DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks got off to slow starts in each of the three sets before putting up late set comebacks that fell short as they saw the 2017 volleyball season come to an end in the quarterfinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament with a 25-22, 25-21, 25-21 defeat to the hands of MSU Denver on Tuesday night in the Roadrunners' Auraria Events Center.
 
The Mavericks, who were the tournament's sixth seed, finish the season 17-10 after falling three times to the Roadrunners in the last 11 days.
 
MSU Denver, seeded third, ranked fifth in both of the first two sets of NCAA South Central Regional Rankings and amongst the "others receiving votes" in each of the last four American Volleyball Coaches Association's Division II Top 25 Poll, improved to 20-7 with their seventh straight win.
 
They move on to the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament where they will face No. 2 seed and 17^th-ranked Colorado Mines, which rallied from a 2-set deficit to defeat seventh-seeded Adams State in five in Golden.
 
Top seed and 11^th ranked Regis will host the semifinals on Friday and the Saturday night championship after seeing off eighth-seeded Black Hills State in three sets across the city.   The Rangers will face No. 4 seed Colorado Christian, which won in four sets over No. 5 UCCS in what was the Cougars' first ever home RMAC Tournament match in Lakewood.
 
On Tuesday, the Mavericks received a fifth straight and 14^th overall double-double from junior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards.  Named to the First Team All-RMAC squad earlier in the day, Edwards finished with 14 kills, a match-high, and 13 digs.  True freshman Ara Norwood also registered her first career double-double with 13 digs and 12 assists, both new career-highs.
 
Norwood was inserted into the lineup in the middle of the first set to replace starting setter Samantha Ritter, with the Mavericks down 14-5.  After giving up the first point with Norwood in the lineup, the Mavericks would score 10 of the next 16 points to pull within 21-15 before going on another 8-2 run with Norwood, Edwards and Naomi Pinnecoose, another substitute, at the service line to pull within a single point 23-22.
 
However, the Roadrunners would win the next two points to take the set and then got out to a 20-10 lead and 23-12 leads in the second.
 
Once again, the Mavericks would rally, going on a 6-0 run with kills by Megan Gianinetti and Edwards followed by four straight service aces by Katie Scherr that made the score 23-18.  After giving up one point, the Mavericks would score the next three to pull within 24-21 but could not get any more.
 
The third set started a little better for CMU although the Roadrunners would use an 11-4 run to gradually build an 18-10 lead.  However, the Mavericks again came charging back and would go on a 5-0 spurt with Pinnecoose at the service line to pull within three (18-15) and then scored two more back-to-back points to get within two at 19-17.
 
MSU Denver then built their advantage back to 23-17 with four straight points before eventually finishing the match off on a Taylor Duryea kill ­after the Mavericks had fought off three of a necessary six match points.
 
Both teams finished the night with 41 kills although the Roadrunners hit .242 while holding the Mavericks to a .185 team hitting percentage as the Roadrunners finished with a 9-3 edge in total blocks.
 
The Mavericks had a 61-58 edge in total digs as Second Team All-RMAC libero Taylor Woods finished the night with 14.
 
Ritter, who re-entered the match in the second set, finished the match with 18 assists and moved over 1,000 for the season.  She recorded 1,008 throughout the Honorable Mention All-RMAC campaign.
 
Meanwhile, twin-sisters Hattie and Megan Gianinetti played their final career matches as the Mavericks' two lone seniors.  Hattie Gianinetti, also an Honorable Mention All-RMAC pick had nine kills and hit .286 while Megan Gianinetti finished with six kills.

Edwards finishes her season tied for the RMAC lead in total kills with 398 and averaged a conference-leading 4.10 per set while Woods finished the year with 467 digs, an average of 4.81 per set.