TAVARES, Fla.— The Colorado Mesa University Beach Volleyball team won both of its' Challenge Round matches and advanced to the "Final Four" of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Small College Beach Championships while breaking their young program's history for wins in a season on Saturday here at Hickory Point Beach.
 
The fourth-seeded Mavericks, now 7-9 on the season, dropped a 4-1 decision to third-seeded Tampa in the Pool C finale but then bounced back with 3-2 and 4-1 wins over Eckerd and Lincoln Memorial in the Challenge Round to win that 3-team group and earn a spot in Sunday's Gold Bracket semifinals.
 
The Mavericks, who are now 4-1 on the weekend, will face defending tournament champion Texas A&M-Kingsville at 11 a.m. EDT (9 a.m. Mountain) on Sunday.  The winner will face the winner in the 1:30 p.m. EDT (11:30 a.m. Mountain) championship match against the winner of the other semifinal between Tampa and Spring Hill (Ala.) while the semifinal losers will play for third place.
 
CMU had won five matches in 2017 and 2018.
 
Against Tampa, the Mavericks picked up a No. 4 flight win from Ara Norwood and Holly Schmidt, who are undefeated on the weekend.  They won the opening set, 21-18 over Selina Pfuner and Melissa Elias before dropping the second, 21-13.  The Spartan duo then forfeited the third set as their team had already won the other four matches in straight sets.
 
Against Eckerd, the Mavericks benefited from a pair of default wins at No. 4 and No. 5 as the Tritons fielded a lineup of just six players.  The Mavericks then clinched the victory when Katie Scherr and Portia Valadez won, 24-22, 21-18 in the No. 1 match.  Eckerd's two wins came in three sets.
 
In the final match of the day against the Lady Railsplitters, the Mavericks had the same winning teams.
 
Scherr and Valadez won 21-16, 21-15 over Rylee Storms and Lindsey Nartker in the No. 1 match while Norwood and Schmidt posted a 21-14, 21-11 win over Tone Gill and Erica Whiteaker. 
 
Magdalena Dabrowski and Kerstin Layman were 23-21, 21-18 winners in the No. 5 affair.
 
Meanwhile, Ashton Reese and Jordan Cody won their 3-team pool of the Best of the Rest Pairs Tournament with an 18-21, 21-7, 15-4 win over Taylor George and Kenzie Erickson of Tampa.