GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a solid 3-1 weekend at last weekend's Rockhurst Volleyball Classic in Kansas City, Missouri, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team has made the long journey home to begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 3-match, 5-day home-stand in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks' home-opener is set for Friday evening at 7 o'clock when they will face CSU-Pueblo.  The Mavericks then take on New Mexico Highlands University on Saturday at 7 p.m. before hosting Western State Colorado University on Tuesday evening (Sept. 11) at the same time.
 
Live statistics and streaming for all of the matches can be found at the links above.
 
All-Tourney honors
 
The Mavericks placed two players on the Rockhurst Classic All-Tournament team in senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards and sophomore middle blocker/right side hitter Kasie Gilfert, who has now been named to the all-tournament team after both of CMU's early-season non-conference tournaments.
 
Gilfert led the Mavericks with 47 kills and 15 blocks throughout the weekend.  She also hit at a .365 clip.  Edwards tallied 46 kills, 30 digs, five blocks and three service aces throughout the weekend.  She had a season-high 19 kills and added 10 digs for her second-double of the campaign in the win over Northwest Missouri State.
 
On the verge of #250
 
The 2018 season is the Mavericks' 14^th under Head Coach Dave Fleming, who has racked up 249 career wins (249-144) and a .634 career winning percentage.  The Mavericks' next win will be his 250^th. 
 
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.
 
All RMAC from here
 
The Mavericks have now finished the non-conference portion of their regular-season schedule.   All 18 of their remaining regular season matches over the next nine weeks will be RMAC affairs.  The top eight teams in the RMAC's regular season standings qualify for the RMAC Tournament, which begins Nov. 6 at campus sites of the top four seeds.
 
Non-Conference success against a tough schedule
 
The Mavericks went 5-3 in their non-conference matches and have now posted a winning non-conference record in each of the last three seasons.  They went 6-2 in the regular season against non-conference foes in both 2016 and 2017.  All three of CMU's losses this season have come against teams ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll at the time of the meeting.  Like the Mavericks, Cal State-L.A., which is still receiving votes, and Azusa Pacific were receiving votes in the preseason poll.  Rockhurst, which was ranked sixth nationally last week, is now ranked 10^th.  The Mavericks also posted a Friday win over Northwest Missouri State, which was receiving votes in last week's first regular season poll.  The second weekly poll was released Monday and can be seen here.
 
Efficient hitters
 
The Mavericks have the top two hitters in the RMAC in attack percentage.  Junior middle Camille Smith leads that category with her .402 percentage having made just eight hitting errors while putting down 50 kills on 112 attempts.  Meanwhile, Kasie Gilfert ranks second in the conference with her .379 mark.  She leads the Mavericks with 94 kills and also ranks eighth in the conference for kills per set at 3.13.
 
Nearing 1,000
 
Senior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards is nearing the 1,000 career kill milestone and will enter this home-stand with 907 career kills.  She was in double-figures in each of CMU's three victories in Kansas City putting down a season-high 19 in Friday's win over Northwest Missouri State.  She also had 10 digs in that match to record her second double-double of the season and the 32^nd of her career.
 
Speaking of double-doubles
 
Sophomore setter and defensive specialist Ara Norwood also recorded a double-double in Friday's win over Northwest Missouri State, the second of her young career.  She had 25 assists and a career-high matching 13 digs against the Bearcats.  Her first double-double came in last year's RMAC Tournament against MSU Denver when she had 12 assists and 13 digs.
 
She has started all eight of CMU's matches at setter this year and is leading the team in assists while rankings second behind libero Taylor Woods in digs.
 
Improved blocking
 
The Mavericks have been vastly improved in blocking thus far in 2018.  As a team, the Mavericks have recorded 69 blocks to rank second in the RMAC and in the top 25 nationally with their 2.30 per set average. 
 
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 34 blocks and a 1.13 per set average, the fourth best mark in the RMAC.  Natalee Todd (25 blocks) and Camille Smith (21) have also contributed to the Mavericks' net defense.
 
20/20 Vision
 
Maverick senior libero Taylor Woods has had a pair of 20-dig efforts in both of the Mavericks' two tournament this season and four such efforts overall.  She tallied 23 in Friday's win over Northwest Missouri State and recorded 21 against Emporia State on Saturday.  She also had 18 in the 3-set win over William Jewell and has recorded 156 digs this year, an average of 5.20 per set that ranks her second in the RMAC.
 
Woods became CMU's rally-scoring era (2001-Present) school-record holder for career digs in the Mavericks' third match of 2018 against Azusa Pacific.  She also had a season-high 32 in the season-opener against Cal State-L.A., the fourth-highest single-match total of her illustrious career.
 
