GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick Volleyball team will play in the opening match of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional, starting Thursday against a familiar RMAC foe in Dixie State University.
 
Thursday's match, to be played in Tarleton State University's Wisdom Gym in Stephenville, Texas, will be the fourth meeting of the season between the teams.  The Mavericks, 23-6 overall, earned the third seed in the regional while Dixie State (22-5) is the No. 6 seed.
 
First serve is slated for noon CST (11 a.m. Mountain) and 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.
 
The match will be a re-match of last Friday's RMAC Tournament semifinal, which the Mavericks won in four sets.  Dixie State had won both of the regular season meetings between the teams.
 
The winner of Thursday's match will advance to the second round on Friday at 5 p.m. CST (4 p.m. Mountain) against the winner of the second quarterfinal between second-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 7 seed Angelo State, which both hail from the Lone Star Conference.  Texas A&M-Commerce won the Lone Star Conference Tournament after finishing second in the regular season while Angelo State finished third in the regular season before losing their opening match of the LSC Tournament.
 
Saturday's regional championship will commence at 4 p.m. CST (3 p.m. Mountain) with the winner moving on to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  
 
The other half of the bracket incudes the host and top-seeded TexAnns, who will face No. 8 seed Arkansas-Fort Smith, and RMAC representatives Colorado School of Mines and MSU Denver, who will play each other in a re-match of the other RMAC Tournament semifinal.  Tarleton State won the LSC's Regular Season title but dropped the conference tournament final to Texas A&M-Commerce while Arkansas-Fort Smith claimed the Heartland Conference Tournament crown to earn a berth in the regional.  Mines shared the RMAC's regular season title with Dixie State but was knocked out of the RMAC Tournament in the semifinals by MSU Denver, which advanced to the finals before falling to the Mavericks in three sets on Saturday.
 
Seven other regions are also playing their 8-team regional tournaments throughout the weekend around the country.
 
Appearance No. 8
 
The Mavericks are making their eighth NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in program history.  They have gone a combined 6-7 in their previous appearances and have qualified for the tournament in four of the last five years (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018) after making four consecutive appearances from 2004-07.
 
The Mavericks hosted the South Central in 2014 winning their first two matches before falling to Arkansas-Fort Smith in the regional final.  The Mavericks also advanced to the regional final in 2006 while winning their first round matches in both 2005 and 2015.
 
Thursday's NCAA Tournament match will be the 13^th for 14^th year head coach Dave Fleming, who has now guided the program to seven qualifications.  He is 6-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament after taking over the program for coaching legend Rusty Crick, who retired following the 2004 season.
 
This season has been played as a tribute to Crick, who passed away in April.
 
The Mavericks qualified for the 2004 NCAA Tournament in Crick's final year and also went to the 1994 NIT Tournament under his direction.
 
Against the field
 
The Mavericks are a combined 4-2 against the rest of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional field this year.  All of those six matches have come against the other three RMAC squads in the tournament.  The Mavericks went 1-0 against Mines, 2-0 against MSU Denver and 1-2 against Dixie State.
 
The Mavericks also went 1-3 against teams selected for the NCAA Tournament in other regions, posting a victory over Cal Poly Pomona, which earned the No. 4 seed in the West Region. The Mavericks also played West No. 3 seed Cal State-L.A., West No. 5 Azusa Pacific and Midwest No. 3 Rockhurst over the first two weekends of the campaign in early season tournaments.
 
Winning Streak
 
The Mavericks will enter the NCAA Tournament as winners of six straight matches and eight of their last nine matches.  That winning streak is the second longest in the regional, second only to Texas A&M-Commerce's 11-match winning streak.
 
No back-to-back defeats
 
No matter what happens in the NCAA Tournament, the Mavericks will have gone this entire season without losing back-to-back matches.  The Mavericks are a perfect 6-0 in "bounce back" matches this season after their losses.
 
Dixie State can also claim the same accomplishment to this point as the Trailblazers have won each of their five matches played after a loss.
 
