GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball team will begin their third year of program history by playing roughly half of their 2018 season schedule in a 6-day Spring Break trip to southern California.  The Mavericks are slated to play 10 matches, including seven in their first three days of the trip, starting Monday with a tri-dual at Long Beach State.
 
They also play three matches on Tuesday at Grossmont College in El Cajon and two more at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday before getting a couple days to recuperate.  The Mavs then finish the week with three more matches at the LMU (Loyola Marymount University) Invitational next Saturday at Ocean Park in Santa Monica. 
 
Head Coach David Skaff's team will be playing five different NCAA Division I foes and will playing Missouri State in three separate neutral-site matches on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.  The Mavericks also will get the challenge of facing UCLA, currently ranked fourth in the latest (Mar. 5) American Volleyball Coaches Association Collegiate Beach Coaches Poll.  That match, their second of the LMU Invitational will be televised on the Pac-12 Network at noon PST (1 p.m. Mountain).
 
The Mavericks also play No. 7 Long Beach State in their second match of opening day after facing Missouri State and play No. 17 Loyola Marymount in their first of three matches on the final day of the trip.
 
Cal State Northridge is also receiving votes in that poll.
 
Tuesday's tripleheader at Grossmont will feature a match against Concordia-Irvine, the lone Division II opponent on the Mavericks' entire 2018 schedule, as well as tilts against Grossmont and San Diego Mesa College, both 2-year institutions.  Grossmont is ranked third in this week's (Mar. 6) AVCA CCCAA (California Community College Athletic Association) Coaches' Poll.  San Diego Mesa is ranked eighth.
 
Skaff is embracing the challenging schedule.  "Our goal is to get the experience with these Division I school and show that we can compete well at this level."
 
"We are going to enjoy these opportunities."
 
"This week is full of opponents ranging from the Division I schools to junior colleges and we are looking forward to all the experiences to playing opponents from all the different levels."
 
Skaff said that his pairings, at least at the top of the order, are pretty set and expects to roll out a line-up featuring Katie Scherr and Taylor Woods at No. 1, Megan Gianinetti and Hana Peterman at No. 2 and Samantha Ritter and Kasie Gilfert at No. 3.
 
"I'm excited to watch Kasie in her first year of beach.  She and Sam (Ritter) should be an exciting duo to watch," Skaff said regrading Gilfert, who joined the CMU Volleyball programs after spending the past 1 ½ years at Division I Northern Arizona, and Ritter, who was CMU's Honorable Mention All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference setter during last fall's indoor campaign.
 
Woods, who earned Second Team All-RMAC honors during the indoor season, helped lead the Mavericks' beach squad in 2017 when she went 7-7 overall, including a 6-7 mark in her No. 1 partnership with now graduated Abby Ney.
 
Megan Gianinetti also had a solid year in 2017 going 5-10 with then partner Erin Perez, mostly in the No. 2 position.
 
"Most of our pairings this year match a beach rookie with someone who has that beach experience," Skaff noted.  It will be interesting to see how they compete this year now that we're a little ahead of the ball in those regards," Skaff said.
 
In the lower portion of the line-up, Skaff said that the pairings could be a little more fluid. 
 
"If we started today, I'd have Hailey Crane and Lindy Dixon in the fourth pair and Natalee Todd and Ara Norwood at No. 5."  Dixon, a sophomore, is a beach only player.
 
He also noted that sophomore Julia Baskin and freshman Rachael Perrine, also a beach-only player, will start the week in the No. 6 exhibition position while Ashton Reese could figure into the mix in various pairings.  Former CMU basketball player Kassidy Day has also joined the team and could figure into the mix later in the season as well.