GRAND JUNCTION,  Colo.- In front of a standing room only crowd at Brownson Arena, the No. 8 ranked Colorado Mesa volleyball team won a wild five set match against the Regis Rangers Friday night (Nov. 14) to advance to the RMAC Tournament Championship match.

The teams would split the first 10 points of the first, before an ace by Abby Ney gave the Mavericks the lead. Attack errors by Regis and a blast by Erin Perez increased CMU's lead to 11-6. Two errors by the Mavericks and a Regis kill allowed the Rangers to creep back into the game. Three straight blasts by Melissa Hess helped the Mavericks to a six point lead. With Colorado Mesa up 21-17, three straight errors by CMU brought the Rangers back within one. More errors by Colorado Mesa would tie the game at 22-22. Regis would gain the 24-23 advantage before a one timer by Erin Perez would once again tie the score. A kill by Regis would give them their third game point of the set and another Mesa error would give Regis the 29-27 win. Colorado Mesa hit .127, while Regis hit .212. in the game. Melissa Hess hit .364 with five kills. Erin Perez and Jordyn Moody each recorded five digs.

After a 3-3 tie started the second set, three kills by Casey Ball and a service ace by Erin Perez would give the Mavs the 7-3 advantage. A blocking error and a kill by Melissa Hess increased CMU's lead to 13-7 midway through the game. Late in the set, two straight errors by the Rangers gave the Mavs their largest lead of the night and put the score at 21-10. Abby Ney would blow one by the Rangers and the Mavs would win the set 25-13. Colorado Mesa reached a season-high in attack percentage for a single set with .607, while limiting Regis to hit .129. Abby Ney had three kills on three attempts to hit 1.000. Melissa Hess tallied seven kills and hit .636. Casey Ball had five kills and .500.

The third set would be a forgettable one for Colorado Mesa. They fell behind early, dropping the first four points. The Mavericks could never sustain a strong comeback in the game, even finding themselves trailing by 11 late in the set. CMU would drop the set 25-12. The Mavericks hit a season-low of .027 in the set. Regis had a hitting percentage of .471. The Rangers also out dug the Mavericks 19 to 15.

With the fourth set, being a must win for the Mavericks, they came out swinging. Regis would win the first point of the game, but that was the only lead they would have the rest of the set. With the 11-7 advantage, Colorado Mesa would take the next four points thanks to a Regis errors, a one timer from Audrey Steinkirchner and a service ace by Abby Ney. Late in the game, a powerful shot by Christian Otzen put the Mavs up 23-14. Melissa Hess would hammer the next two shots to give the Mavs the 25-15 win and push it to a deciding game five.Melissa Hess continued her strong play on the night adding eight more kills in the game. Erin Perez also added to her fine defensive night with six more kills.

For the second time the season, these two teams would go into a deciding game five. The first time (Sept. 12), Colorado Mesa was on the losing end of the decision. Tonight, with a bid to the championship game on the line, CMU would dominate the match. The Mavs took the lead from the first point on a compliments of strong serving by Kricket Adleman. A kill by setter Jordyn Moody, put the Mavs up 10-3 in the game. In front of 1,218 roaring fans, Colorado Mesa would end the game the same way they started it with a blast by Christian Ozten to win the fifth set 15-5. The Mavericks were able to hit .333 in the game, while limiting the Rangers to a .000 hitting percentage. Jordyn Moody hit .667 with two kills and Christian Otzen tallied three kills on five attempts to hit .600. Erin Perez and Casey Ball each had a kill in the game and hit 1.000.

Colorado Mesa hit .273 for the match, while Regis had a hitting percentage of .226 on the evening.

Melissa Hess had a match-high 22 kills and .455.  Casey Ball and Abby Ney each tallied 10 kills.

Jordyn Moody had her third straight double-double with 57 assists and 11 digs.

Erin Perez had a team-high 18 digs, while Tiffany Petersen and Kricket Adleman each had 12 to help give the Mavericks a total of 82 digs. 

With the win, Colorado Mesa (26-3) advanced to the RMAC Tournament championship match against MSU Denver Saturday (Nov. 14) at 7pm. The teams are the top two teams in the South Central Regional Rankings with the final release coming out on Monday.