GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will take a 6-match winning streak, the longest active streak in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference into the state of Utah this weekend as the Mavericks will head on to road to face Westminster College and RMAC newcomer Dixie State University.
Friday's match with the Griffins, who joined the RMAC in 2015, is slated for 6 p.m. in Salt Lake City and the Behnken Field House. The Mavericks will then head down I-15 to face Dixie State in St. George and the Trailblazers' Student Activities Center at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.
A live stream of both matches can be seen on the RMAC Network and accessed at the link above. Live statistics for both matches can also be found on the links above.
Tied for first after successful home-stand
The Mavericks, now 8-3 overall, are tied for first place in the RMAC standings with their 3-0 conference mark after closing out a 3-match, 5-day home-stand with a 3-0 win over Western State Colorado University on Tuesday night. They also swept CSU-Pueblo in their RMAC and home-opener last Friday and then took down New Mexico Highlands University in four sets on Saturday. The Colorado School of Mines Orediggers, ranked 25
th nationally, are the only other 3-0 RMAC team. Dixie State and MSU Denver are also unbeaten and sport 2-0 conference marks.
Streaking is nothing new
The Mavericks have now had a winning streak of at least six matches in each of the last three and six of the last seven years. In 2017, the Mavericks won six straight from Sept. 7-15 as part of an 8-2 start. In 2016, the Mavericks won eight straight matches from Sept. 3-17 to move to 8-2 after a 0-2 start. They then lost a 5-setter at Regis but responded with seven more wins to win 15 out of 16 matches while getting out to a 15-3 start.
In 2015, the Mavericks had a winning streak of five straight matches from Oct. 23-Nov. 6 while in 2014, the Mavericks won 20 straight matches as part of their 29-4, RMAC Regular Season and Tournament Championship season.
In 2013, the Mavericks had winning streaks of six and seven straight matches. They also had a 6-match streak in 2012.
Additionally, the have won 16 of their last 18 sets overall during their 6-match winning streak.
250 And Counting
The Mavericks gave 14
th year head coach
Dave Fleming his 250
th career win on Friday night against CSU-Pueblo. Fleming now has 252 career wins (252-144) and a .636 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.
He will coach his 400
th career match with the Mavericks on Sept. 22 against MSU Denver.
Nearing 1,000 as she heats up
Senior outside hitter
MacKenzie Edwards is nearing the 1,000 career kill milestone and will enter this weekend's trip to Utah with 945 kills. She has been in double-figures in four of her last six matches and five overall this season. She is second on the team in total kills with 106 and paces the squad with her 3.31-kill per set average, a mark that ranks her seventh in the RMAC.
During CMU's winning streak, Edwards has put down a team-high 76 kills while averaging 3.45 per set.
She also ranks sixth in the RMAC for total points per set (3.67).
Block party
The Mavericks have recorded 23 total blocks in their last two matches and have now reached double-figures as a team in four matches this season. They had 12 in Saturday's set against New Mexico Highlands and 11 in Tuesday' nights 3-set sweep of Western. In their last two matches, the Mavericks have averaged 3.28 blocks per set, raising their per set average this season to 2.45. That mark is second best in the RMAC behind only Dixie State's average of 2.93 and ranks the Mavericks 10th nationally.
In 2017, the Mavericks finished just 13
th in the RMAC in blocking with a 1.53 per set average.
Individually,
Kasie Gilfert leads the team with 46 blocks and a 1.15 per set average, the fourth best mark in the RMAC.
Natalee Todd (39 blocks) and
Camille Smith (33) have also contributed to the Mavericks' net defense. Todd had a season-high seven blocks against Western on Tuesday and ranks fifth in the RMAC with her 1.00 per set average.
Tenacious D
The Mavericks held Western to a negative .010 hitting percentage in Tuesday night's sweep and have held each of their last five opponents below .100. Tuesday's defensive effort, keyed by the 11 blocks and 43 digs, was CMU's best since 2014 when the Mavericks held UCCS to a negative .026 mark on Nov. 11 of that year.
In the process, the Mavericks have lowered their opponent hitting percentage to a combined .114 figure, which leads the RMAC by four points over Dixie State, their Saturday night opponent. CMU's mark also ranks them in the nation's top 25.
