GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After starting their season more than three weeks ago in Tucson, Arizona, the Colorado Mesa University Beach Volleyball team will play a good chunk of their 2019 schedule this week when they play six matches in a span on four days in southern California over spring break.
 
The slate begins Wednesday in Northridge as the Mavs will take on 13th-ranked Loyola Marymount University and the host CSUN Matadors in a tri-match.
 
After a day off on Thursday, they will then head to Long Beach for four matches over two days at the Belmont Shore Challenge, hosted by Long Beach State.  In that 2-day tournament on Friday, they will play Nebraska, Washington, the ninth-ranked hosts and CSU Bakersfield.
 
Last Time Out

The Mavericks went 1-2 in Arizona's Cactus Classic in Tucson, Arizona.  The first day (Feb. 22) of that tournament was snowed out.  The revised schedule then had the Mavs play a tripleheader on Feb. 23.  CMU lost 5-0 to No. 14 Arizona and to Boise State but rallied to defeat Benedictine Mesa, 3-2. 
 
Winners & Clinchers

The Mavericks claimed victories in the No. 1, 3 and 5 matches against Benedictine Mesa.  Katie Scherr and Portia Valadez won their match 21-19, 21-15 at No. 1 while Magdalena Dabrowski and Kerstin Layman won their No. 5 match, 21-18, 21-19.  Hailey Crane and Lindy Dixon then won a 3-set (16-21, 21-16, 15-11) thriller at No. 3 to clinch the team win.
 
Twelve for Twelve

With her win, junior Katie Scherr, who wears uniform No. 12 both on the beach and in the gym as an outside hitter on the Mavs' indoor volleyball team, became the fourth Maverick to reach that mark in career wins.  She ranks fourth in program history for wins and is just three shy of the record of 15 held by Taylor Woods, who was her partner in 2018.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Scouting the opponents
 
Loyola Marymount

The Lions have been ranked 13^th in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll for the last two weeks and currently hold an 8-6 record after going 2-1 in their home-openers at Santa Monica Beach on Saturday.  They got off to 3-0 and 5-1 starts but went through a 1-4 stretch before Saturday's competition which included wins over Concordia-Irvine and Missouri State and a 3-2 loss to No. 7 Cal Poly. 
 
CSUN

The CSUN Matadors will enter Thursday's tri-dual with a 5-5 overall record and as winners of their last three contests.  They swept a tri-dual on Saturday in Bakersfield defeating Marymount, 5-0 and the host CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners, 3-2.  Against Marymount, they won all ten sets.
 
Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan have led Matadors with a 6-4 record and moved up to the No. 1 position for the match against the Roadrunners after earning a fifth straight at No. 2 against Marymount.  Taylor Brydon and Lauren McMurray also picked up two wins on Saturday and have matched Honeycutt and Maughan with six wins.
 
Nebraska

The Huskers have already played 18 matches and sport a 10-8 record heading into Thursday matches in Irvine, California.  They were 10-1 before losing all seven of their matches in a 3-day (Saturday-Monday) span in Honolulu, Hawai'i against Boise State, California and fifth-ranked Hawai'i.  Five of those matches were played as part of the Heineken Hawaii Invitational. 
 
The ten wins are the most in the Huskers' beach volleyball history.
 
Washington

The Huskies are currently 3-3 but have not played since Mar. 10.  They are receiving votes in the AVCA Poll and won all three of their matches in their last weekend of competition taking down Portland, 4-1, and Oregon, 3-2 on Mar. 9 before defeating Boise State, 4-1 on Mar. 10.
 
Destiny Julye and Kristen Gengenbacher are 3-0 as a pair in the top flight after Julye began the season with three losses while partnering with Shayne McPherson.  Meanwhile, McPherson is 3-0 with Kara Bajema at No. 2.  Gengenbacher leads the team in total with her 4-2 record.
 
Long Beach State
 
The Beach are ranked ninth in the AVCA poll and rolled past Irvine Valley College and Missouri State with 5-0 victories in their last action on Mar. 14.  The squad did not drop a set in either of those matches.

They host No. 5 Pepperdine at their home on-campus facility in a top-10 clash on Wednesday before beginning the weekend tournament along the ocean at Long Beach.
 
CSU Bakersfield

The Roadrunners are currently 4-3 heading into a home matches with North Florida and Westcliff on Tuesday.
 
No. 2 pair Cameron Solberg and Milica Vukobrat have the team's top record at 5-2, playing exclusively in the second flight.  The pairs of Brooke Boiseau/Krista Hernandez and Hana Makonova/Sidney Wicks are both 4-3.  Makonova and Wicks have played all season at No. while Boiseau and Hernandez moved up a spot to No. 4 for the match against CSUN on Saturday after spending the first six matches in the No. 5 position.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks have never defeated any of this week's opponents but have never played against Nebraska, Washington or CSU-Bakersfield.  They have faced Loyola Marymount and CSUN in each of the last three years and have played Long Beach State in each of the last two.
 
Up Next
 
After this week's trip, the Mavericks will be off until Apr. 13 when they will contest a tri-dual against host Utah and Boise State in Salt Lake City.