International Bank Homecoming Classic before entering RMAC play and pulled out two wins over Chadron, one of them in the regional pod, and a win over Western Colorado in regular conference play.
• The Green and Gold have played in six five set matches going 4-2 this season in such matches. BHSU went 2-2 in five setters last year and are 43-42 since joining D2 in matches that go five sets.
• The Yellow Jackets win over Fort Lewis was the first time since 2021 that BHSU had won their RMAC opener.
• The Yellow Jackets win over Colorado Christian was the first time BHSU has beaten CCU in Lakewood. They were 0-10 in their previous matchups at CCU.
• 6-6 was the latest BHSU has been at .500 in the D2 era passing 2013 where BHSU was 5-5.
• The Yellow Jackets are ranked in the top nine in the RMAC in seven categories. They are ranked sixth in hitting percentage (.200), seventh in the conference in total assists (850), team total attacks (2,721), eighth in attacks per set (35.80), team digs (1,114), ninth in team kills (908), and in service aces (111).
• The Yellow Jackets are featuring a pretty new team this year. They are only bringing back three players who started 15 or more games last year and only have five that started more than ten. They graduated five key seniors for the team last year and are bringing in six freshman and one transfer.
• BHSU was projected to finish 14th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 43 points, just ahead of Chadron State and one point behind Western Colorado. They are now tied for ninth in the RMAC at 4-6 with Western Colorado and CSU Pueblo.
• The Yellow Jackets top three hitters are all within range of each other. Carsyn Mettler is the top hitter for BHSU. Mettler, who has remained consistent now has a hitting percentage of .300 in 11 out of 20 games this year. She is leading the team in kills with 223, a team-high .272 hitting percentage, and has 28.0 total blocks. She has reached ten kills in 12 games this year, including ten of the last 12. She had a .320 hitting percentage against #6 Washburn, and then a .455 hitting percentage versus UMary. She had 13 kills and two blocks versus Upper Iowa two weekends ago, but she had 28 kills in RMAC Weekend one with 15 versus Fort Lewis and 13 versus WCU. She had a .440 hitting percentage versus WCU. She had 18 kills this past weekend. She had 17 kills with a .400 hitting percentage and three blocks versus Chadron. She had 12 kills with a .333 hitting percentage against SDM. She had 13 kills versus Highlands. She had a career-high 23 kills versus Chadron with a .377 hitting percentage and two blocks. She had 13 kills and a .387 hitting percentage versus Regis.
• The Yellow Jackets top three hitters are all within range of each other. Izzy Saiki has been one of the top of BHSU's trio this year. The senior from Thronton, Colo. is in the midst of a career year. She is second on the team and was the first one to 200 kills with 223 kills with a 2.93 kills per set mark. She is also leading on the team in aces and is second in the RMAC with 29. She has 201 digs and 16 total blocks. She has 12 double-digit kill games including five of the last six games. She had a career-high 21 kills versus MSU Denver. Saiki had her third double-double of the year with 18 kills and 15 digs versus CCU. The 15 digs were a career-high and the five aces during that game were also a career-high. She had another double-double versus Chadron with 10 kills and a season-high 17 digs. She had her career-high 21 kills versus MSUD and then had her sixth double-double of the season versus UCCS with 10 kills and 12 digs. This past weekend, she had 28 kills and 22 digs including 17 kills and 16 digs versus NMHU. Against Chadron, the second time, she had 13 kills and a team-high 25 digs. 
• Zoie Husman has started all 20 games this year and after a fantastic tournament in Sioux Falls, she is third on the team with 182 kills and tied for second with 24 aces. She is third with 177 digs. She also has 32 blocks, which is third on the team. Her best game of the year came versus Fort Lewis where she had her third double-double of her career with 21 kills and 13 digs. The 21 kills were career-high and her first time reaching 20 kills. She also had a career-high 24.5 points versus FLC as well as two total blocks. She had 17 kills versus UMary and a .667 hitting percentage, which was also a career high. She had a 17 kill, 13 dig game versus WNMU, with a career-high three total blocks. She had her second double of her season with a 13 kill, 15 dig game versus Upper Iowa, and tied her career high with three blocks.
