GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will wrap up the regular season with matches against two of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's and NCAA South Central Region's best opponents.  On Thursday at 7 p.m., the Mavericks (17-7, 11-5 RMAC) will host MSU Denver Roadrunners (18-7, 15-2 RMAC) in the second half of a home-and-home series between the teams.
 
CMU then ventures back to Denver for a Saturday night (7 p.m.) match at RMAC-leading and 11^th ranked Regis (24-3, 16-1 RMAC).
 
Twin sisters say goodbye to Brownson
 
Hattie and Megan Gianinetti, CMU's lone two seniors will be honored during Senior Night festivities prior to Thursday night's match against MSU Denver, which will be their final home match of their respective Maverick careers that date back to 2013.  Hattie, a 6-foot middle earned First Team All-RMAC honors in 2016 and will enter Thursday's match with an even 600 career kills and 150 career blocks.  Megan, a 6-foot right side hitter, is in her first year as a regular starter and is third on the 2017 squad for kills with 162 and tied for second with 25 service aces.  She is also ranked 10^th in the RMAC for her service per set average.  Both are also 4-time Academic All-RMAC Honor Roll selections.
 
Duking it out for the double-double lead
 
Junior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards and sophomore setter Samantha Ritter both recorded their 11^th double-doubles of the season in Saturday night's match at MSU Denver and are tied for the team lead in that category.  Ritter finished with 45 assists and 14 digs while Edwards recorded 15 kills and 14 digs.  Edwards also had 18 kills and 11 digs in Friday's match against UCCS and now has 27 career double-doubles after putting up 15 en-route to First Team All-RMAC honors in 2016.
 
One away from being #5
 
The Mavericks need just one win in their remaining two matches or one UCCS loss in the Mountain Lions' final two matches, to be guaranteed of the No. 5 seed in next week's RMAC Tournament.  CMU currently sits two matches behind fourth place Colorado Christian (13-3) in the RMAC standings but can not win a tiebreaker with the Cougars, who won the Oct. 12 head-to-head meeting.  Meanwhile, the Mavericks are one match ahead of UCCS and hold the tie-breaker thanks to Friday's 3-set sweep of the Mountain Lions, who host Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines this weekend.­  If UCCS were to win both of those matches and the Mavericks lose both of theirs, CMU will be the No. 6 seed.
 
Approaching 1,500
 
Junior libero Taylor Woods recorded 37 digs over the weekend and now is just 20 away from becoming the fourth Maverick in school history to reach the 1,500 milestone for her career.  Woods stands with 1,480 career digs entering this weekend, 424 of which have come this season.  She is averaging 4.87 per set this year to rank second in the RMAC in that category and is averaging 4.95 per set throughout her career, above the school record pace of 4.84, set by Lauren Freeman in 1992 and 1993.
 
Mavericks 10^th in initial regional rankings
 
CMU was ranked 10^th in the initial set of NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings, released last Wednesday.  Those rankings, which will be updated the next two Wednesdays as well, will eventually determine the at-large selections and seeding for the region's portion of the NCAA Tournament.  The winners of the RMAC, Heartland and Lone Star Conference Tournaments receive automatic bids while the rest of the 8-team regional field will be determined by the rankings, meaning the Mavericks need to move up a minimum of two spots down the stretch.  Each of their final three regular season matches are against teams in the top five.
 
Here's a breakdown of last week's rankings along with how the teams fared last week.
 

