GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After posting a 2-0 mark at home last week, the Colorado Mesa University Volleyball squad will head west to Utah for their final road trip of the regular season this weekend. The Mavericks, who now hold 12-7 overall and 8-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference records, will play at Westminster (2-16, 0-11 RMAC) in Salt Lake City on Friday at 7 p.m. before heading down I-15 for a Saturday evening encounter at Dixie State (13-6, 8-3 RMAC) in St. George, slated for 6 p.m.
Live video streams of both of CMU's matches can be seen on the RMAC Network. Live statistics will also be provided and can be accessed at the links above.
Chance at season-sweeps
This weekend's matches will give the Mavericks an opportunity at completing season sweeps against both of the RMAC's Utah based institutions. The Mavericks dropped the opening set but defeated the Westminster in their home opener on Sept. 27 in four sets (24-26, 25-16, 25-17, 25-17) before sweeping Dixie State on Sept. 28 (25-19, 25-21, 27-25).
The only other opponent that the Mavericks will play twice during the regular season is Western, which will come into Brownson Arena on Nov. 15 trying to squash the Mavericks' hopes of a season-sweep in that rivalry. The Mavericks defeated the Mountaineers on Sept. 24 in Gunnison.
Make it 3… and 6
Maverick redshirt junior
Kasie Gilfert was named as the RMAC's Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and the sixth time of her career on Monday after she recorded 39 kills and 45 total points while hitting at a .516 clip during the Maverick's 2-0 home weekend.
On Friday, she recorded 20 kills and a season-high seven blocks while hitting a season-high .633 as the Mavericks rallied from a 2-1 deficit to post a 5-set win over Black Hills State. She then had 19 kills and four blocks while hitting .412 in the 3-1 victory South Dakota Mines on Saturday afternoon.
Gilfert had also been named as the RMAC Player of the Week on back-to-back weeks (Sept. 23, 30) this season after earning three such honors in her debut all-America season with the Mavericks in 2018.
Important Saturday
CMU is currently tied with Dixie State and the Colorado School of Mines for third place in the RMAC standings and is just two matches behind conference-leader and national No. 12 Regis (10-1 RMAC) and 1 ½ matches behind MSU Denver (9-1 RMAC) for second place. Those five teams have a bit of breathing room ahead of 6-4 and sixth place Chadron State.
The top four teams at the end of the regular season will earn the right to host RMAC Tournament quarterfinal matches on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The top remaining seed after those quarterfinals will host the remainder of the tournament.
A win over Dixie State on Saturday would complete the season sweep and give the Mavericks the advantage in any head-to-head tiebreakers for post-season seeding and an all-important top four seed. It would also put the Mavericks ahead of the Trailblazers in the standings provided they get past Westminster on Friday or should the Trailblazers stumble at home to Western on Friday.
Mines is at Regis on Friday night and will come to Brownson Arena for the only match-up of the year with CMU on Nov. 8.
Home-Court Success
The Mavericks continued their home court success last weekend coming from 2-1 down to post a 5-set win over Black Hills State on Friday before taking a 4-set win over South Dakota Mines on Saturday. The Mavericks are now 4-0 at home this year and have won six straight and 13 out of the last 14 at home dating back to last year. With still at least five home-court matches this season, the Mavericks are now 48-9 (.842) in Brownson Arena over the past six seasons since 2014.
The 3-set sweep of Dixie State last month also allowed the Mavericks to avenge their only home-court loss of 2018, a year that saw the Mavericks go 9-1 in Brownson Arena. The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in 2016 and 2017. The Mavs were also an impressive 14-1 in 2014 en-route to a RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last seven years since 2012, going 63-18 (.778) at home in that that span.
.200 is the key
As a team, the Mavericks are hitting .223 this year to rank fourth in the RMAC. When they have hit .200 or higher, the Mavericks are 11-1 this season. When they fallen below that mark, they are just 1-6.
The Mavericks hit .222 as a team in Friday's win over Black Hills State before hitting .306 in Saturday's win over South Dakota Mines. That was their second-highest single-match mark of the season, short of only their .408 team hitting effort on Sept. 20 in their RMAC-opening win at New Mexico Highlands.
Moving up a spot
Kasie Gilfert's award-winning weekend also allowed her to move up a spot to second in the RMAC for hitting percentage (.393), kills per set (4.09) and total points per set (4.70). She was ranked third in the RMAC for all of those categories last week.
On a national scale, Gilfert ranks 12
th in NCAA Division II for hitting percentage, 16
th for points per set and 20
th for kills per set.
Smith's career night
Maverick senior middle
Camille Smith recorded a career-high 22 kills in Friday's win over Black Hills State, surpassing her former mark of 19, which came in the semifinals of last year's NCAA Division II South Central Regional against Texas A&M-Commerce. She also hit at a .528 clip and added four blocks against the Yellow Jackets.
Seeing 20-20
Smith and
Kasie Gilfert, who had 20 kills in the Friday night win, became the first Maverick duo to both record 20 kills in a single match since Oct. 14, 2016 when
Allison Smith (24) and McKenzie Edwards (23) paired to accomplish the feat in a 5-set win over Colorado Christian.
Rising up the rankings
Camille Smith's strong weekend, which also included a 13-kill, .400 hitting effort against South Dakota Mines on Saturday helped the senior move up to fourth in the RMAC for hitting percentage (.366). She also now sits sixth in the conference for kills per set (3.08) and seventh for points per set (3.68).
