GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Junior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards put down more than half of Colorado Mesa University's 44 kills as the Mavericks snapped a mini-slide with a 3-set home sweep of Black Hills State University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball action, Friday night in Brownson Arena.
 
Edwards, who came into the week leading the RMAC in kills, finished the night with 23 kills added 15 digs to register her eighth double-double of the night.  She also hit an impressive .429 clip as the Mavericks came from behind in all three sets of the 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 victory.
 
With the win, CMU improved to 13-6 overall and just as importantly to 7-4 in conference play after losing the previous two on the road.  The Yellowjackets, who came into the night just one match behind CMU in the conference standings, fell to 8-12 overall and to 5-6 in the loop.
 
The Mavericks hit a solid .271 as a team finishing the night with a 44-37 edge in kills.  Led by junior libero Taylor Woods, who finished with a match-high 18, the Mavericks also had a big 58-42 edge in digs.
 
CMU also did well in the serving game recording six aces while committing just one error.  The Yellowjackets were guilty of eight service errors.
 
Maverick sophomore Samantha Ritter won the battle of the setters recording 33 assists and eight digs.  Her counterpart Laurel Lech had 25 assists and seven kills for the visitors.  Kenzie Kazmer led BHSU with 13 kills.
 
The Mavericks ended the first set on a 10-4 run after trailing 17-15 taking a 20-18 lead behind the serving of Reed Jacobson and a key block by Katie Scherr and Hattie Gianinetti, in the starting lineup for the first time since Sept. 22 due to injury.
 
With a 21-20 lead later in the set, Edwards had three kills in a 5-rally stretch and put it away on "two" after a Woods dig, part of a final point flurry.
 
The Mavericks also trailed 15-13 in the second set after three straight hitting miscues but used a 7-2 spurt to take a 20-17 lead before trading points to close out the frame.
 
The Yellowjackets came out of the intermission strong and took 7-3 and 11-5 leads before the Mavericks clawed back to tie the set at 11 with a 6-0 run, triggered to a BHSU service error followed by four combined kills by Edwards and Alyssa Chutka.  Woods, who was behind the service line for the stretch, then served an ace to tie the set at 12.
 
The teams would then split the next six points before kills by Megan Gianinetti and Ritter and a Jacobson ace helped the Mavericks go up 18-16 before using another 7-3 spurt to finish the match off.
 
CMU will try to complete the weekend sweep on Saturday night at 7 o'clock when they host South Dakota Mines (3-18, 1-11 RMAC), which lost in four sets at Western State Colorado on Friday.