GOLDEN, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Volleyball team will play in their third Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament title match in the last five years when they face MSU Denver at 6 p.m. Saturday evening in the Colorado School of Mines' Lockridge Arena.
 
The third-seeded Mavericks (22-6 overall) earned their spot in the final with a 4-set win over Dixie State in the first semifinal on Friday evening while the fourth-seeded Roadrunners (21-8) came from two sets down to defeat the host and No. 1 seed Ordiggers in five.  They overcame four match points and won the third set by a 33-31 margin before winning the fourth and taking the fifth, 15-12.
 
In the regular season, both teams went 15-3 to finish in a tie for third place in the RMAC's final standings.
 
Live statistics and a video stream of Saturday's Championship match, as well as other tournament information can be found by clicking on the associated links.
 
Saturday's title match will be a re-match of the 2014 Championship match, which the Mavericks won in three sets in their Brownson Arena to claim their only previous RMAC Tournament championship.
 
The Mavericks will enter the match as winners of five straight matches and seven of their last eight.  MSU Denver has won six straight.
 
The winner of Saturday's match will earn the RMAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament although the Mavericks will likely earn one of the five at-large spots from the South Central Region, which is made up of the RMAC, Heartland and Lone State Conferences, even if they were to fall.
 
Giving Dixie State a dose of their own medicine
 
The Mavericks recorded 18 total blocks in Friday night's win over Dixie State, which came into the match as the top blocking team in the NCAA Division II National Statistics.  The Mavericks' blocking total was their best since recording the same number in a 5-set match against Regis on Oct. 7, 2006 and set a new rally-scoring era (2001-Present) school-record for blocks in a 4-set match.  Kasie Gilfert was involved in 14 of those blocks to set a rally-scoring era school-record for individual blocks in a match.
 
Blocking has been key all season
 
Friday's blocking allowed the Mavericks to raise their season total to 246.  They are now averaging 2.44 per set.  Through Thursday night matches, the Mavericks ranked 18^th in the nation at and second in the conference at 2.35 per behind only Dixie State, which was leading the nation at 2.97 per set.
 
The 2.44 per set average would rank the Mavericks' 14^th in the day-old national statistics, which are updated on weekday mornings and have them on pace to have the program's best blocking season since 2003, when they averaged 2.57 blocks per set to set a rally-scoring era school-record.
 
In 2017, the Mavericks finished just 13^th in the RMAC for blocking with a 1.53 per set average.  They recorded 148 team blocks that year.
 
4-set national blocking leader
 
Kasie Gilfert's 14 blocks, which included three solos, were the most of any NCAA Division II player in a 4-set match throughout the entire 2018 season.  The total is also equal to the highest for any Division II player in any length match this year.
 
The next one is a record
 
With her 14 blocks on Friday, Gilfert zoomed up seven spots from a tie for eighth into a tie for first on the CMU's rally-scoring era charts for single-season blocks.  Gilfert now has 116 this season, equal to Lauren Powley's 2003 season total.  Gilfert is now averaging 1.15 per set this season to rank third in the conference.
 
100-block pair?
 
Teammate Camille Smith added three blocks on Friday and now has 95, an average of 0.94 per set that ranks her ninth in the RMAC.
 
If Smith can record five more blocks in Saturday's conference tournament championship or the NCAA Tournament, she would allow the Mavericks to have a pair of players reach 100 blocks for just the third time in their rally-scoring history.  Abby Ney (103) and Melissa Hess (102) were the last pair to reach triple-digits in 2014.  Powley and Rosa Masler (106) accomplished the feat in 2003.
 
Tourney time means Edwards time
 
Senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards led the Mavericks and all players with 14 kills in Friday's RMAC Tournament semifinal.  She also had a match-high 10 kills in Tuesday's quarterfinal round sweep of Colorado Christian and has now been in double-figures 14 times this season and 61 times in her career.
 
Edwards, a 3-time (2x First Team) All-RMAC selection and 2017 Honorable Mention AVCA All-American, has now led the Mavericks in kills in four straight RMAC Tournament and five straight post-season matches over the last three years.   She had a then career and match-high 25 kills in the Mavericks' last NCAA Tournament match, a 5-setter against MSU Denver in the opening round of the 2016 South Central Regional and tallied a match-high 14 against the Roadrunners in last year's RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal, which the Roadrunners won in Denver.
 
