GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Volleyball team will begin a regular-season ending 5-match home-stand with two matches against long-time in-state rivals this weekend.  The Mavericks, who are now 13-8 overall and 9-4 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play to stand in fourth place in the RMAC standings will host Fort Lewis College (9-13, 5-8 RMAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on Adams State University (7-15, 4-9 RMAC) less than 24 hours later on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Live video streams of both matches can be seen on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics will also be provided and can be accessed at the link above.
 
Home-Court Success
 
The Mavericks will enter this weekend with a perfect 4-0 record at home this season.  Dating back to last season, the Mavericks have won six straight and 13 of their last 14 home matches after going 9-1 at Brownson Arena last year.
 
The home-court success is nothing new as the Mavericks are 48-9 (.842) at home over the past six seasons since 2014.
 
The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in 2016 and 2017.  CMU was 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.
 
Gunning for another home match
 
Over the next three weeks and five matches, the Mavericks will be looking to earn a top four seed and the right to host a RMAC Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday, Nov. 19.  The Mavericks are currently in fourth place in the conference standings just one match behind Dixie State (10-3) and one match ahead of the Colorado School of Mines and Black Hills State, both of who are 8-5 and in a tie for fifth.  Chadron State (7-5) currently holds down the seventh spot while CSU-Pueblo and UCCS are tied for the final RMAC Tournament qualification spot at 7-6.
 
Regis, ranked 10^th nationally, has won nine straight matches and currently leads the RMAC at 12-1, a half-match ahead of MSU Denver, which is 11-1 and solidly in second place.
 
.200 continues to be key
 
As a team, the Mavericks are hitting .221 this year to rank fourth in the RMAC.  When they have hit .200 or higher, the Mavericks are 12-1 this season.  When they fallen below that mark, they are just 1-7.
 
The Mavericks hit .282 in Friday's win at Westminster but hit just .124 in Saturday's loss at Dixie State.
 
The Quest for 2,000
 
Senior setter Samantha Ritter is just 84 assists away from reaching the 2,000 mark for her collegiate career.  Ritter has 387 to her credit this season will need to average just more than 16 per match to reach the milestone before the end of the regular season.   If she does, she would be the tenth Maverick setter in program history to reach the milestone.
 
The Tinley Park, Illinois native also has a team-leading six double-doubles to her credit this season and has registered 26 in her career, which included an Honorable Mention All-RMAC honor as a sophomore in 2017.
 
Standing second
 
Maverick redshirt junior Kasie Gilfert continues to rank second in the RMAC for both hitting percentage (.381) and kills per set (4.04).  She has also tallied 299 total kills, the second most in the conference.  Gilfert is also third in the RMAC for total points with 343 ½ and her per set average of 4.64.
 
On a national scale, Gilfert currently sits 17^th in the conference for hitting percentage, 18^th for points per set and 23^rd for kills per set.
 
Smith also ranked
 
Fellow Maverick middle Camille Smith is also ranked amongst the RMAC's top 10 players in those categories.  She currently sits fourth in hitting percentage (.375), sixth for kills per set (3.07) and eighth for points per set (3.68).
 
Digging it up
 
Maverick sophomore libero Kerstin Layman continues to rank seventh in the RMAC for digs per set.  She had 33 more over the weekend in Utah and now has 343 for the season, good for an average of 4.56 per set.  Layman has now recorded 25 or more digs in four different matches this season and has reached 20 or more six separate times.
 
Highly ranked 6-2 offense
 
The Mavericks' offense has been clicking this year as the Mavericks are second in the RMAC for both kills (14.20) and assists (13.32) per set.  They also rank ninth in the country for assists per set and are 13^th nationally for kills per set.
 
Rare 4-set defeat
 
Saturday's loss at Dixie State was the Mavs' first 4-set loss of the season.  Prior to that, CMU had been a perfect 5-0 in 4-set matches earlier in the year.
 
Fleming in year No. 15
 
The 2019 season is the Mavericks' 15th under Head Coach Dave Fleming, who has racked up 281 career wins (281-156) and a .643 career winning percentage, including this year's 13-8 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 Fort Lewis
 
The Skyhawks will enter Friday's match with a 9-13 overall record.  They are also 5-8 in RMAC play and currently sit in 11^th place in the conference standings.  However, they are just two matches out of a potential RMAC Tournament spot.
 
The Skyhawks have split each of their past four RMAC weekends and played a pair of 5-set matches in South Dakota last weekend.  They defeated South Dakota Mines last Friday (Oct. 25) before falling to Black Hills State on Saturday.
 
Senior middle blocker Bailey Longacre leads the team offensively recording 197 kills (2.49/set) while hitting a team-best. 268.  She also has 59 blocks to lead the team in that category.
 
Senior outside hitter Ohiyah Shirley has 146 kills (1.97/set) and leads the team with 28 service aces (0.38/set) to rank fifth in the RMAC in that category.  Shirley was a teammate of CMU's Kasie Gilfert at Northern Arizona University in both 2016 and 2017.
 
Skyhawk freshman Kamryn Lopez leads the team on the back-row with 315 digs (3.75/set) while another freshman in setter Payton Harmann has 555 assists, an average of 8.28 per set.  She has reached 40 in four of the Skyhawks' last five matches.
 
About Adams State
 
The Grizzlies currently stand 7-15 overall and are 4-9 in RMAC play.  They play at Western Colorado on Friday night and are currently saddled with a 5-match losing streak, which has come on the heels of a 4-match winning streak.
 
Hannah Goddard is the team's top offensive weapon and has 192 kills (2.53/set).   Meanwhile, Shannon Mulkey has recorded 156 kills (2.08/set) and is hitting at a .282 clip to pace the team in that category.  Mulkey also has 75 blocks, an even one per set.  The Grizzlies also have two of the RMAC's top servers in Mackenzie Swanson (0.41/set) and Maya Waddington (0.35/set) who rank fourth and ninth in the conference for aces.
 
Series Histories
 
The Skyhawks have defeated the Mavericks in five sets in each of the past two years after a run of CMU success that saw the Mavericks win four straight and 11 out of 12 meetings dating back to 2010.   All three of FLC's wins this decade have been in five sets while the Mavericks have recorded four straight-set sweeps and five 3-1 victories.  CMU also did win a 5-setter in 2012 on the road in Durango.
 
The Mavericks have won three straight and seven of their last eight matches against Adams State dating back to 2013.  ASU's lone victory in that stretch came in five sets on Oct. 17, 2015 in Alamosa.
 
The Grizzlies have only played in Grand Junction once since 2015.  CMU was able to hang on for a 5-set win in that match on Sept. 29, 2017 after winning the opening two sets.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend, the Mavericks will remain at home for their final three matches of the regular season, including a Nov. 8 encounter with the Colorado School of Mines, which continues to be amongst the others receiving votes category of the AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll.  The Mavericks will also host UCCS on Nov. 9 at Western Colorado in their Senior Night match on Nov. 15.