SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – For the second straight year Arkansas-Fort Smith ended the Colorado Mesa University volleyball season with a 3-2 win in the NCAA South Central Regional semi-finals Friday (Dec. 4). UAFS, the defending South Central Regional Champion, advances to Saturday's championship match against top-seeded Angelo State.

The two teams came out swinging. CMU hit a team-high .245 in the first with 18 kills. UAFS hit .250 and finished with 18 kills, but CMU took the first set in extra points 28-26.

Mesa hit .146 in the second, but it was the CMU defense that was the key holding Arkansas-Fort Smith to .050. The Mavs went on an 8-3 run early to win the set 25-20.

CMU once again out-hit UAFS .162 to .132 in the third. The Mavs led for most of the set until Olivia Navato served seven straight points, including two aces, to give the Lions a 17-14 lead. Fort Smith never relinquished the lead and went on to win 25-23.

The Mavs looked like they were on their way to winning the match when they opened the fourth set with an 8-1 run. The Lions once again rallied around strong serving, this time from Kennedi Coleman who recorded a pair of aces during an eight point run. The Lions took the lead 13-11 and never lost it to win 25-21.

The two teams enter the fifth set with the winner advancing to Saturday's regional championship and the loser's season over.

The Mavericks struggled in the final set never scoring back-to-back points. Fort Smith hit a match-high .500 with eight of their 15 points in the set coming on kills.

Caitie Breaux led CMU with 18 kills on 64 attempts and added 22 kills.

Erin Perez finished with a match-high 30 digs and 14 kills for the double-double.

Hattie Gianinetti also had 10 kills.

CMU recorded 106 digs in the match and had five players finish with 10 or more digs.

UAFS relied on an 18-7 edge in blocks.

Colorado Mesa finishes the year with a 19-12 mark.