Earlier this season, Edwards became just the sixth Maverick in the rally scoring era to surpass 1,000 career kills.  She now has 1,094, including 255 this year, and ranks fifth in the rally scoring era for career kills.  Her 2018 total is second best on the Maverick squad only to Gilfert, who is second in the RMAC with 375 kills this season.
 
2K Libero extends the streak to 34
 
Maverick senior libero Taylor Woods became just the second CMU player of all-time to reach the 2,000 career dig milestone on Tuesday night when the Glendale, Arizona native recorded a team-high 13 digs in the quarterfinal win over Colorado Christian.  She added 12 more in Friday's semifinal win over Dixie State and now has 2,015 career digs.  She ranks 13^th amongst active Division II players and leads all active RMAC players in that category.
 
Woods has had 20 or more digs nine times this season while finishing in double-figures in all 28 matches of the campaign.  She has also been in double-figures in 34 straight matches over the last two seasons and all but one of her last 67 matches.  She has been in double figures in 106 of her 111 career matches.
 
Woods has racked up 492 digs this season and ranks fourth in the RMAC with her 4.87 per set average.  However, she ranks first amongst players on a RMAC Tournament qualifying squad.
 
She is also averaging 4.91 digs per set throughout her career and will smash the current rally-scoring era school record of 4.03, set by Ashley Loftsgard in her 2005-08 career.  Woods is also on pace to break CMU's all-time record for digs per set/game, a mark currently held by Lauren Freeman at 4.84, who played for the Mavs in 1992 and 1993.
 
Only Amy Miller, a CMU Hall of Honor inductee (2005) and 2011 RMAC Hall of Fame, has more career digs than Woods.  Miller set the all-time school-record of 2,542 from 1991-94, in a time when squads played under the side-out scoring system and typically played significantly more matches than they currently do.
 
As an example, the Mavericks played 51 matches in 1991 and 45 in 1994.  The Mavericks have played 28 matches this season and would only play 35 even if they were to advance all the way to the championship match of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Digging 500
 
Woods is now just eight digs shy of recording what would her third career 500-dig season.  She is already the only Maverick to have two different 500-dig seasons in the rally-scoring era.  She tallied 552 in 105 sets as a freshman in 2015 to earn RMAC and AVCA South Central Region Freshman of the Year honors and then finished with 504 digs in 107 sets as a sophomore in 2016.  She had 467 digs in 97 sets last year.
 
Her previous totals rank her fourth, sixth and ninth in the Mavericks' rally-scoring era single-season record books.  Her total this year is already seventh best.
 
New Ace Leader
 
In addition to her milestone dig night on Tuesday, Taylor Woods also had a solid match from behind the service line on Tuesday.  She recorded six of the Mavericks' eight aces, just one shy of her career-high that she had set on Oct. 27 at Mines.  In the process, Woods zoomed up three spots to take over the RMAC lead in both total service aces and per set average entering the RMAC Tournament.
 
She then recorded two more aces in the semifinal win over Dixie State and continues to lead the RMAC with 40 aces and per set average of 0.40 entering the RMAC Tournament Championship match.
 
Woods now has 112 aces in her 111-match career and moved past Megan Rush (107, 2009-12) into second place on the Mavericks' rally-scoring career aces chart behind only Drew Choules (153, 2004-07) on Tuesday.
 
Get out the brooms
 
The Mavericks have won 15 of their matches in straight-set sweeps this season.  The Mavericks are 15-1 in 3-set matches, having been swept just once (Rockhurst).  That 15-1, 3-set mark is the best in the RMAC this season.
 
One of those 3-set victories (25-16, 25-20, 25-18) came over MSU Denver back on Sept. 22.
 
Prestigious honors
 
The Mavericks had five players and their coach recognized on the RMAC's post-season awards list, which was announced Tuesday morning.
 
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker/right side Kasie Gilfert, named as the RMAC Player of the Year, and Coach Dave Fleming, named as the Co-Coach of the Year, led the group with junior middle blocker Camille Smith joining Gilfert on the First Team All-RMAC squad.
 
Senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards and senior libero Taylor Woods, who now have seven career all-RMAC plaudits between them, were both second team selections while sophomore setter Ara Norwood received honorable mention status.
 
