Box Score DURANGO, Colo. - For the first time with Dave Fleming at the helm of the Colorado Mesa volleyball program, the No. 9 ranked Mavericks won their 13^th straight match when they defeated the Fort Lewis Skyhawks 3-1 tonight (Nov. 6). With a win tomorrow against Adams State, Colorado Mesa will become the RMAC regular season champions.

The first ten points of the match were split evenly between the two teams. With the score tied at five, a blast by Melissa Hess and a service ace by Kricket Adleman would get the Mavs on track, as they would go on to take the next five points to put CMU up 10-5. An error by Colorado Mesa and a kill from the Skyhawks put Fort Lewis within three before the Mavericks would go on another run, this time rattling off 13 straight points to bring them within two points of the set victory (23-7). An error by CMU would give Fort Lewis their eighth point of the night, but that is all they would get as a kill by Jordyn Moody, followed by a one timer by Erin Perez were the final two points CMU needed to end it 25-8.

Thanks to a service ace by Jordyn Moody, Colorado Mesa would gain the early advantage in the second set of the night. The Mavs would win seven of the first nine points to lead 7-2. The Mavericks made six errors during an eight point run by the Skyhawks to give them the 9-7 advantage. Colorado Mesa picked up the play to tie the score up at 10. In what seemed like the theme of the night, it would be CMU's turn to go on another run. Back-to-back blasts by Melissa Hess would help the Mavericks win eight of the next nine points to gain the 18-11 advantage. With Colorado Mesa needing one more point to take the 2-0 lead going into the third set, Erin Perez would once again be the one to finish and give the Mavs the 25-20 victory.

Fort Lewis took the early 6-3 lead in the third set of the evening. The Skyhawks would maintain their lead until Fort Lewis would make two straight errors to tie the game and then put the Mavericks on top 10-9. A killer one timer by Casey Ball would help find CMU up 16-14 in the game. Colorado Mesa would have the 20-14 advantage before the Skyhawks would take the next six points to tie the game. A Fort Lewis service error put the score at match point before the Skyhawks would tie the score up at 23. With set point going back and forth between the two teams, two straight errors by CMU gave the Skyhawks the 27-25 set win.

For just the third time in the last ten matches for Colorado Mesa, it was forced to play more than three sets in a match. Christian Otzen would help give the Mavs the early advantage when her kill put CMU up 6-3. In what was a tight game, Colorado Mesa found themselves up by two (11-9) thanks to a blast by Erin Perez. The two teams would become tied at 13 a piece before a Fort Lewis error would give the Mavericks the lead. After the Skyhawks and Mavericks found themselves tied once again (15-15), kills by Abby Ney and Erin Perez gave CMU the 17-15 advantage. The Mavs would rattle off nine of the next ten points to give them the 25-16 victory and take down the Skyhawks 3-1.

Melissa Hess led the way recording 19.5 points on 15 kills, while hitting .478. Abby Ney was close behind her tallying 16.5 points on 15 kills and hitting .444. Erin Perez enjoyed another double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Jordyn Moody also had a double-double with 42 assists and 12 digs. Moody also had three service aces on the evening. Kricket Adleman and Tiffany Petersen tallied double-digit digs with 15 and 20 respectively. The Mavericks had seven service aces with only two service errors in the match. CMU out-hit Fort Lewis .246 to .106, but the Mavericks made more attack errors (24) than the Skyhawks (22).

CMU (23-3, 16-1) will close out the regular season tomorrow (Nov. 7) in Alamosa, Colo. A victory tomorrow will earn the Mavericks their first RMAC title since 1994.