The Glendale, Arizona product now has 1,679 digs in her career, which is the third most in the program's all-time history.  Only Amy Miller (2,542; 1991-94) and Pam Glenn (1,783; 1992-95) recorded more.
 
Woods, the 2015 RMAC and AVCA South Central Region Freshman of the Year and 3-time overall All-RMAC selection, is also well above pace to break Ashley Loftsgard's rally scoring era digs per set record.  Woods is averaging 4.95 digs in 339 career sets to date.  Loftsgard, the former rally-scoring era record holder for total digs, averaged 4.03 in 392 sets played in her 2005-08 career.
 
Good blocking, good digging = Good D
 
With their success in both blocking and digging in the back row, the Mavericks have held opponents to a .138 attack percentage, the best such defense in the RMAC.
 
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.
 
About CSU-Pueblo
 
CSU-Pueblo will enter Friday's match with a 2-7 record.  The ThunderWolves have gone 1-3 at each of their two non-conference matches and dropped their home opener against Angelo State on Aug. 28.  They hold wins over Southeastern Oklahoma and Purdue Northwest, both of which came in five sets.
 
Middle blocker Mallorie Post and outside hitter Brooke Schilling, both sophomores, are tied for the team lead with 83 kills (2.52/set) while Page Heller paces the squad defensively with 161 digs, a 4.88 per set average that ranks her fifth in the RMAC.  Schilling is also fifth in the RMAC for service aces with her 0.36 per set average while Kelsey Bell ranks 10^th in the RMAC for assists at 7.45 per set.
 
The ThunderWolves are in the bottom half of the RMAC statistics in all but one category but do rank eighth in the league in digs per set (15.52).  They were picked 10^th in the RMAC's Preseason Coaches' Poll coming off a 4-22 (3-15 RMAC) season in 2017, the first under head coach Jill Muhe.
 
The Mavericks have won six straight matches in the rivalry.  The Pack's last win came in 2013 in Pueblo.  Their last win in Grand Junction was on Oct. 8, 2011 in four sets.
 
About New Mexico Highlands
 
The Cowgirls will enter this weekend with a 2-6 overall record after going 2-2 at last week's South Central Classic in Durant, Oklahoma.  Their wins came over Southern Arkansas and East Central (Okla.) last weekend.
 
They will play at Western in Gunnison on Friday before continuing their road trip in Brownson Arena.
 
Senior outside hitter Tiffany Matchett leads the team with 69 kills (2.30/set) and is second on the team with 100 digs (3.33/set).   Freshman outside hitter and defensive specialist Elena Rivera paces the squad with 102 digs and ranks seventh in the RMAC with her 4.64-per set average.  She has appeared in 22 of the Cowgirls' 30 total sets.
 
They rank 15^th out of the 16 RMAC squads in both team hitting percentage (.142) and kills per set (10.55) but do stand second in digs per set at 16.42.
 
The Cowgirls, under the direction of third year head coach Dwight Combs, were picked 13th in the RMAC 's Preseason Coaches' Poll after finishing last year with 10-13 overall and 7-11 RMAC marks.
 
The Mavericks had dominated the series with the Cowgirls winning each of the last 10 matches between the teams dating back to 2011.  NMHU's last win in Grand Junction came in 2000.
 
About Western
 
Western enters their home weekend with a 1-7 overall record.  The Mountaineers picked up their lone win in their last match over Southern Arkansas.  Like NMHU, they also competed in the South Central Classic in Durant, Okla.  They started their season with a 0-4 weekend at Minnesota State Moorhead's tournament.
 
Junior outside hitter Kirsten Companik leads a group of six Western players averaging between one and two kills per set.  She has 49 kills, an average of 1.96.  Cammi Baumann has 104 digs, an average of 4.00 per set, to lead the squad defensively.    She and Lyria Brook are also both among the RMAC's top three players in service aces and have combined for 23 aces.
 
As a team, the Mountaineers are second in the RMAC for aces at 1.59 per set but are at or near the bottom if most other categories.
 
The Mountaineers went 2-25 overall and 1-17 in RMAC play last year and were picked 15^th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. 
 
The Mavericks have also won 10 straight matches over the Mountaineers dating back to 2013 and have lost just one of the last 23 meetings.  Western's lone win in the stretch came in a 5-set battle in Brownson Arena on Oct. 26, 2012.
 
Up Next
 
After this stretch of home matches, the Mavericks will head west to Utah. On Friday, Sept. 14, they will face Westminster in Salt Lake City before heading south on I-15 to St. George to square off with Dixie State, the RMAC's newest member, on Saturday, Sept. 15.