GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The 2018 edition of the Colorado Mesa University volleyball squad will begin their season in southern California this weekend playing four matches in the Concordia Invitational in the Concordia University Arena in Irvine.
 
The Mavericks, entering their 14th year under the direction of head coach Dave Fleming, open the season Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. (8:45 a.m. PDT) against Cal State-L.A.  They also meet Cal Poly Pomona that afternoon at 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. PDT) before playing Azusa Pacific and the host Eagles on Saturday at Noon (11 a.m. PDT) and Mountain and 9 p.m. (8 p.m. PDT) respectively.
 
American International from Springfield, Massachusetts.  Will also be competing at the 6-team, 12-match classic-style tournament but will not face the Mavericks.
 
Live streaming coverage and statistics can be found on the tournament's webpage.
 
Pre-Season Picks

The Mavericks were picked to finish fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this year, according to last week's 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.
 
CMU also 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.
 
Receiving Votes

The Mavericks also picked up a pair of 25^th place votes and two points in the AVCA Division II Pre-Season Coaches' Poll that was announced on Aug. 9.  Two of this weekend's opponents are also in the "others receiving votes" category of the poll.  Azusa Pacific had 29 points in the poll while Cal State-L.A. received 15.
 
Down the road, the Mavericks will have three other matches against teams ranked in the Preseason Top 25.  The Mavericks will play at No. 10 Rockhurst on Aug. 31 in Kansas City, Missouri and will host defending RMAC Champion Regis, ranked seventh, on Sept. 28.  They also play at No. 20 Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 27.
 
MSU Denver, which will venture into the Mavericks' Brownson Arena on Sept. 22, is also receiving votes in the poll.
 
Prior to this preseason poll, the Mavericks last appeared in the AVCA Poll on Oct. 17, 2016 (Week No. 7), when they were ranked 24^th.
 
Potential Rally-Scoring Record
 
Taylor Woods is on the verge of becoming the Mavericks' rally-scoring era (2001-Present) record holder for career digs and could easily set that mark this weekend.  Woods, the 2015 RMAC and AVCA South Central Region Freshman of the Year, and 3-time overall All-RMAC, enters her senior season with 1,523 career digs, just 55 shy of Ashley Loftsgard, who had 1,578 in her 2005-08.

Woods also ranks fourth in the Mavericks' all-time history for career digs.  Amy Miller (1991-94) holds the record with 2,542 while Pam Glenn (1992-95) had 1,783 to rank second in CMU history, one spot ahead of Loftsgard.
 
Woods tallied 467 digs in 2017, averaging 4.81 per set to rank third in the RMAC.  She reached double figures in all but one of the Mavericks' 27 matches and had 20 or more eight different times in 2018.

Woods is also likely to set the Mavericks' rally-scoring era career digs per set record as she is averaging 4.93 in 309 sets thus far.  Loftsgard averaged 4.03 in 392 sets played.
 
Early Start

The Mavericks will play their first competitive matches in the month of August this year for the first time since 2012 when they opened the campaign on Friday, August 31. 
 
CMU will have six matches in August this year.
 
Other than how the calendar falls, the early start was allowed due to legislation passed at the 2018 NCAA Convention permitting NCAA Division II squads to open a week earlier in years that there is a Fall Sports Championship Festival, held every four years.
 
The Mavericks split their two 2012 matches in August defeating St. Joseph's (Ind.) and falling to then 12^th-ranked Wayne State (Neb.) at the Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colorado.
 
Opening in California

The Mavericks are opening their season in California for the first time in three years this weekend after starting both the 2016 and 2017 seasons at the Colorado School of Mines' Oredigger Classic.  In 2015, the Mavericks began the year at Point Loma Nazarene's Seaside Invitational Tournament in San Diego.  They went 2-2 that year defeating San Francisco State and Concordia on the second day of that tournament (Sept. 5, 2015).
 
Fleming in charge
 
The 2018 season will be the 14^th under Head Coach Dave Fleming, who has racked up 244 career wins (244-141) and a .634 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 four times.
 
Ritter extends the streak
 
Maverick setter Samantha Ritter extended a Maverick streak in 2017 when she recorded 1,008 assists en-route to Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors during her sophomore campaign, which saw her start all 27 of the Mavericks' matches.  The Mavericks have now had a "1K" assist setter in each of the last five seasons as Ali Svornic reached the marker in 2015 and 2016 after Jordyn Moody did so in her 2013 and 2014 junior and senior seasons, respectively.
 