• Elena Atkinson and Emma Kruger have had great seasons. After combining for 77 assists last weekend, they combined for 68 this weekend with Atkinson leading 49 assists to 19. Atkinson sits atop with 396 assists and has averaged 5.21 assists per set this season, while Kruger has 330 and has averaged 4.52. Atkinson's best game came against Chadron State, where she had 31 assists, which the second most in her entire career. She had a .470 set percentage, which was the second-best on the year, only behind MSUB, where she had a .514 set percentage. Atkinson set a career-high for aces with seven versus Regis. Kruger's best game came against Fort Lewis, where she had a career-high 31 assists and 7 digs with an insane .508 set percentage. She just had a massive 30 assists, 22-dig game versus CCU with a .441 set percentage. When BHSU broke the record for attack percentage in a game in the D2 era against WCU, she had 25 assists with an impressive .568 set percentage. They are ranked ninth and 13th in the RMAC in total assists.
• Izabel Abril has been one of the other players to start all 20 games this year. Abril is sitting at 114 kills and is now second on the team with 47.0 total blocks. She had her Yellow Jacket career-high with 14 kills versus Fort Lewis, where she had a .417 attack percentage, and four total blocks, which is just her second time since joining BHSU reaching ten kills. She matched that mark a week later versus Christian, where she had 14 kills on a .458 hitting percentage and four total blocks. She had eight total blocks last weekend with five versus MSU Denver.
• Peyton McLeod has continued her solid career with 20 starts in 20 games this year. She is leading the team in blocks with 57.0 and has 106 kills. McLeod had a career-high 12 kills versus MSU Denver with four blocks and a .333 hitting percentage. She's had nine kills four times, but MSU Denver was her first double-digit kill game of her career. She had seven blocks versus Chadron. She had seven kills and two blocks versus Regis.
• Keira Thompson has been the top libero for BHSU this year. The junior from Lakewood, Colo. who is in her second season as a Yellow Jacket is currently leading the team with 229 digs, reaching the 100-dig mark against Upper Iowa and the 200-dig mark versus Chadron. She is averaging 3.37 digs per set and has nine aces as well. Thompson had her career-high of 29 digs versus Fort Lewis, which passed her previous career-high set in the game before versus Upper Iowa of 21. She averaged 5.8 digs per set. Last weekend, Thompson earned her first RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award for having 44 digs in seven sets averaging 6.29 digs per set and reaching 20 digs in each game including 24 digs versus CCU and 20 digs in only three sets versus CSUP.
• Head coach Grayson DuBose enters his second season with the Yellow Jackets and has a BHSU record of 14-33 (6-18 RMAC) but has 14 years of head coaching experience at the D1 level prior to joining BHSU. He was head coach at Utah State for 14 years and has a 203-266 career record. He also earned two WAC Coach of the Year awards and one NCAA Division 1 Tournament appearance. DuBose picked uup his 200th career win against Fort Lewis in the five-set thriller.

• Chadron State currently sits at 8-12 (2-8 RMAC) after going 1-1 this past week. They have now lost nine of the last 12. They do have one RMAC win versus Western Colorado and also beat BHSU in the RMAC Regional Pod. They had their lowest set weekend of the year this past week, where they lost 0-3 to MSU Denver and UCCS. This past week, they beat BHSU 3-1 and then lost to South Dakota Mines in four sets.
• Their non-conference schedule was quite successful as Chadron took down Lake Superior State and Minnesota Crookston in the Hardrocker Tournament and then took out UMary, Upper Iowa, and Sioux Falls in the Sioux Falls Classic going 5-3 in non-conference play.
• Chadron has been a pesky team this year as they have played in a lot of multi-set matches and have reached five sets in six of their last ten games going 1-5 in such matches.
• The Eagles are 3-6 in road games this year with wins over Sioux Falls, Western, and BHSU. Last year, the Eagles went 0-10 in true road games.
• The Eagles are top 75 in the country in six stats this year. They are 19th in attacks per set (38.15),  24th in blocks per set (2.24), 34th in total blocks (175.0), 36th in digs per set (17.01), 62nd in team digs (1,327), and 72nd in team total attacks (2,976).