Tourney title No. 2
 
CMU won the RMAC Tournament for the second time in program history on Saturday with a 3-set sweep of MSU Denver in Golden, Colorado.  The Mavericks hosted and won the 2014 RMAC Tournament for their first such title.
 
In this year's tournament, the Mavericks were seeded third after posting a 15-3 RMAC regular season record.  They defeated sixth-seeded Colorado Christian in three sets at home in Grand Junction, Colo. on Tuesday, Nov. 6 to earn their first post-season win in three years before knocking off second-seeded Dixie State on Friday (Nov. 9) in the semifinal round, also played in Golden.  MSU Denver was seeded fourth.
 
All-Tourney Honors
 
After recording 27 kills and 16 blocks while hitting .382 in the Mavericks' three tournament matches, redshirt sophomore Kasie Gilfert was named as the RMAC Tournament's MVP, which backed up her RMAC Player of the Year nod, handed out last week.  Gilfert was joined by three Maverick teammates on the RMAC All-Tournament team with senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards, senior libero Taylor Woods and sophomore setter Ara Norwood also earning the recognition.
 
Edwards also put down 27 kills and had 28 digs and five blocks throughout the tournament while Woods recorded 40 digs and six service aces.  Norwood had 53 assists and 26 digs in the three matches.
 
Giving Dixie State a dose of their own medicine
 
The Mavericks recorded 18 total blocks in last Friday night's RMAC Tournament 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.
 
Dixie State managed just seven blocks in that match against the Mavericks and slipped slightly to the No. 2 spot in the national statistics at 2.93 per set.  South Central Regional host Tarleton State now leads the country with 2.96 blocks per set.
 
Blocking has been key all season
 
The Mavericks also recorded nine blocks in Saturday's 3-set RMAC Championship match win over MSU Denver and raised their season total to 255.  They are now averaging 2.45 per set and enter the NCAA Tournament ranked 15th in the nation at and second in the conference behind only Dixie State.
 
The 2.45 per set average has the Mavericks 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 during their 17-10 season that year.
 
4-set national blocking leader
 
Kasie Gilfert's 14 blocks in Friday's semifinal, 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 Mavs' 18 team blocks on Friday was equal to the fourth highest 4-set match total in Division II this year.
 
Gilfert sets 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.  She then broke that mark on Saturday when she recorded a block in the second set of the RMAC Tournament championship match against MSU Denver.
 
Gilfert now has 117 total blocks this season, one more than Lauren Powley's 2003 season total.  Gilfert is now averaging 1.12 per set this season to rank third in the RMAC.
 
Dynamic Duo
 
Teammate Camille Smith added a match-high six blocks on Saturday and now has 101, an average of 0.97 per set that ranks her sixth in the RMAC.  She moved up three spots with her Saturday night effort, which was her equal to her third best of the season.
 
In the process, the Mavericks now have a pair of players reach 100 blocks in the same season 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.
 
Prior to Saturday when Kasie Gilfert and Camille Smith co-lead the Mavericks with 10 kills apiece, Edwards, a 3-time (2x First Team) All-RMAC selection and 2017 Honorable Mention AVCA All-American, had led the Mavericks in kills in four straight RMAC Tournament and five straight post-season matches over the last three years.   She also had a match-high 25 kills, which at the time was also a career-high, in the Mavericks' last NCAA Tournament match, a 5-setter against MSU Denver in the opening round of the 2016 South Central Regional.
 
Earlier this season, Edwards became just the sixth Maverick in the rally scoring era to surpass 1,000 career kills.  She now has 1,097, including 258 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 385 kills this season.
 
2K Libero extends the streak to 35
 
Maverick senior libero Taylor Woods became just the second CMU player of all-time to reach the 2,000 career dig milestone last Tuesday when the Glendale, Arizona native recorded a team-high 13 digs in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinal win over Colorado Christian.  She added 12 more in Friday's semifinal win over Dixie State and then registered 15 in the championship against MSU Denver and now has 2,030 career digs.  She ranks 14^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 29 matches of the campaign.  She has also been in double-figures in 35 straight matches over the last two seasons and all but one of her last 68 matches.  She has been in double figures in 107 of her 112 career matches.
 
