STEPHENVILLE, Texas— The Colorado Mesa University Volleyball team overcame three combined set points in both the first and third frames while taking the second convincingly to post a 26-24, 25-17, 28-26 sweep over Dixie State University in the opening match of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament, Thursday here in Tarleton State University's Wisdom Gym.
 
The Mavericks, the third seed in the tournament, now have a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference 17 3-set sweeps to their credit this season and are 24-6 overall heading into a Friday evening regional semifinal against the winner of the second quarterfinal match between No. 2 Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 7 Angelo State.
 
Thursday's win, the result of a total team effort, also allowed the Mavericks to even the season series at two matches each against the sixth-seeded Trailblazers, who see their season come to an end with a 22-6 record.  The Mavericks had defeated Dixie in four sets last Friday in the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament, which CMU eventually won, and have now won seven straight matches overall, equal to their longest winning streak of the season.
 
The Trailblazers had won both regular season meeting and were the only team to defeat the Mavericks in Grand Junction.
 
Camille Smith had 11 kills to lead the Mavericks on Thursday while South Central Region and RMAC Player of the Year Kasie Gilfert finished with nine kills and four blocks while hitting .304.  Katie Scherr also stepped up with eight kills and 14 digs while libero Woods recorded a team-high 16 digs.
 
Meanwhile, MacKenzie Edwards tallied five kills before going down with a second set injury, while Allison Smith and Natalee Todd recorded four kills each.  Todd also had three blocks. 
 
Setters Ara Norwood and Samantha Ritter also played well with Norwood recording her sixth double-double of the campaign, two of which have come against DSU in the last week, thanks to 15 assists and 10 digs. Ritter had 19 assists and eight digs.
 
The Mavericks finished the afternoon with a 42-37 edge in total kills and out-hit the Trailblazers .178 to .157 despite being out-blocked 11-4 by the nation's second best blocking squad.  Both teams finished with 57 digs although the Mavericks won the match at the service line with eight aces, including four from Scherr, while committing just three service errors.
 
DSU had eight service errors and only four aces.
 
The Mavericks are now 7-7 all-time in the NCAA Division II Tournament and have advanced to the regional semifinals for the third time in the last five years (2014, 2015) and for the fifth time in program history.
 
In the opening set, the Mavericks trailed 24-23 after a kill by Megan Treanor, who had 12 to lead the Blazers.  However, Smith responded with one of her own before back-to-back kills by Edwards gave CMU the opening set, which featured 15 ties and eight lead changes.
 
The Mavericks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set but watches the Blazers come back to take 10-9 lead.
 
With the set later tied at 14, the Mavericks would go on to use a 3-0 run to gain control before extending the final margin to eight points.  The Mavericks had four aces, from four different players in what amounted to an 11-3 run over the final 14 points of the set.
 
The Mavericks also got out to a strong start in the third set taking a 7-2 lead on another ace from Scherr but saw the Trailblazers go on a 8-1 run to build at 16-14 lead.
 
Things were just starting to get interesting as the lead went back and forth with the Trailblazers eventually taking a 24-23 lead on a Treanor kill and a double block by Treanor and Lauren Gammell.
 
The Mavericks then took advantage of a Gammell hitting error but committed one of their own, which made the score 25-24.
 
Scherr was then credited with a kill as the Mavericks fought off their second set point of the set and third overall before another Scherr ace gave the Mavericks the lead, 26-25. 
 
Treanor answered right back before kills from Smith and Gilfert in the middle ended the match.