GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team won their fifth match in as many days, sweeping rival Western State Colorado University in straight sets (25-17, 25-15, 25-15) in their home and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener, Tuesday evening in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks, now 7-2 overall and winners of five straight, have now won five straight home openers dating back to 2013 and have started 1-0 in the RMAC for the sixth straight year.  WSCU fell to 1-9 overall and to 0-1 in the conference.
 
The Mavericks, who never trailed in any of the three sets, hit an impressive and season-best .346 as a team in the 74-minute match while holding the Mountaineers to a .081 clip.  CMU had a 39-26 edge in total kills and a 38-24 edge in digs.  They also out-blocked the Mountaineers 5-4 and recorded six service aces, while holding WSC to just one.
 
Junior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards led a balanced attack with 10 kills and hit .304 while Hattie Gianinetti put down nine kills on a .467 hitting effort.  Her twin-sister Megan Gianinetti put down eight kills on just 11 attacks while hitting a stellar .636.  Megan Gianinetti also had three service aces, including two in the closing stages.
 
Sophomore setter Samantha Ritter orchestrated the attack and dished out 31 assists before giving way to true freshman Ara Norwood for the last five points of the match.  Taylor Woods led the Mavericks' back-row staff with a match-high 11 digs.
 
The Mavericks hit a whopping .423 in the opening set and used a 5-0 run sparked by kills from Edwards and Natalee Todd followed by a Todd & Katie Scherr block to break open what was a 20-14 lead.  Later Megan Gianinetti had the first of her service ace to set up eight set points.  The Mavericks needed just two as Hattie Gianinetti ended the opener with her fifth kill of the night.
 
In the second set, the Mavericks jumped out to a 4-1 lead before the Mountaineers clawed back to tie the set at 8.  However, CMU would explode on an 8-1 run that saw the Mountaineers commit five hitting errors, two of the result of Maverick blocks.
 
Western would never recover as the Mavericks ended the set on another 8-3 extended spurt.
 
Set 3 was more of the same as the Mavericks got out to an 8-2 lead, never looking back.  Leading 19-11 later in the frame, Gianinetti had her back-to-back service aces to set-up the end-game.
 
The Mavericks, who used 11 players in the victory, will now go on a short road trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to face Westminster (3-5) in their second RMAC match of the season on Friday.  That will begin at 7 p.m. in the Griffins' Behnken Field House.

CMU then returns home for four straight, starting Friday, Sept. 22 against Regis, currently ranked 21^st in the American Volleyball Coaches Association' Division II Top 25 Poll.