GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— With 20 regular season wins under their collective belt, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will now begin the post-season by hosting Colorado Christian University in the quarterfinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks finished the regular season as winners of three straight and five of their last six and to post a 20-6 regular season record.  They also went 15-3 in RMAC play to tie for third place in the conference standings and earn the third seed for the tournament thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker victory over MSU Denver.  Colorado Christian went 13-14 in the regular season.  The Cougars were 11-7 in RMAC play and finished sixth in the regular season conference standings.
 
Tickets for Tuesday's match can be purchased at www.cmumavericks.com/tickets.  As it is an RMAC event, season passes are not valid although CMU students and staff with a valid MavCard will be admitted free.
 
Fans that cannot make it in person to Brownson Arena on Tuesday can view a live stream of the match on the RMAC Network, accessible at the link above.  Live statistics for the match can also be at on the link above.
 
Road Warriors return home
 
Tuesday's match will mark CMU's first home match in 24 total days.  The Mavericks finished the regular season with five straight road matches over the past three weekends.  They went 4-1 in those matches and finished the regular season with an 8-3 away victory, including a 7-2 mark in RMAC road matches.    The Mavericks went 8-1 at home in the regular season this year, defeating Westminster on Oct. 13 in their final home match of the regular season.  They also swept Colorado Christian at home on Sept. 29.
 
The Mavericks were 4-2 in neutral-court matches during the regular season.
 
Colorado Christian was 4-6 in away matches in 2018.
 
Opening at home
 
The Mavericks will begin the RMAC Tournament at home for the first time since 2015 and have won four straight home RMAC Tournament matches since 2014.  They swept Western State on Nov. 17, 2015 in the quarterfinal round of that tournament before advancing to the finals with a 4-set neutral court semifinal win over MSU Denver.  They then fell to host Colorado School of Mines in the championship match.
 
In 2014, the Mavericks won all three of their RMAC Tournament matches at home as the top seed claiming wins over UCCS, Regis and MSU Denver before winning their first two NCAA Tournament matches at home as well.
 
The Mavericks last RMAC Tournament home loss came in the 2013 RMAC Tournament quarterfinals by Colorado Christian in what was the only previous post-season meeting between the teams.
 
Crunching the post-season numbers
 
The Mavericks will be looking for their first post-season win since 2015 on Tuesday after being bounced out of the RMAC Tournament in the quarterfinal round of both the 2016 and 2017 tournaments by Regis and MSU Denver, respectively.  The Mavericks have lost their last four post-season matches, including two NCAA Tournament setbacks in 2015 and 2016 after winning eight of their previous 10 post-season matches since and including 2014.
 
The Mavericks are 10-11 in the RMAC Tournament under 14^th year Head Coach Dave Fleming and sport a 4-2 RMAC Tournament home-court record in that span.
 
Deep diving into the regional rankings
 
With a third set of rankings looming this Wednesday, the Mavericks are currently ranked fifth in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings that will eventually determine the at-large selections and seeding for the 8-team regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  Those latest rankings were released last Wednesday (Oct. 31) after the Mavericks sat seventh in the initial set of rankings on Oct. 24.
 
Tarleton State was ranked first in both editions of the rankings but saw their 24-match winning streak snapped on Saturday at unranked Texas-Permian Basin, which had also knocked off sixth-ranked Angelo State on Friday.  The TexAnns will still host the Lone Star Conference Tournament, beginning Thursday against Eastern New Mexico in Stephenville, Texas. 
 
Texas A&M-Commerce (25-5) will be the second seed in that tournament and is currently ranked second in the region.  The Lady Lions will face the upset-minded Texas-Permian Basin Falcons in the quarterfinal round of the LSC Tournament after ending the regular season with a win at West Texas A&M and on an 8-match winning streak, the longest active streak in the region.
 
The Colorado School of Mines Orediggers (22-4) have been third in both editions of the regional rankings and will begin the RMAC Tournament at home as the top seed against Fort Lewis on Tuesday.
 
Dixie State (21-4) moved up a spot to fourth in last week's rankings and begin the RMAC Tournament at home against UCCS as the No. 2 seed.
 
Angelo State (22-8), which had been ranked fourth in the initial set of rankings before sliding two spots to sixth last week, will be the third seed in the LSC Tournament and will open it against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
Regis (19-9) slipped two spots to seventh in the last regional rankings but claimed a 5-set win over Colorado Christian to close out the regular season on Friday.  The Rangers are the fifth seed in the RMAC Tournament and will be at MSU Denver (19-8) on Tuesday night in a key RMAC quarterfinal.  The Roadrunners were ranked eighth in the last set of regional rankings, partially because they have lost two earlier meetings with the Rangers this season.
 