Team (Conference)	In-Region Record	Division II Record	Last Week's Record	Last Week's Results
1. Regis (RMAC)	22-2	24-3	2-0	W, at Black Hills State; W, at South Dakota Mines
2. Tarleton State (Lone Star)	20-4	22-5	2-0	W, at Midwestern State; W, at Cameron
3. Colorado Mines (RMAC)	21-4	21-4	2-0	W, vs. Adams State; W, vs. Fort Lewis
4. Angelo State (Lone Star)	17-7	19-8	3-0	W, vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville; W, at Cameron; W, at Midwestern State
5. Metro State (RMAC)	17-5	18-7	2-0	W, vs. Western State; W, vs. Colorado Mesa
6. Arkansas-Fort Smith (Heartland)	21-4	23-6	2-0	W, vs. Dallas Baptist; W, at St. Mary's
7. Texas A&M-Commerce (Lone Star)	16-9	18-10	2-1	W, vs. Cameron; L, at Western New Mexico; W, at Eastern New Mexico
8. West Texas A&M (Lone Star)	18-7	19-10	1-1	W, vs. Western New Mexico; L, at Texas A&M-Kingsville
9. Texas A&M-Kingsville (Lone Star)	18-11	19-11	2-1	L, at Angelo State; W, Texas-Permian Basin; W, vs. West Texas A&M
10. Colorado Mines (RMAC)	17-6	17-7	1-1	W, at UCCS; L, at MSU Denver

Scouting the Roadrunners
 
MSU Denver will enter Thursday's match with 18-7 overall and 15-2 RMAC records and have won five straight and 15 of the last 16 matches, including Saturday night's 4-setter in Denver.  They are amongst the "others receiving votes" category in the AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll for the third straight week and were ranked fifth in the initial set of regional rankings.
 
Junior outside hitter Santaisha Sturges is the RMAC leader for both total kills (376) and kills per set (4.13), ranking 21^st nationally for the latter.  She had 15 kills on Saturday.  Meanwhile, junior middle blocker Stephanie Laraway is ranked fifth in the RMAC with her .341 attack percentage while senior teammate Vasati Fiatoa is eighth at .328.  Senior defensive specialist Jackie Lopez also ranks amongst the RMAC leaders in two different categories sitting second in service aces (0.35/set) and 10^th in digs (4.03/set).  Senior setter Alyssa Svalberg directs the attack and is fifth in the RMAC for assists per set (10.84).
 
Scouting the Rangers
 
The Rangers enter their final match of the RMAC regular season with a 24-3 record and are 16-1 in conference play.  They can clinch at least a share of the RMAC title and the No. 1 seed in the RMAC Tournament with a Saturday win and could win the title outright if Colorado Mines (15-1 RMAC) loses either Tuesday night at Colorado Christian or Saturday at home to Chadron State.
 
The Rangers, who are also on top of the regional rankings and hoping to remain there, lead the RMAC and rank sixth nationally with their 2.67-block per set average and have two of the conference's top three blockers in Nikki Kennedy (1.32/set) and Kirsten Hornung (1.20/set).  Hornung also paced the conference for attack percentage (.381) while Kennedy is second at .377.  Setter Silvia Basso leads the RMAC with 1,103 total assists and is fourth with her 11.14 per set average.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks and Roadrunners have been familiar foes over the last two years facing each other three times in both 2015 and 2016 and now twice in a span of six days this year.  MSU Denver has won each of the last four, ending CMU's 2016 season in the NCAA South Central Regional in San Angelo, Texas after winning both matches of a home-and-home on Nov. 4 and 8.  The Mavericks had won all three matches in 2015, including a RMAC Tournament and had won four straight overall prior to 2016.
 
The Mavericks and Rangers have also seen a lot of each other in recent years, playing nine times in the last four seasons alone.  Earlier this season on Sept. 22, the Rangers won in Grand Junction and have four won straight in the series.  The Mavericks last win over Regis in Denver came in 2009.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's matches, the Mavericks will begin the RMAC Tournament on the road, somewhere in the metropolitan Denver area, playing a quarterfinal match next Tuesday (Nov. 14).  The quarterfinals will be played on the campuses of the top four seeds, which will be Regis, Colorado Mines, MSU Denver and Colorado Christian in some order.  The four quarterfinal winners then move on to the site of the highest remaining seed for the Nov. 17 semifinals and Nov. 18 Championship match.  The complete RMAC bracket will be announced late Saturday evening.