Gilfert is the first Maverick since Amy Miller (1994) to ever receive the player of the year nod. 
 
Fleming now has three career RMAC Coach of the Year accolades (2009, 2014).
 
Meanwhile, Woods became CMU's first 4-time All-RMAC selection since Miller (1991-94).  There were no liberos selected to the first team this year.  Woods was a first team pick as well as the RMAC and AVCA South Central Regional Freshman of the Year in 2015 and has been a Second Team All-RMAC pick each of the last three years. 
 
Edwards was a first team pick in both 2016 and 2017 and now has three career All-RMAC plaudits.
 
Norwood joins fellow setter Samantha Ritter, a 2017 selection, as Maverick setters to receive honorable mention recognition.
 
Double-Double count mounting
 
Both Ara Norwood and Samantha Ritter recorded double-doubles in Friday's semifinal win.  Both players finished with 22 assists while Norwood led the team with 13 digs, one more than Ritter.
 
Ritter now has seven double-doubles this season to share the team lead with MacKenzie Edwards.  Norwood has five while Katie Scherr has chipped in two giving the Mavericks 21 total double-doubles this year.
 
Crunching the post-season numbers & Roadrunner rivalry
 
The Mavericks, who had been bounced in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 and 2017 RMAC Tournaments, have now advanced to the championship match for the third time in the last five years.  In 2015, the Mavericks defeated Western Colorado at home in the quarterfinals before knocking off MSU Denver in the semifinals, which were played in Golden, before falling to the host Orediggers in the championship.
 
In 2014, the Mavericks were the top seed and won all three of their home matches to win the tournament title after sharing the regular season crown.
 
The Mavericks are now 13-11 in the RMAC Tournament under 14^th year Head Coach Dave Fleming and have gone 5-2 in semifinal round matches, winning their last three.
 
The Mavericks are 1-3 in the championship match under Fleming having dropped the 2006 and 2008 title matches to MSU Denver and Regis, respectively, before their last final in 2015 against Mines.
 
They Mavericks are 8-18 against MSU Denver under Fleming and have played them six times in the RMAC Tournament under his direction, posting a 2-4 record in those matches while splitting the previous two championship match meetings.
 
Dominant teams meet again
 
The Mavericks will be making their third RMAC Championship match appearance in the last five years, the most such appearances of any RMAC team other than their opponent— MSU Denver. 
 
The Roadrunners will be in the finals for the fifth time in the last six years having advancing, but falling, in the finals in 2014, 2016 and 2017.  They also won the 2013 title as the No. 7 seed in Golden to claim the last of their six RMAC Tournament tiles, a total that is the highest of any current RMAC member (Nebraska-Kearney, 8).
 
They lost to the host Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in the 2016 RMAC Tournament Championship and dropped a match to the Regis University Rangers last year after falling in three sets to the Mavericks in Grand Junction back in 2014.
 
Last time we met
 
The Mavericks out-hit MSU Denver .270 to .098 in the only previous meeting of this season back on Sept. 22 in Grand Junction.  That victory snapped a run of six straight losses to the Roadrunners in 2016 and 2017.  However, the Mavericks had won the previous four match-ups with the Roadrunners, including the 2015 RMAC Tournament semifinal in Golden and the 2014 RMAC Tournament Championship in Grand Junction.
 
In the Sept. 22, match, MacKenzie Edwards led all players with 13 kills while hitting .333.  Katie Scherr chipped in another 12 kills while Samantha Ritter had a 15-assist, 12-dig double-double.  Taylor Woods had a team-high 14 digs.
 
Santaisha Sturges was the only Roadrunner in double-figures for kills, finishing with 10.
 
Home-court advantage
 
Tuesday's match was CMU's first in the friendly confines of Brownson Arena in span of 24 days.  The Mavericks, who had been on the road for their final five regular season matches over three weekends, won nine out of 10 at home this year, claiming seven of those victories in straight sets.  The Mavericks dropped just six total sets at home while winning 28.
 
The Mavericks have posted winning records at home in each of the last six years, going a combined 60-18 (.769) at home during that time, highlighted by a 15-1 home record in their 2014 RMAC Championship season and 9-1 home-court marks in both 2015 and this year.
 
Neutral-court success

The Mavericks have also fared well in neutral-site match-ups, going 5-2 this year.  The Roadrunners are 2-1 on a neutral-court this season.
 