West Texas A&M (18-12) was ninth in both sets of the regional rankings and opens the LSC Tournament against fifth-seeded Texas Woman's on Thursday.
 
Meanwhile, Lubbock Christian was 10^th in both sets of regional rankings.  The Lady Chaps (21-8) will host the 4-team Heartland Conference Tournament on Friday and Saturday, opening it up against St. Edward's.  They fell at home against second-seeded Arkansas-Fort Smith on Thursday. 
 
The tournament champions from all three conferences earn automatic spots in the regional, which will begin on Nov. 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, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. on www.ncaa.com.
 
The Mavericks are looking 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
 
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 three wins against those teams.
 
Increasing her lead
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Kasie Gilfert continues to expand her lead the nation in hitting percentage.  She hit a career-high matching .714 with 11 kills and just one error on an efficient 14 swings in Friday's victory at Western Colorado raising her season-long hitting percentage to .459.  That mark is now good for a 33-point lead in the NCAA Division II statistics over Sascha Dominique of Cal State-San Bernardino, who is hitting .426.
 
Gilfert also leads all other 4-year college volleyball players in the country. 
 
NCAA Division I leader Sharonda Pickering of Florida Gulf Coast and Division III leader Julianne Malek of Washigton-St. Louis are both hitting .438.  The NAIA statistical leader is Priscilla O'Dowd of Midland (Neb.).  She is hitting .445.
 
Gilfert has recorded 358 kills while committing just 61 errors in 647 attempts and has hit at a .500 clip or higher in 12 different matches this season.
 
Teammate Camille Smith ranks 21^st in the NCAA Division II statistics for hitting percentage at .382.  She ranks second in that category.
 
Gilfert's .459 clip would be the ninth best in NCAA Division II since 2008, when college volleyball moved to a 25-point set format.
 
School-record pace
 
Gilfert will likely break the Maverick record for single-season hitting percentage of .389, which is currently held by Phyllis Jennings and set way back in 1987.  Melissa Hess holds CMU's rally-scoring era (2001-Present) record of .371, which she set in 2014.
 
20 Sounds nice
 
Thanks to 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.
 
Digging towards 2,000
 
Maverick senior libero Taylor Woods, who is already the Mavericks' rally-scoring era (2001-Present) for career digs recorded 17 more in Friday's win as she marched ever closer towards the 2,000 career dig milestone.
 
Woods now has 1,990 career digs, just 10 shy of the milestone, which she could easily get at home on Tuesday.  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 26 matches of the campaign.  She has also been in double-figures in all but one of her last 65 matches and but five (104) of her 109 career matches.
 
Woods has racked up 467 digs this season and ranks fourth in the RMAC with her 4.97 per set average.  However, she ranks first amongst players on a RMAC Tournament qualifying squad.
 
She is also averaging 4.94 digs per set throughout her career, which would 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.  They had just 26 regular season matches on the schedule this year and would only play 35 even if they were to advance all the way to the championship match of both the RMAC and NCAA Tournaments.
 
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 14 more matches. He now has a 264-147 career record, good for a .642 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.
 
Get out the brooms
 
The Mavericks have won 14 of their matches in straight-set sweeps this season.  The Mavericks are 14-1 in 3-set matches this season and have only been swept once.  That 14-1 3-set mark is the best in the RMAC this season.
 
Triple-Digit Blocks
 
Kasie Gilfert recorded a match-high five blocks in Friday's win at Western and now has 101 on the season.  She is the first Maverick to reach triple figures in a single season since Abby Ney (103) and Melissa Hess (102) both did so during CMU's 2014 RMAC Championship and NCAA Regional Finalist run.
 
Lauren Powley holds the Mavs' rally-scoring era single-season record of 116, which she set in 2003.
 
Gilfert is averaging 1.07 blocks per set this season to rank third in the RMAC in that category.
 
Blocking has been key
 
As a team, the Mavericks recorded nine blocks in Friday's win, raising their season total to 222.  They are now averaging 2.36 per set and rank 17^th in the nation and second in the conference behind only national leader Dixie State, which is averaging 3.03 per set.
 
The Mavericks are on pace to have the program's best blocking season since 2003, when they averaged 2.57 blocks per set.
 
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.
 
