GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.­— Led by a career-high 28 kills from junior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards and double-doubles from sophomore outside hitter Katie Scherr and sophomore setter Samantha Ritter, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team survived an Adams State University comeback to hold on for a 5-set (25-13, 25-18, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win, Friday night at Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks (10-3, 4-1 RMAC) have now won three straight 5-set matches this season and eight out of their last nine battles overall to reach double-figures for wins at the half-way point of the regular season.  The Grizzlies fell to 6-8 overall and to 2-3 in the RMAC with their first 5-set loss in three such matches this season.
 
Scherr finished the match with 15 kills and 12 digs, both new career marks and recorded three kills in a row to break open what was a tight 11-10 fifth set.  She then had the dig on the match-winning point, finished on a Ritter dump as the Mavericks survived.  Ritter finished with 47 assists and 12 digs to record her fifth double-double.
 
Taylor Woods led the Maverick defense with 21 digs, reaching double-figures for the 25^th straight match.  She was also just one assist shy of a double-double.
 
Natalee Todd was also in double-figures for the first time in her Maverick career with 11 kills.  She hit .391 with just two errors on 23 attempts while Scherr (.379) and Edwards (.357) also hit well.
 
Adams State's Hannah Goddard and Mallory Grimsrud had 12 kills apiece while Macie Magallon registered 10 on a solid .348 hitting night.  Rachel Ringler, who replaced a struggling Katelyn Schwartz mid-way through the first set at the setter position, finished with 34 assists for the Grizzlies while libero Gabrielle Timmen came up with 19 digs.
 
The Mavericks out-hit Adams .279 to .151 throughout the match and finished with a 66-53 edge in total kills and a 67-52 advantage in digs.
 
Edwards, who had matched her previous career-high of 25 kills by the end of the fourth set, had seven kills in the first set alone as the Grizzlies were in total control.  They hit .357 in that frame as the Grizzlies committed nine of their 29 hitting errors.
 
The Mavericks then used a 10-2 run to finish the second set, which the Grizzlies had led 16-15.
 
However, the Grizzlies clawed their way back holding a slim lead through much of the third set.  They had a 24-21 edge after a Hannah Goddard before Edwards and Scherr wiped out two of the visitors' three set points.  However, Magallon would finish off the set after a Grizzly timeout.
 
The fourth set was also nip-and-tuck in the early going and was tied seven times before a 4-0 Grizzly run broke a 13-13 deadlock.  The Mavericks would cut that 4-point deficit in half at 19-17 and again at 20-18 but would get no closer as the Grizzlies finished with a 5-3 run to send the match to a fifth.
 
The Mavericks then used a 4-0 spurt, including a Scherr service ace, to build an early 5-2 fifth-set lead.  Adams would claw back within one at 7-6 before another 3-1 put CMU in front 10-7.  Again, the Grizzlies did not go quietly and were able to get back within 11-10 before Scherr's heroic stretch helped the Mavericks finish off the thriller.
 
CMU, now 3-1 at home this season, will wrap up a 4-match home-stand on Saturday night when they host Fort Lewis.  The Skyhawks were 3-set winners at Western State Colorado in Gunnison and are now 7-6 overall and 2-3 in RMAC matches.