National lead and record pace
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Kasie Gilfert was held to a .227 hitting effort on Friday night but is still hitting an impressive .452 on the season.  That mark continues to be good for a massive 41-point lead in the NCAA Division II statistics over Sascha Dominique of top-ranked Cal State-San Bernardino, who is now hitting .411 after being held to a .143 clip in a CCAA Semifinal win over Cal State-L.A. on Friday.
 
Gilfert also leads all other 4-year college volleyball players in the country. 
 
NCAA Division I leader Dana Rettke of Wisconsin was hitting .434 through Thursday while Division III leader Julianne Malek of Washington-St. Louis was hitting at a .438 clip through Thursday.  The NAIA statistical leader is Lydia Xu of Viterbo (Wis.), who is also hitting .438.
 
Gilfert has recorded 375 kills while committing just 66 errors in 684 attempts and has hit at a .500 clip or higher in 12 different matches this season.
 
Teammate Camille Smith was ranked 29th in the NCAA Division II statistics for hitting percentage at .372 after Thursday's matches.  She hit .389 in Friday's win over Dixie State to raise her average to .373, which ranks her third in the conference as Colorado Christian's Hope Baldrica (.378) now meets the RMAC minimum of three attempts for every team set after missing about half the season.
 
Gilfert's .452 clip would be tied for the ninth best in NCAA Division II since 2008, when college volleyball moved to a 25-point set format.
 
It will also likely allow her to break both the Maverick and RMAC records for single-season hitting percentage.
 
The current RMAC record is .417, set by Nebraska-Kearney standout Erin Gudmundson in 2004.  The 31-year old Maverick record is .389, set by Phyllis Jennings in 1987.  Melissa Hess holds CMU's rally-scoring era (2001-Present) record of .371, set in 2014.  Both Gilfert and Smith are currently head of that mark.
 
Deep diving into the regional rankings
 
The Mavericks remained in the No. 5 spot of the latest NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings, which were released on Wednesday.  Those rankings, which will be updated after this weekend's conference tournaments eventually determine the at-large selections and seeding for the 8-team regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  Those Mavericks sat seventh in the initial set of rankings on Oct. 24 and moved up to fifth on Oct. 31 after their 5-set win at the Colorado School of Mines.
 
Tarleton State (29-3) has been in the top spot of all three editions of the rankings but saw their 24-match winning streak snapped last Saturday at unranked Texas-Permian Basin, which had also knocked off sixth-ranked Angelo State last Friday.  The TexAnns, ranked 12^th nationally, have recovered in the Lone Star Conference Tournament that they are hosting this weekend, posting wins over Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M in the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce (27-5), the second seed in that tournament, has remained ranked second in the region.  The Lady Lions defeated Texas-Permian Basin Falcons in the quarterfinal round of the LSC Tournament and then advanced to the finals for the first time since 1994 with a 3-2 semifinal win over Texas A&M-Kingsville.  The nation's No. 22 Lady Lions have now won 10 straight matches and hold the longest active winning streak in the region.
 
The Colorado School of Mines Orediggers (23-5) have been third in all three set editions of the regional rankings but are now out of the RMAC Tournament after squandering four match points to MSU Denver in Friday's semifinal.  They are just 2-2 in their last four matches.
 
Dixie State (22-5) moved up a spot to fourth in last week's rankings and remained there before falling to the Mavericks on Friday.  The Trailblazers have won two of the three meetings with the Mavericks.
 
Angelo State (22-9), which had been ranked fourth in the initial set of rankings before sliding two spots to sixth last week, remained in the No. 6 spot of this week's rankings but are now very nervous after being knocked off by Kingsville in the quarterfinals of the LSC Tournament on Thursday.  The Belles have lost two of their last three and are just 5-5 in their last 10.
 
Regis (19-10) slipped two spots to seventh in the second set of rankings and are also on pins and needles after falling to eight-ranked MSU Denver in the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Tournament, a match that ended their regular season.  Tuesday's loss was not factored into this week's regional rankings, which are based on matches through Sunday, but will become Sunday's tournament selection announcement.  However, the Rangers still have won two of the three head-to-head meetings with MSU Denver (21-8), which has now won six straight matches while trying to secure what would be a 19^th straight NCAA Division II National Tournament appearance.
 