• The Eagles were picked 15th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 38 points, just behind BHSU. They were coming off a year where they went 5-21 (1-13 RMAC) and finished 14th in the conference. They are currently in a two-way tie for 12th at 2-8.
• Sarah Meservey has been the big reason why they are one of the top blocking teams in the RMAC. Meservey, a junior middle blocker from Spanish Fork, Utah, has 104 total blocks, which is 5th in the nation and first in the RMAC. She is averaging 1.33 blocks per set, which is eighth in the nation and second in the RMAC. She has had at least four blocks in 16 games and had a season-high 13 versus South Dakota Mines. She was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for her work in the RMAC Regional Pod as she had 18 blocks with 13 versus SDM and five versus BHSU. She then had ten blocks versus Adams the next game. This past weekend, she had ten total blocks with six versus BHSU and four versus SDM.
• Mataya Ward is back for the Eagles and is the leading hitter again. The Belle Fourche, S.D. native currently leads the team in kills with 241, points with 276.5, and is tied for first in aces with 24. She also has 91 digs and 21 blocks. Ward has reached ten or more kills in 12 games this season and has at least 15 in seven of them. She just had easily her best game of the season versus the Mountaineers as she had a season-high 21 kills, a season-high nine digs, and three aces with a .413 hitting percentage. She tied her season-high of 21 kills versus Adams State. This past weekend, she had 32 kills with 20 versus BHSU with a .340 hitting percentage.
• Avery Lacy is the top libero for CSC. Lacy, who is a senior from Windsor, Colorado, is third in the RMAC in total digs with 350 and fifth in digs per set at 4.49. She has had double-digit digs in all but three games this year and has reached 20 seven times. She's had a season-high 32 digs versus Adams State and also had 28 digs versus Highlands that next weekend. This past week, she had 42 digs with 21 in each game and three aces versus BHSU.
• Jillian Donovan is once again the sole setter for Chadron. Donovan, a sophomore from Lincoln, has 475 assists this year, which is sixth in the conference and 6.42 assists per set, which is fifth in the RMAC. Donovan has had 20 assists in 13 of 20 games this year including a season-high 42 assists versus CCU. She is also at 166 digs and has reached double digits seven times. This past weekend she had 42 total assists with 24 versus BHSU and 18 versus SDM.
• Head Coach Jennifer Stadler is in her eighth season in charge of the Chadron State volleyball program in 2026, accumulating a 64-127 record in her first seven seasons. The former BHSU player, assistant coach, and interim head coach is one win away from matching her third highest winning season of her CSC career. She also spent eight years prior at Sheridan College. 

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Since joining D2, Chadron holds the series lead at 21-15 with BHSU winning most in the early 2010s. Since 2020, BHSU is 5-10 versus the Eagles.
• Last year, the Yellow Jackets met three times with the Eagles making this the fourth matchup between the regional foes in under a year. BHSU was able to take two out of three versus Chadron last year winning the first two in Spearfish 3-2 and 3-0 before losing the third in the RMAC Power Pod 0-3. The Green and Gold reversed swept Chadron in the opening meeting last year and then won six straight sets sweeping the second match before falling in all three sets in Chadron.
• Earlier this season, Chadron came to A2 Arena and beat BHSU in four sets. BHSU dominated the first set 25-12, was up big in the second, but a comeback by Chadron led to winning each of the next three sets by two points each at 25-23, 25-23, and 26-24. Mettler, Husman, and Saiki each had double-digit kills, while Atkinson had 31 assists.
• Last week, BHSU met with Chadron State again and lost in four sets with sets of 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, and 18-25. In that game, Mettler had a career-high 23 kills, Saiki had a career-high 25 digs, McLeod tied a career-high seven blocks, and Atkinson led the way with 28 assists.

• Western Colorado currently sits at 9-11 and 4-6 in RMAC play. The Mountaineers had lost six of their previous seven before this past weekend where they went 2-0. Western’s sole conference wins since beating BHSU earlier this year was Regis, Highlands, and Adams. They also got a non-conference regional pod win versus Westminster. This past weekend, the Mountaineers took down Highlands in three sets and Adams in five sets to get their third and fourth conference wins. 