The Mavericks have also allowed the fewest kills (372, 9.30/set) in the RMAC and rank sixth in the RMAC for digs per set (15.65). Senior libero
Taylor Woods is second in the RMAC individually with her 5.20 per set average.
The Mavericks have held their opponents to a combined .088 attack percentage during their 6-match winning streak.
Efficient hitters
The Mavericks continue to have the top two hitters in the RMAC in attack percentage. Junior middle
Camille Smith continues to lead the category with her .426 percentage having made just 11 hitting errors while putting down 80 kills on 162 attempts. She has hit over .600 in four different matches this season.
Meanwhile,
Kasie Gilfert ranks second in the conference with her .376 mark. She leads the Mavericks with 115 kills and has hit at a .400 clip or higher in four different matches, including a season-best and errorless .632 mark against Cal Poly Pomona, when she had a dozen kills.
As a team, the Mavericks rank third in the RMAC with her .206 attack percentage.
Pre-Season Picks
The Mavericks were picked 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.
Early Season honors
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. 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.
About Westminster
The Griffins, who are in their fourth year as current members of the RMAC and now in their first as a full NCAA Division II member institution and thus eligible for the post-season, are out to a 3-7 overall start. They went 1-3 in each of their two early-season tournaments and then split their RMAC openers in South Dakota last week.
They defeated Black Hills State last Friday but then dropped a straight-set decision at South Dakota Mines on Saturday and will enter Friday's match with a 1-1 RMAC record.
Sophomore outside hitter Audrey Green, a Second Team All-RMAC pick in 2017, leads the team with 131 kills and is second on the team behind only junior libero Hannah Stearman in digs with 97. Green's 3.64 kill per set average is second best in the RMAC. She also sits second in the league for total points per set (4.15) and eighth for service aces at 0.33 per set.
Junior middle blocker Sydnee Simmons is ninth for hitting percentage at .296.
As a team, the Griffins are second in the RMAC in service aces per set (1.44), fifth in attack percentage (.188) and seventh in blocks (1.61).
The Mavericks have won each of the last five matches against the Griffins, all in three sets. The Griffins did win a 3-1 decision on Sept. 22, 2015 in Salt Lake City in the first RMAC match-up of the teams.
About Dixie State
Dixie State has a talented squad that has posted a 7-2 record with two wins over nationally-ranked squads at the time of the meeting. The Trailblazers are in their first year as members of the RMAC after going 13-15 and 11-9 in the PacWest last season.
They have won seven of their last eight matches, posting a 5-set win at then No. 19 Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) on Aug. 24 before going 3-1 at their home tournament from Aug 30-Sept. 1. They defeated then No. 18 and now No. 20 Tarleton State in four sets during that tournament.
Sophomore right side hitter and setter Megan Treanor leads a balanced attack with 96 kills with junior middle blocker and outside hitter To'a Faleao-Baich right behind with 86. Faleao-Baich also leads the RMAC in service aces at 0.41 per set (14 total) while Lauren Gammell (50) and Mallary Marshall (40) provide a wall at the net. Gammell leads the RMAC and stands fourth nationally with her 1.47 block per set average while Marshall is third at 1.21.
Thanks in large part to those players, the Trailblazers have averaged nearly three blocks per set (2.93) this season to lead the RMAC and rank third nationally. They also stand second in the RMAC for opponent hitting percentage (.118) and lead the conference in service aces at 1.69 per set.
Saturday's match-up between the teams will be the first since 2013, when the Mavericks took a 3-1 win on a neutral-court in Las Vegas, N.M. Dixie State won the only two previous meetings between the teams, including a 2009 affair in St. George, CMU's only previous visit to southwestern Utah.
Up Next
After this weekend in Utah, the Mavericks will return home for four more home matches, starting Friday, Sept. 21 against Chadron State. The Mavericks will also host three of the RMAC's top four teams according to the Preseason Coaches' Poll in that home-stand taking on MSU Denver (Sept. 22), Regis (Sept. 28) and Colorado Christian (Sept. 29) before playing all but two of their final nine regular season matches away from home.