The only change in this week's rankings came at the bottom as Lubbock Christian moved up one spot to ninth while flip-flopping with West Texas A&M, which is now ranked tenth.  The Lady Chaps are hosting the 4-team Heartland Conference Tournament this weekend but fell to fourth-seeded St. Edward's in Friday's semifinal while falling to 21-9 while likely seeing their season come to an end.
 
West Texas A&M, now 19-13, had been ninth in the first two sets of the regional rankings, opened the LSC Tournament with a win over Texas Woman's on Thursday before going down 3-0 to Tarleton on Friday and is in jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament for just the fifth time in the last 31 years.
 
St. Edward's and Arkansas-Fort Smith, which won the other Heartland semifinal over St. Mary's on Friday will play for that conference's automatic berth into the national tournament.  Neither was ranked in the top 10 of the region but will "steal" away a spot from one of the other ranked teams as the tournament champions from all three conferences earn automatic spots in the regional, which will begin on Nov. 14 or 15.  The other five qualifying teams will be selected at-large and will be announced on a live selection show to be aired on Sunday at 8 p.m. MST on www.ncaa.com.
 
The Mavericks are looking very good for their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.  If they are selected, it would mark the fourth time in the last five years.
 
Receiving votes in the polls
 
Last Friday's victory over Western Colorado, has helped keep the Mavericks in the "others receiving votes" category of this week's AVCA Division II Coaches Poll.  The Mavericks have now been in that category five different times this season, including the preseason.  CMU now has six points, one more than a week ago, and is one of three RMAC teams in the category along with Mines (28 points) and Dixie State (19).
 
All but one of the Maverick's six losses have come against teams currently in the top 25 or in the others receiving votes category.  The Mavs also have four wins against those teams.
 
20 win seasons
 
Thanks to last Friday's 3-set sweep at Western on Friday, the Mavericks reached the 20-win mark for the fifth time under 14^th year Head Coach Dave Fleming and for the 10th time in their NCAA Division II history, which dates back to 1992.  The Mavericks also had nine 20-win seasons in their NAIA history. 
 
Prior to this year, the Mavericks last won 20 matches in 2014 when they went 29-4 after a 21-8 2013 season.  The Mavericks also won at least 20 matches in 2010 (20-9) and 23 in 2005 (23-7), Fleming's first season.
 
Great Leadership
 
Dave Fleming is in in 14^th year as the Mavericks' head coach and earned his 250^th career win on Sept. 7 against CSU-Pueblo.  He and the Mavericks have since won 16 more matches. He now has a 266-147 career record, good for a .644 career winning percentage.
 
Fleming took over the helm of the program in 2005 and is just the fourth head coach in the program's 34-year history.  He has guided the Mavericks to six NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, a 2014 RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and three RMAC West Division crowns.  The Mavericks have had winning seasons in all but one of his years with the program and have reached the 20-win mark five times.
 
He has now been honored as the RMAC Coach of the Year three times in his career (2009, 2014, 2018).
 
Tough D
 
After holding Colorado Christian to a .080 team hitting percentage on Tuesday, the Mavericks held Dixie State to a .093 mark on Friday night.  In the process, they lowered their season-long opponent hitting percentage another point to .122, six points better than Dixie State's mark of .128 to lead the RMAC statistics.
 
MSU Denver is third in the RMAC for opponent hitting percentage at .136 coming into Saturday's championship match.
 
Coming into Friday's match, the Mavericks ranked 15^th nationally and first in the South Central Region.
 
The Mavericks have held opponents to a sub-.100 team hitting percentage 15 times this season and have done so 13 times in their current 20-from-23 winning stretch.
 
They are 15-0 this year when holding their opponents below .100. 
 
Bettering the Pre-Season Picks
 
The Mavericks finished tied for the third in the RMAC regular season standings after being predicted to finish fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this year, according to the conference preseason coaches' poll.  They received 173 points in the polling of the conference's 16 head coaches after their 17-10 (11-7 RMAC) 2017 season that saw them finish sixth in the conference's regular season standings. 
 
Smart kids
 
Led by RMAC Academic Player of the Year Taylor Woods, the Maverick volleyball team had nine players selected to the RMAC All-Academic Team, which was announced last week.  To be eligible for selection, a student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA or 3.30 or higher, used a season of competition and been at the nominating institution for a year.  Sports Information Directors from the conference selected the 14-member first team, which included Woods and senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards, based on a combination of athletic and accomplishments.  Qualified student-athletes not selected to the first team receive honor roll status.
 
