GOLDEN, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team came one point shy of a 3-set sweep of 15^th ranked Cal State-San Bernardino, instead dropping a 5-set heart-breaker to the Coyotes, Saturday evening in the Mavericks' final match of the Oredigger Classic, here in the Colorado School of Mines' Lockridge Arena.
 
The Mavericks finished the weekend with a 2-2 mark while the Coyotes, who beat No. 13 Wayne State (Neb.) earlier in the day went 3-1 in the weekend tournament.
 
Leading two sets to none and 24-22 in the third, the Mavericks failed to convert on the first of their two match-points before earning a third on a Katie Scherr kill to go up 25-24.  However, a second costly service error allowed the Coyotes to equalize at 25.  The Coyotes then went up 26-25 before a MacKenzie Edwards kill knotted the set at 26.
 
However, the Coyotes would get kills from Lydia Morohunfola and Moira Murphy to win the frame.
 
The Coyotes then rolled to a 25-10 fourth-set win to force a fifth set, which saw them take a 7-3 lead.
 
The Mavericks would mount a mini-comeback of their own pulling within two at 8-6, 9-7 and 10-8 but could not get over the hump as another 4-1 Coyote run put the match, eventually ended by an exchange of kills by Edwards and San Bernardino's Hailey Jackson, out of reach.
 
Edwards finished the match with 17 kills to lead all players.  Scherr was also in double figures with 11 while Natalee Todd and Megan Gianinetti had nine kills apiece.
 
Murphy paced the Coyotes with 13 kills while Jackson chipped in 12.
 
Defensively, the Mavericks were paced by junior libero Taylor Woods, who had a season-high 19 digs.  Edwards had 10 digs to go along with a match and career-high four service aces.
 
Maverick setter Samantha Ritter registered a career-high 47 assists, five more than her Coyote counterpart Diane Maile.  Ritter also had eight digs and five kills on a .444 hitting effort. 
 
Earlier in the day, the Mavericks had swept Texas Woman's University in three sets.  They will play the Pioneers again next Saturday in their last of four matches at the Lubbock Christian (Texas) University Chap Classic that gets underway Thursday (Sept. 7) against the hosts at 5 p.m. CDT.  The Mavericks also play Eastern New Mexico and Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday before starting Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at home on Tuesday, Sept. 12 against Western State Colorado.