GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Beach Volleyball season begins Friday when the Mavericks will travel to Tucson, Arizona for the University of Arizona's Cactus Classic at Bear Down Beach.
The Mavericks, entering their fourth all-time season of beach volleyball competition, will face the host and nation's 14
th ranked Wildcats to begin the weekend on Friday at 12:30 p.m. Live results from that match can be
found here.
The Mavericks will then play Benedictine University at Mesa that day at 2:30 before facing the Redhawks again at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in their final match of the weekend. The Mavericks will also take on Boise State University, Saturday at 9 a.m.
A look back at last season
The Mavericks had a strong season in 2018, posting five team wins, including a triumph over NCAA Division I Abilene Christian. They went 5-15 overall playing a very challenging schedule that included 10 nationally-ranked opponents.
They also dominated the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Sand 2's Championships going 1-2-3 in the tournament while taking the team title with 675 points, easily out-distancing Regis, which was second with 350.
Early start, long break and tough schedule
After this weekend's competition, the Mavericks will have close to a month off before playing a good chunk of their schedule during a 4-day spring break stint in Southern California. The Mavericks will play six matches from Mar. 20-23. They then have two more on the schedule for Apr. 13 playing at Utah and against Boise State before contesting the AVCA Small College Beach Championships for the first time in program history from Apr. 19-21 in Tavares, Florida.
Ten of their first 12 matches will come against NCAA Division I institutions. Three of those foes (Arizona, No. 15 Loyola Marymount and No. 8 Long Beach State) are ranked in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Preseason Poll. Nebraska and Washington, who the Mavericks will play in neutral-site encounters in Southern California, are also receiving votes in that poll.
Indoor faces
Sixty percent (9) of the Mavericks' 15 players on the 2019 roster will be familiar to general volleyball fans as they were members of CMU's indoor volleyball team that won the 2018 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament title last fall. Highlighting the list is sophomore
Ara Norwood (2018) and junior
Samantha Ritter (2017), who have earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors at the setter position over the past two seasons.
Katie Scherr, one of the Mavericks' starting outside hitters, fellow junior outside hitter
Hailey Crane and sophomore
Ashton Reese, a right side during the indoor campaign, were also leading members of the indoor squad. Four freshmen in
Hannah Bokal,
Kerstin Layman,
Holly Schmidt,
Emily Tucker were also on the Mavs' indoor squad in the fall.
Beach goers
Meanwhile, the Mavericks have six "beach only" players, including returnees
Lindy Dixon and
Rachael Perrine. The other newcomers to the squad are
Jordan Cody, Magdalena Dabrowksi,
Macie Lachemann and
Portia Valadez.
Scherr leads the way
Junior
Katie Scherr was one of the Mavericks' co-leaders in total wins last season. She went 7-13 with partner
Taylor Woods, who is student-teaching at Wingate Elementary School in Grand Junction this spring and thus unavailable for duty. Scherr and Woods played in the No. 1 position last year.
Scouting the opponents
Arizona (Friday, 12:30 p.m.)
The Wildcats are also opening their season this weekend after going 20-12 as a team in 2018 while posting a 1-2 record to finish fifth at the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships. They were 12-3 at home a year ago and went 0-7 nationally-ranked foes.
The tandem of Natalie Anselmo and Olivia Macdonald led the team with 20 victories. They were 16-12 in the No. 1 position. Anselmo is back for her junior season but will have a new partner.
Meanwhile, Jonny Baham and Brooke Burling led the squad on a winning percentage basis with a 17-6 record last year. They went 9-2 at the No. 4 position and 6-4 at No. 5 while winning eight of their last 10 matches. Both of those players are on the 2019 Wildcat roster.
The Mavericks are 0-2 against the Wildcats all-time. Both of those matches have been played in Tucson. The Mavericks did earn a point against them last year, when Arizona was ranked 15
th in the country, as
Ara Norwood and
Natalee Todd won at No. 5 to earn a second match win against a Pac-12 opponent in their history.
Benedictine Mesa (Friday, 2:30 p.m. & Saturday, 11:30 a.m.)
The Redhawks are also beginning their season this year with a beach volleyball program and are coming off a 9-10 season a year ago. They are a member of the NAIA but will play six matches against NCAA opponents, including four this year.
Coach Sonia Jones has a large roster, which includes seven seniors.
The Mavericks and Redhawks have met once before with CMU claiming a 4-1 win at Benedictine Mesa to open the 2017 season on Mar. 2 of that year.
Boise State (Saturday, 9 a.m.)
The Broncos are entering their sixth season of their beach volleyball history and went 4-11 a year ago under then first-year head coach Allison Buck, who had been an assistant for the two prior. Now in her second year, Buck returns seven letterwinners. They had gone 5-6 in each of the previous two years.
The Mavericks and Broncos have never faced each other but will twice this year, with both meetings coming on neutral sand.