Digging it up
Maverick sophomore libero
Kerstin Layman now stands seventh in the RMAC for digs per set (4.54). She has 309 total after tallying 25 against Black Hills State and 14 more against South Dakota Mines. Layman has now recorded 25 or more digs in four different matches this season and has reached 20 or more six separate times. Three of her 25+ dig efforts have come in the last five matches.
Double-double setters
Maverick setters
Ara Norwood and
Samantha Ritter combined for three double-doubles in last weekend's victories. Ritter, a senior out of Tinley Park, Illinois, leads the team with six double-doubles this season and recorded the 25
th and 26
th of her career over the weekend. She had 26 assists and 14 digs against Black Hills State on Friday before recording 23 assists and 10 digs in Saturday's win over South Dakota Mines.
Meanwhile, Norwood tallied 35 assists and a career-high smashing 24 digs against Blacks Hills State, good for her fourth double-double of the season and the 11th of the junior's career.
Senior outside hitter
Katie Scherr is the only other Maverick to record a double-double this year. She had 10 kills and 11 digs against South Dakota Mines to register her third double-double of the campaign.
Highly ranked 6-2 offense
The Mavericks' offense has been clicking this year as the Mavericks are second in the RMAC for both kills (14.24) and assists (13.35) per set. They also rank ninth in the country for assists per set and are 11
th nationally for kills per set.
Norwood ranks ninth in the RMAC for assists per set (6.49) while Ritter is averaging 5.24.
Strong in the fourth
The Mavericks are a strong 7-1 in the fourth set of matches this season, which has helped them post a 5-0 record in 4-set matches and a 7-1 record in matches that have gone past three sets. The Mavericks won the fourth set of both matches last weekend defeating Black Hills State, 25-20 to force a fifth set, which they went on to win, 15-7. The Mavericks then cruised to a 25-16 fourth-set win over South Dakota Mines to close out that match victory.
Fleming in year No. 15
The 2019 season is the Mavericks' 15th under Head Coach
Dave Fleming, who has racked up 280 career wins (280-155) and a .644 career winning percentage, including this year's 12-7 mark thus far. Fleming took over the helm of the program in 2005 and is just the fourth head coach in the program's 35-year history. He has guided the Mavericks to seven NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, a 2014 RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles, last year's RMAC Tournament title 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 five times, including in 2018, when the Mavericks went 24-7 to enjoy their second best season in Fleming's tenure, only shy of the program's 29-4 season in 2014.
About Westminster
The Griffins are 2-16 overall and 0-11 in RMAC play thus far and have lost each of their last seven matches overall under new head coach Karrin Moore. Their last win came in non-conference play against NAIA Montana Western on Oct. 1.
The Griffins sit second in the RMAC for digs, averaging 18.03 per set, but rank in the bottom three of the RMAC for nearly every other statistical category.
Audrey Green, a junior outside hitter, has once again been leading the team. She has a team-high 228 kills and is amongst the top RMAC players in both kills (3.35) and total points (3.78) per set ranking fourth and sixth in the conference, respectively.
Senior libero Hannah Stearman ranks eighth in the conference for digs per set (4.44).
About Dixie State
The Trailblazers enter the start of a 4-match home stand as winners of five of their last six matches overall. They are 13-6 overall and 8-3 in the RMAC.
They have won each of their five conference home matches thus far and are 6-3 overall at home.
Four different Trailblazer have recorded more than 125 kills. The group is led by To'a Faleao, who has 176 overall. She ranks fifth in the conference with her 3.14 per set average. Meanwhile, Megan Treanor is tenth at 2.93.
Faleao is also second in the RMAC for service aces with her 0.50 per set average and fourth in total points at 3.97. Treanor is eighth at 3.68.
Setter Jordyn Nelson is tenth in the RMAC for assists at 6.46 while Lauren Gammell is second in the conference for blocks per set (1.26) ahead of ninth-place teammate Lizzy Clark (1.00)., who have combined to lead the Trailblazer to the top spot in the conference for blocking as a team (2.46/set).
Series Histories
The Mavericks are 10-1 all-time against the Westminster Griffins, including an 8-1 mark since they joined the conference in 2015. The Mavs have won each of the last eight matches since dropping a 3-1 decision on Sept. 22, 2015 on the road in Salt Lake City. Prior to dropping the opening set during their Sept. 27 home-opener with the Griffins, the Mavericks had won seven straight matches in straight sets.
CMU is 4-1 against the Griffins in their Behnken Field House.
The rivalry with Dixie State has been short but intense. The two teams played each other four times last year, in what was the Trailblazers' first year as RMAC members. The Trailblazers won a pair of 4-set matches during the regular season before the Mavericks figured it out to defeat them twice in the post-season on neutral courts.
CMU's Sept. 28 home win over the Trailblazers was the Mavs' third straight in the rivalry and evened the all-times series at 4-4. However, CMU is 0-2 against the Trailblazers in St. George, falling in 4-set matches last year and in 2009.
Saturday's meeting could be the last between the teams for an extensive period as the Trailblazers are leaving the RMAC for NCAA Division I and Western Athletic Conference pastures in 2020.
Up Next
After this weekend in Utah, the Mavericks will return home for their final five matches of the regular season. They begin that stretch on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. against Fort Lewis.