Woods has racked up 507 digs this season and ranks fourth in the RMAC with her 4.88 per set average.  However, she ranks first amongst players on a RMAC Tournament qualifying squad.
 
She is also averaging 4.92 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 29 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
 
With her 15 digs on Saturday, Woods also completed her third career 500-dig season.  She was already the only Maverick to have two different 500-dig seasons in the rally-scoring era.  She tallied 552 digs 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, seventh and ninth in the Mavericks' rally-scoring era single-season record books.  Her total this year is already sixth best in that time.
 
New Ace Leader
 
In addition to her milestone dig night last Tuesday, Taylor Woods also had a solid match from behind the service line against Colorado Christian.  She recorded six of the Mavericks' eight aces, just one shy of her career-high that eight, which 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 four more in the tournament final against MSU Denver while continuing to expand her lead in the RMAC.  She now has 44 aces and 0.42 per set average entering the NCAA Tournament.
 
Woods now has 116 aces in her 112-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) last Tuesday.
 
This year's total of 44 has moved Woods into third place on the Mavs' single-season charts in the rally scoring era and is just one behind Jeanette Crosbie's No. 2 mark of 45, set in 2002.  Choules holds the single-season record of 69, set during her 2005 sophomore season.
 
Get out the brooms
 
The Mavericks have now won 16 of their matches in straight-set sweeps this season.  The Mavericks are 16-1 in 3-set matches, having been swept just once (Rockhurst).  That 16-1, 3-set mark is the best in the RMAC this season.
 
Prestigious honors
 
The Mavericks had five players and their coach recognized on the RMAC's post-season awards list, which was announced last week.
 
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 over Dixie State.  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.
 
Home-court advantage
 
Last Tuesday's match against Colorado Christian 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 8-2 this year.  The Mavs have won six straight neutral-court matches.  Dixie State is 1-2 on a neutral court this season.
 
Texas Wins
 
The Mavericks have also fared well in Texas over the last few years going a combined 9-2 in the Lone Star state since 2015, which spans the careers of the Maverick seniors.  The Mavericks went a perfect 4-0 in 2016 at Tarleton State's early season tournament and posted a 4-0 mark at Lubbock Christian's tournament a year ago.  The Mavericks played in the 2015 and 2016 South Central Regionals that were played in San Angelo, Texas and went a combined 1-2.
 
National lead and record pace
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Kasie Gilfert hit at a .500 clip in Saturday's RMAC Tournament Championship match against MSU Denver as she put down 10 kills with just one hitting error on 18 attempts.
 
In the process, she raised her impressive season-long hitting percentage a point to. 453.  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 .412.
 
Gilfert also leads all other 4-year college volleyball players in the country. 
 
Sharonda Pickering of Florida Gulf Coast has re-taken the NCAA Division I lead and is hitting .439 while Division III leader Julianne Malek of Washington-St. Louis was hitting at a .438 clip.  The new NAIA statistical leader is Nyssa Baker of Indiana-Kokomo, who is hitting .442.
 
Gilfert has recorded 385 kills while committing just 67 errors in 702 attempts and has hit at a .500 clip or higher in 13 different matches this season.
 
Teammate Camille Smith is now ranked 25^th in the NCAA Division II statistics for hitting percentage at .373 heading into the RMAC Tournament.  She hit .389 in Friday's win over Dixie State and at a .381 clip in Saturday's RMAC Championship match that saw her record 10 kills to share match-high honors with Gilfert.  Smith now ranks third in the conference behind Gilfert and Colorado Christian's Hope Baldrica (.378), who now meets the RMAC minimum of three attempts for every team set after missing about half the season.
 
Gilfert's .453 clip would be 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.
 