In addition to Kasie Gilfert (above), the Mavericks' have the eighth best individual blocker in the RMAC in Camille Smith, who has 88 blocks and an average of 0.94 per set.
 
Dominating the Mountaineers
 
The Mavericks dominated rival Western Colorado in their two matches this season holding the Mountaineers to negative team hitting percentages in both 3-set victories.  In Friday's match, the Mavericks held Western to a negative .037 hitting percentage, which is CMU's best defensive effort since Sept. 8, 2006, when Chadron State hit negative .059 against the Mavericks. 
 
On Friday, the Mountaineers managed just 24 kills and committed 28 hitting errors, nine of which were caused by the Maverick blocking attack, on 109 attempts.  In the first match on Sept. 11, the Mavericks held Western to a negative .010 (23K, 24E, 98TA) hitting percentage.  The Mountaineers hit a combined negative .024 (47K, 52E, 207 TA) in the two matches.
 
The Mavericks have now won 12 straight matches over the Mountaineers dating back to 2013 and have lost just one of the last 25 meetings.
 
Tough D
 
Thanks to Friday's defensive clamp down, the Mavericks lowered their season-long opponent hitting percentage by five points to .125, a mark that ranks the Mavericks second in the RMAC and in the top 20 of the country.
 
The Mavericks have held opponents to a sub-.100 team hitting percentage 13 times this season and have done so 11 times in their current 18-from-21 winning stretch.
 
They are 13-0 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 Thursday.  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.
 
Honors on court thus far
 
With All-RMAC selections due out later Tuesday and the all-region and all-America teams to be announced in the coming weeks, CMU has already racked up plenty of honors 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 Colorado Christian
 
The Cougars enter Tuesday's RMAC Tournament quarterfinal with a 13-14 overall and 11-7 RMAC records, earning the No. 6 seed.  The Cougars dropped a 5-set match at home to Regis on Friday in their regular season finale but had won three of their previous four and six of their previous eight since falling in straight sets to the Mavericks in Grand Junction on Sept. 29.
 
Second year coach Bobby Blanken's squad is paced by Cali Bahnsen, who leads the team with 303 kills (3.03/set).  Jacey Johnson has also contributed 241 kills (2.30/set) and 302 digs (2.88/set), the second most on the squad.
 
Those two players were held to nine combined kills and a .000 hitting percentage by the Mavericks.
 
Meanwhile, Hope Baldrica has returned to the lineup for the last seven matches after missing half of the season due to injury.  She is averaging 2.25 kills in her 52 sets played and is hitting at a .388 clip which would rank her second in the RMAC if she met the conference statistical minimums.  Baldrica was a First Team All-RMAC selection a year ago and did not play in the regular season match against the Mavericks.
 
Katie Henry is ranked just outside the RMAC's top 10 for hitting percentage at .278 and has 208 kills, an average of 2.04 per set.
 
RMAC Preseason Setter of the Year Kylee Wurster, a Second Team All-RMAC pick in 2017, has 1069 assists to her credit, an average of 10.18 per set that ranks her fifth in the RMAC.  Libero Mariela Gonzalez leads the team defensively with 482 digs, good for a 4.59 per set average that puts her sixth in the RMAC.  She had 14 digs against CMU while Wurster managed 25 assists in the earlier meeting, a 25-16, 28-26, 25-9 Maverick win.
 
As a team, the Cougars seventh in the conference for hitting percentage at .193 and are fifth best defensively, holding their opponents to a .184 mark.
 
They rank 14^th in blocking (1.41/set) but lead the RMAC in service aces with 160, a 1.52 per set average.  Kaira Smith is sixth in the RMAC individually for aces at 0.29 per set.
 
The Mavericks have won four of the last five meetings with the Cougars after Colorado Christian had won five straight meetings from 2010-2013, including a 4-set RMAC Tournament quarterfinal in the last year of that stretch, which is the only previous post-season match-up between the teams.
 
Up next
 
A victory in Tuesday's quarterfinal against Colorado Christian, would send the Mavericks into the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament against the winner of the Dixie State/UCCS quarterfinal.  If top-seeded Colorado School of Mines wins on Tuesday night in their quarterfinal against Fort Lewis, the Orediggers would host the remainder of the RMAC Tournament in Golden.
 
Should both Fort Lewis and Dixie State win, the remainder of the tournament would move to St. George, Utah. 
 
The Mavericks could host the remainder of it with a win and losses by Mines and Dixie State as hosting rights are given to the top remaining seed after the quarterfinal round.
 
The semifinals will be played on Friday night while the championship match will be contested Saturday.