• Western Colorado had a solid non-conference with a 4-4 record. The Moutaineers started their season great with a 4-0 performance at their home tournament in Gunnison getting wins versus SW Oklahoma State, Highlands, Sul Ross State, and Lubbock Christian. They swept each of the last three games of that tourney. They then went down to Hawaii, where they went 0-4 at the Hawai’i Challenge. They only took one set from Hawaii Pacific, but fell in straight sets to Western Oregon, Chaminade, and Hawaii Hilo.
• Western is 1-6 on the road this year with their sole win being in A2 Arena versus BHSU. They were 0-11 on the road last year. Their last road win prior was on October 19, 2024 versus New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas.
• The Mountaineers are ranked top seven in the RMAC in seven different categories. They are ranked fifth in the RMAC and 79th in the country in team attacks per set (36.50) and fifth in digs per set (15.5), seventh in blocks per set (2.03), opponent hitting percentage (.187), team digs (1,116), and total blocks (146).
• After finishing last in the RMAC this past year, Western Colorado was picked to finish 13th in the RMAC with 44 points, one point ahead of Black Hills State, and eight points behind New Mexico Highlands. This year they are currently tied for tenth with BHSU and CSU Pueblo.
• Galatia Andrew is up there in the top of the RMAC for liberos. She currently sits at 296 digs and 4.63 digs per set. She ranks fourth in digs per set and eighth in total digs in the RMAC. She has reached double-digit digs in 17 of the 20 games this year including a season high 30 this past weekend versus Adams State.  She also had 29 digs versus Westminster. Andrew had 50 digs this past weekend.
• The Mountaineers run a two-setter system and have a solid setter pair in Anuhea Kaalele and Olivia Moore. The two have combined for 653 assists with Moore having 339, which is 12th in the RMAC and Kaalele having 314, which is 16th in the RMAC. She averages 5.06 assists per set which is 11th in the conference, while Kaalele averaged 4,98 assists per set, which is 13th in the conference. Kaalele had a massive opening game versus SWOSU with 40 assists and has reached double-digit assists in 16 of 20 so far. She had 37 assists last weekend with 19 versus Adams and 18 versus New Mexico Highlands. Moore has also reached double-digit assists in 17 of the 20 games so far. Her season-high was versus Westminster, where she had 38 assists. This past weekend, she had 38 assists with 23 versus Adams.
• Sierra Long has currently been the top hitter for WCU. Long sits at 165 kills, just three kills ahead of the number two hitter on the team. Long is averaging 2.58 kills per set and has a .209 hitting percentage. She also has 23 blocks. She has eight games with double-digit kills including a season-high 16 kills twice versus Sul Ross State and versus Westminster. This past weekend she had 19 kills with 12 versus Adams State.
• Breanna Mohava, a senior middle blocker from West Jordan, Utah has led the way in blocks for the Mountaineers with 57.0 blocks. She also has 64 kills. She has multiple blocks in eight of the last 10 games. She had a season-high 10 blocks versus Adams this past weekend and had 18 total with eight more versus New Mexico Highlands
• Sonia Morales-Jones is in her second season as head coach of the Western Colorado. She was head coach at Benedictine University Mesa for nine season prior. Overall, she has a 176-124 record. At WCU, she has a 10-36 (4-20 RMAC) record.

SERIES HISTORY

• Since joining the RMAC, Western holds a slight lead in their matchups with an 8-9 record. WCU has won seven of the last nine games, but Western Colorado currently holds the belt.
• Their meeting last year in Gunnison. The Yellow Jackers were able to get one of their two RMAC wins last year versus Western in four sets taking three in a row after losing the first. Mettler had a team-high 15 kill day, while Atkinson had 25 assists and 11 digs. McLeod and Abril had four blocks each.
• The two teams met early this year in A2 Arena as Western took the match 3-0. BHSU held a big lead in set one, but a comeback for Western gave them the 26-24 set win and led them to taking the next two sets 25-15 and 25-12. Mettler had 13 kills, while Husman had seven kills and ten digs.