Back-to-Back 398's

Maverick outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards is back for her senior season after recording exactly 398 kills in each of her last two seasons, which saw her record First Team All-RMAC honors in both.  In 2017, she averaged 4.10 kills per set to lead the RMAC.  She also picked up AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honors and all-region honors from both the AVCA and the D2CCA.  Her 2016 average of 3.83 kills per set was the second best in the RMAC. 
 
Entering her senior campaign, Edwards has 839 career kills, including the 43 she put down as a freshman in 2015, when playing a reserve role.
 
New Faces
 
The Mavericks will have six new faces on the squad this year.
 
The program signed four new freshman in the early signing period last fall in setter Hannah Bokal of El Paso, Texas, libero Kerstin Layman of Littleton, Colorado, multiple-position Jade Pascale of Bayfield, Colorado and outside hitter/defensive specialist Emily Tucker of nearby Palisade.  They then picked up a Division I mid-year transfer in middle blocker and right side hitter Kasie Gilfert, who transferred from Northern Arizona before adding outside hitter Holly Schmdit out of Castle Rock, Colorado during the spring signing period.
 
Gilfert teamed with setter Samantha Ritter during most of the Mavericks' 2018 beach volleyball season, building that all-important setter/hitter connection.
 
About Cal State-L.A.
 
The Golden Eagles, under the direction of second-year head coach Juan Figueroa, are coming off a 15-12 2017 campaign but won seven of their final 10 matches.  They went 10-7 in conference play to finish tied for third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association's South Division before advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
 
They return 12 players from that squad, including the NCAA Division II West Region and CCAA Freshman of the Year in outside hitter Karla Santos and CCAA Newcomer of the Year Daisia LaBrie, a senior middle blocker.  They both earned First Team All-CCAA honors in 2017.  2016 Second Team All-CCAA setter Kelsey Molnar is also back after missing most of 2017 with injury.
 
The Mavericks have faced the Golden Eagles twice under Fleming with both matches (2006, 2009) having been played in La Jolla, Calif. at UC-San Diego.  The Golden Eagles were ranked sixth and 21^st nationally at the time of those meetings, and were victorious in both
 
About Cal Poly Pomona
 
The Mustangs went 13-12 overall and 9-8 in CCAA action a year ago finishing sixth and last in the deeper South Division.  Outside hitter Andrea Bosnic returns for her senior season after leading the team with 298 kills a year ago while earning All-CCAA Honorable Mention honors.
 
Veteran Coach Rosie Wegrich, who is entering her 27th season with the Broncos, has racked up 756 career wins to rank in fifth in NCAA Division II.  427 of those have come with the Broncos after previous stints at Minnesota and Arizona. 

She will have to replace her starting setter and libero from a year ago.
 
The Mavericks and Broncos last played on Oct. 25, 2006 when Cal Poly Pomona won a 4-set match in La Jolla, California.  They were ranked 14^th in the country at the time.
 
About Azusa Pacific
 
The Cougars have been tabbed as the Pacific West Conference favorites after collecting nine of 12 first place votes in the preseason PacWest coaches' poll.
 
In 2017, they went 22-7 overall and 15-5 in the PacWest and earned their first ever NCAA Tournament bid while finishing in a tie for second place in the conference standings behind Cal Baptist, which has now moved to the Division I ranks and Western Athletic Conference. 
 
Eagle junior middle blocker Julianne Miller was voted as the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year after leading the nation in hitting percentage (.417) while earning All-West Region and All-America honorable mention accolades.  Sara Wagenveld, also a junior middle blocker, was also named to the Preseason All-PacWest team after being recognized with second team honors last year.
 
Chris Keefe is entering his 15^th season at the helm of the program and has guided his teams to 316 wins.
 
The Mavericks have not faced APU since 1991 when the Cougars won all three meetings during both program's NAIA history.  The Mavericks won four total meetings in 1989 and 1990 and hold a 4-3 all-time series lead.
 
About Concordia Irvine
 
The Eagles went 18-9 overall and 14-6 in PacWest play to finish fourth.  They were especially tough at home, going 10-3 in the CU Arena.
 
The Eagles were picked third in the PacWest preseason coaches' poll and received one first place vote. 

Paula Weishoff is entering her fourth year of her second stint with the Eagles and is the program's all-time winningest coach with a 204-60 record.  She led the Eagles from 2004-08 and then left CUI to become the head coach at UC Irvine, where she completed six seasons.
 
She will have a vastly new team this season as each of the top four hitters from 2017 have now departed.  Weishoff also lost the services of her starting setter and libero from a year ago.
 
The Mavericks defeated the Eagles three years ago on Sept. 5, 2015 in a 4-set match at Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego.