GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Led by 14 kills from senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards, another seven from junior middle blocker Camille Smith and a tenacious defense that recorded 11 blocks while holding the visiting Western State Colorado University Mountaineers to a negative hitting percentage, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team won their sixth straight match to remain unbeaten in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play on Tuesday night at Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks are now 8-3 overall after posting the 25-13, 25-22, 25-17 straight-set victory and closed out a 3-match home-stand over the past five days undefeated while dropping just one set.  They also maintained a share of the RMAC lead with 25th-ranked Colorado School of Mines, 3-0 winners at UCCS on Tuesday night.
 
WSCU, which hit negative .010 on the night, fell to 1-10 overall and to 0-3 in RMAC play with the loss.
 
Edwards tallied the first half (7) of her kills in the opening set on just nine swings and finished the evening hitting .235.  She also had four blocks.
 
Natalee Todd was the Maverick leader in that category.  The senior finished with a season-high seven.
 
Meanwhile, Smith, the RMAC leader in attack percentage, hit .357 on Tuesday while adding three blocks.
 
Kasie Gilfert added four blocks and five kills.
 
In the back-row, senior libero Taylor Woods recorded a match-high 16 of CMU's 43 total team digs.  Katie Scherr was also in double-figures with 10 as the Mavericks held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage for the first time since their RMAC Championship 2014 season (UCCS, Nov. 11, -.026).
 
Setters Samantha Ritter and Ara Norwood had 17 and 14 assists in Tuesday's win, respectively.  Norwood also finished with eight digs.
 
The Mavericks hit an impressive .429 in the opening set as Edwards had four kills and a pair of blocks in a 10-1 run that put them firmly in control, 17-7.
 
The teams were tied at 12 in the second set before a Scherr kill and Smith/Ashton Reese block put the Mavericks in front 14-12.  They hosts extended that lead to five at 21-16 and again at 22-17 before the Mountaineers drew within two at 23-22 on a Brianna Duke service ace.
 
However, the Mavericks would close out the set on an Edwards kill before jumping out to a 7-1 third-set lead.  Mesa would later lead the final set by as many as 10 points (16-6) and cruised to an 8-point third-set win as they recorded five blocks while holding the Mountaineers to negative .139 hitting in the final frame.
 
The Mavericks will now take their winning streak on the road to Utah to face Westminster and RMAC newcomer Dixie State on Friday and Saturday, respectively.  First serve at Westminster (3-7, 1-1 RMAC) is slated for 6 p.m. in Salt Lake City.  Saturday's match with the Trailblazers, currently 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the RMAC, is slated for 3 p.m. in St. George.