Colorado Mesa University Athletics

DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks had a 43-33 edge in total kills but were guilty of 38 attacking errors, 29 of them unforced, as they dropped a 28-26, 25-21, 25-22 decision to 11^th-ranked Regis University in their final regular season match of the season on Saturday night here in the Regis Fieldhouse.
 
The Mavericks have now lost three straight matches for the first time this season and fell to 17-9 overall and to 11-7 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.  The Rangers improved to 25-3 overall and claimed a share of the RMAC title with a 17-1 record.  They will be the No. 1 seed in the RMAC Tournament which starts Tuesday and will host the semifinals and championship match provided they beat No. 8 seed Black Hills State in the opening round.
 
The Mavericks slipped to the No. 6 seed and begin the tournament at third-seeded MSU Denver, Tuesday (Nov. 14) at 7 p.m.  That match against the Roadrunners will be the third in a span of just 11 days.  The Roadrunners won the first two, both in four sets, on Nov. 4 in Denver and on Thursday in Grand Junction.
 
Tuesday's winner will the meet the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 2 seed and RMAC co-champion Colorado Mines and No. 7 seed Adams State in the semifinals on Friday (Nov. 17).
 
Against Regis, the Mavericks were led by 15 kills and 15 digs from MacKenzie Edwards, good for her fourth consecutive and 13th double-double of the season.  Fellow outside hitter Katie Scherr also had a double-double, her sixth of the season, with 13 digs and 10 kills while senior middle Hattie Gianinetti chipped in 12 kills on a respectable .292 hitting night.
 
Sophomore setter Samantha Ritter also had a double-double, her 12^th of the campaign, with 36 assists and 10 digs while Taylor Woods dug up 13 Ranger attacks while becoming just the fourth Mavericks and the second in the rally-scoring era (2001-Present) to eclipse 1,500 career digs.  She now has 1,509.
 
Regis was paced by 10 kills from Nikki Kennedy and eight more from Cailtyn Martinez.
 
The first set was tied nine times including at 23 and again at 24 and 25 after Gianinetti kills.  The teams then exchanged hitting errors before a Maverick service error and a Kennedy block allowed the Rangers to win the extended first set on their fourth opportunity.
 
CMU, which hit just .038 throughout the night, was guilty of 15 hitting errors in the first set and committed 12 more in the second as the Rangers came from 3-1 down to build a 17-9 lead after a 6-0 run that included three straight Ranger blocks.
 
The Mavericks would rally with a 12-5 extended spurt of their own and pulled to within 22-21 thanks to a Gianinetti kill, a Woods service ace and Ranger hitting error.  However, three more Maverick miscues gave the Rangers a 2-set lead.
 
The third set was also tight and was tied at 22 before kills by Cailtyn Burroway and Martinez surrounding a Maverick hitting error, the last of 11 in the set, ended the match.