Woods, a senior elementary education major who holds a 3.870 GPA, is the first Maverick to ever earn the prestigious honor, which dates back to 2007.  She and Edwards, a mass communications major with a 3.916 GPA, have now been first team picks in each of the last three years.
 
The Mavs' honor roll selections were Julia Baskin (3.935 GPA, Sport Management), Hailey Crane (3.385, Psychology), Ara Norwood (3.706, Kinesiology/Fitness & Health Promotion), Samantha Ritter (3.459, Biology), Katie Scherr (3.475, Physical Education), Allison Smith (3.525, Biology) and Natalee Todd (3.722, Exercise Science).  Todd is now a 4-time honoree while Baskin, Crane, Ritter and Scherr have all earned two RMAC All-Academic plaudits in their respective careers.
 
In-Season Honors
 
Tuesday's RMAC post-season awards were not the only ones that CMU players have earned so far this season.  The Mavericks had two Preseason All-RMAC selections in seniors MacKenzie Edwards, a returning AVCA Honorable Mention All-America outside hitter, and libero Taylor Woods.  Edwards was a First Team All-RMAC selection last year while Woods earned second team honors for the second straight year in 2017. 
 
Woods was also recognized as the RMAC's Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 27 for her efforts at the Concordia Invitational.
 
Meanwhile, Kasie Gilfert was named to the all-tournament team at the Concordia Invitational while both Gilfert and MacKenzie Edwards earned all-tournament honors at the Rockhurst Volleyball Classic.
 
Gilfert was then named as the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 1, Oct. 8 and Oct. 29 and was also tabbed as PrepVolleyball.com's Non-Division I National Player of the Week honor on Oct. 3 for her efforts in the Mavericks' Sept. 29 and 30 victories over then nationally-ranked Regis and Colorado Christian the weekend before.   She then was selected as the AVCA Division II Player of the Week last Tuesday (Oct. 30) for her efforts at UCCS and the Colorado School of Mines, becoming the first Maverick to ever earn the honor.
 
About MSU Denver
 
The Roadrunners have been in survival mode as of late as they try to work their way into the NCAA Tournament for a 19^th straight time.  They have won six straight matches and have the longest winning streak in the conference coming into Saturday's title match.
 
They overcame four match points in the third set of a 5-set thriller on Friday at Mines, winning that set 33-31.  They also withstood cross-town rival Regis on Tuesday night after ending the regular season with a pair of wins over Chadron State.
 
The Roadrunners (21-8 overall), are currently ranked eighth in the South Central Regional rankings.  They finished 15-3 in conference play to tie the Mavericks for third place but were the No. 4 seed because of the regular season loss to the Mavericks.
 
They currently rank fifth in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .217, two spots and nine points behind the Mavericks, who are hitting .226 on the year.  They are third in the RMAC for opponent hitting percentage at .136 and rank third in blocking with a 2.23 per set average while setting second for digs after averaging 17.48 in their 103 total sets.
 
Individually, Taylor Duryea paces Coach Jenny Glenn's squad with 359 kills to rank third in the RMAC for kills per set at 3.49.  Santaisha Sturges is ninth in that category at 3.08 while Alyssa Kelling is 10^th in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .289 and fourth in total blocks with 107, a 1.04 per set average.
 
Duryea and Sturges, who were both named to the First Team All-RMAC squad, also have 30 aces each to help the Roadrunners sit fifth in the RMAC for aces per set at 1.41.
 
Duryea (4.05) and Sturges (3.51) are also ranked fourth and eighth in the RMAC for points per set.
 
Kelling and Stephanie Laraway were Second Team All-RMAC selections this year.
 
Up next
 
After Saturday's championship match, the Mavericks will turn their attention to what will likely be their eighth NCAA Division II Tournament and ninth overall national tournament appearance in program history.  The Mavericks have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four years (2014, 2015, 2016) and also made NCAA Tournament appearances in four straight years from 2004-2007.
 
They played in the NIT Tournament in 1994 as well.
 
The selection show for this year's tournament will be held on Sunday evening at 8 p.m. MST and can be seen on www.ncaa.com at that time.