GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.­— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team used monster runs at the end of the first and second sets and another in the middle of the third to dispatch visiting Chadron State College in three quick sets (25-13, 25-15, 25-13), Saturday afternoon here in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks hit .374 as a team, their best such effort since 2014, as they bounced back from Friday night's loss to No. 14 Regis in fine fashion while improving to 9-3 overall and to 3-1 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  The win was their seventh win in the last eight outings. 
 
Chadron State, which was coming off a 3-0 win at Western State on Friday, fell to 4-8 overall and 1-3 in the Eagles as the Mavericks held them to just a .034 attack percentage.
 
MacKenzie Edwards led the Mavericks with 13 kills on .458 hitting.  She also added six digs and four of the Mavericks' seven service aces.  Meanwhile, Megan Gianinetti and Alyssa Chutka, put up nearly identical numbers with nine kills each.  Both committed just one hitting error and hit .533.  Chutka also added three blocks.
 
Sophomore setter Samantha Ritter tallied her fourth double-double of the season with 26 assists and 12 digs.  Taylor Woods also finished with 12 digs.
 
The Eagles, who have not defeated the Mavericks since 1995, were led by Dominika Senkerikova's eight kills.  However, she also had seven hitting errors.
 
The Mavericks finished with a 6-1 edge in blocks and had nearly twice as many kills (41-22) as the Eagles.
 
The first set was tied five different times in the early going before the Mavericks ended the set on a massive 14-2 run, including a 5-0 stretch at the end.
 
Gianinetti had six kills in that set.
 
The second set was similar and was tied at 10 before the Mavericks scored 15 of the final 20 points to pull away.  Edwards finished that frame with five kills on just seven swings.
 
Chutka, who got her first RMAC start of the year, then started a 6-0 Maverick run early in the third set with back-to-back kills.  That spurt put the Mavericks up 10-3.  Chadron would get the next two points to pull within 10-5 before another extended 12-5 Maverick run helped put the match out of reach.
 
The Mavericks will remain at home next weekend facing Adams State and Fort Lewis on Friday (Sept. 29) and Saturday (Sept. 30), respectively.  Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.