LAS VEGAS, N.M.— The Colorado Mesa University Volleyball team hit a blistering .408, their highest team hitting percentage since 2009, in a 3-set (25-19, 25-20, 25-11) sweep of New Mexico Highlands University on Friday evening here in both teams' Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference openers in the John A. Wilson Complex.
 
With the victory, the Mavericks snapped their first 2-match slide since in two years and won their conference opener for the eighth straight year while improving to 5-4 overall.  NMHU dropped to 1-8 and was held to a .123 team hitting percentage as the Mavericks dominated the match, especially the final set.
 
Kasie Gilfert recorded a match-high 15 kills and hit at a .414 clip while putting down a match-leading three blocks.  Fellow middle Camille Smith had 11 kills on an errorless 15 attempts hitting at a .733 clip.  She returned to the Maverick lineup after missing three matches last week due to injury.
 
Senior outside hitter Katie Scherr was also in double figures with 10 kills on a strong .364 hitting effort.
 
Freshman Maranda Theleus also added seven kills on .500 hitting.
 
Setters Ara Norwood and Samantha Ritter combined for 46 of the Mavs' 51 assists while Kerstin Layman added 14 digs while leading the Mavs' to a 38-25 advantage in that category.
 
The Mavericks were even more dominant at the net finishing with 52 kills, more than doubling NMHU's total of 25.  Keegan Lopez had 10 of those for the Cowgirls.
 
The Mavs hit at a blistering .517 clip as a team in the first set but could not shake the pesky Cowgirls, who took 11-8 and 12-10 leads.  However, Gilfert put down a kill before back-to-back swings by Katie Scherr put the Mavs' up 13-12.  After another Maverick point, the Cowgirls then went on a 4-0 run of their own to gain a 16-15 lead. 
 
However, the Mavs then went on another 7-1 spurt as five different players recorded kills to build a 21-17 lead.  CMU would then later finish off the set winning 11 of the final 14 points to do so.
 
The second set was also close early and was tied at 7 before a 4-0 run gave the Mavs a lead they would not relinquish.  The Mavs gradually extended the advantage to 22-14 and won the frame on a Cowgirl service error.
 
In the third set, the Mavs would trail 6-5 early on but won five straight and 13 of the next 15 points to build a comfortable 16-8 lead.  They would later wins seven straight points and easily clinched the match on a Gilfert kill.
 
The Mavericks have now won the last 12 meetings with the Cowgirls and have taken 19 out of the last 20.
 
On Saturday at 2 p.m., the Mavs will be in Pueblo, Colorado to face CSU-Pueblo, which lost a 15-13 fifth set decision and the match to visiting Western on Friday.  With that loss, the ThunderWolves fell to 2-7 overall.