The most votes
 
The Mavericks' RMAC Tournament winning run has helped keep and raise the Mavericks' standing in the "others receiving votes" category of the latest AVCA Division II Coaches Poll.  The Mavericks have now been in that category six different times this season, including the preseason, earning a season-high 33 points in this week's poll to lead the RMAC.  CMU had six points in last weeks' poll, and now has more points that the Colorado School of Mines (23) and Dixie State (8).
 
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 17 more matches. He now has a 267-147 career record, good for a .645 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 now guided the Mavericks to seven NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, 2014 RMAC Co-Regular Season and Tournament titles, this year's RMAC Tournament title 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).
 
Clamping Down on Defense
 
After holding Colorado Christian to a .080 team hitting percentage last Tuesday, the Mavericks held Dixie State to a .093 mark on Friday night.  They then held MSU Denver to a .051 clip in the RMAC Tournament Championship.  In the process, they lowered their season-long opponent hitting percentage another point to .120, eight points better than Dixie State's mark of .128 to lead the RMAC statistics.
 
The three opponents hit just a combined .076 against the Mavericks in the RMAC Tournament.
 
Coming into the NCAA Tournament, the Mavericks rank 14^th nationally and first in the South Central Region in hitting percentage defense and are out-hitting their opponents by a massive 104-point margin (.224-.120).
 
The Mavericks have held opponents to a sub-.100 team hitting percentage 16 times this season and have done so 14 times in their current 21-from-24 winning stretch, including in each of the last four matches.
 
They are 16-0 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
 
The 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 Dixie State
 
Dixie State, a newcomer to the RMAC this year, enters the NCAA Division II Tournament semifinals having matched their Division II era record for wins in a season (22) with their RMAC Tournament quarterfinal win over UCCS on Nov. 6.
 
The Trailblazers, former members of the PacWest, are making their fourth NCAA Division II appearance in the 13-year history of their program at the 4-year level.  The previous appearances came in the West Region in 2013, 2014, and 2015.  They have gone a combined 2-3 in those previous efforts.
 
The Trailblazers were also well represented on the All-RMAC teams with six players earning recognition while Coach Robyn Felder sharing Coach of the Year honors with CMU's Dave Fleming.
 
Lauren Gammell, the national leader in blocking 1.57 per set, was named as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and was selected to the first team alongside sophomore Megan Treanor, a multiple-position player.  Senior libero Sid Brandon, sophomore To'a Faleao-Baich and senior middle blocker Malary Marshall were all second team selections while sophomore setter Jordyn Nelson was an honorable mention pick.
 
Treanor leads the Trailblazers with 274 kills, an average of 2.95 per set, and is hitting .247.  Faleao-Baich is just behind with 234 kills, an average of 2.41 per frame
 
Defensively, the Trailblazers are ranked second in the nation in blocking, thanks in large part to Gammell and Marshall, who is averaging 0.98 blocks per set to rank fifth in the RMAC.  Marshall also ranks eighth for hitting percentage at .323.
 
Brandon paces the squad in digs with 419, a 4.15 per set and has helped the Trailblazers hold opponents to a .128 hitting percentage, just behind the Mavericks in the RMAC statistics.
 
They also rank fourth in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .224, just one point behind the Mavericks and are ranked third in the RMAC for service aces (1.45/set).  Faleao-Baich is fifth in the RMAC for individual aces with her 0.32 per set average.
 
Thursday's match-up will be the third of the season between the teams as Dixie State swept the regular season series with 4-set wins on Sept. 15 in St. George, Utah and Oct. 13 in Grand Junction.  The Mavericks then avenged one of those on Friday in the RMAC Tournament Semifinals.  The Trailblazers now hold a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series.
 
Gammell recorded 11 blocks in each of the two matches against the Mavericks, before tallying six in Friday's match only to be out-done.
 
Up next
 
If the Mavericks can win Thursday's match, they will have advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history and claim their seventh all-time NCAA Tournament victory.  They would then play Friday night at 5 p.m. CST (4 p.m. Mountain) against either Texas A&M-Commerce or Angelo State.