GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After more than 14 months since their last official match, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team came out flying as they swept the nation's fifth-ranked Regis University Rangers (25-14, 25-16, 25-20) in the 2021 spring season and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Sunday morning at Brownson Arena.
 
Redshirt junior right side hitter Ashton Reese matched a career-high to pace the Mavericks with 13 kills on .611 hitting.  Senior outside hitter Maddi Foutz added 10 more and hit .304.  She also added nine digs.
 
Meanwhile, freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied 22 assists as she and senior Ara Norwood, who chipped in 13, orchestrated the Maverick attack, which hit .324.
 
The Rangers were held to a .127 percentage as returning First Team All-RMAC selection Caitlyn Burroway had a team-high nine kills.  However, she hit just .086.
 
Defensively, the Mavericks were paced by Emily Tucker, who made her first career start at the libero position.  She had 14 digs.  Holly Schmidt added 12 while putting down eight kills on .389 from the other outside hitter position.
 
The Mavericks were only pushed late in a set once.  Leading 17-15 in the third, the Mavericks called timeout and promptly went on a 5-0 run to build what ended up being the final third-set margin of victory.
 
The Mavericks had a similar spurt in the first set breaking what was an early 4-4 deadlock with a 6-0 spurt.  Reese had four kills in the opening set and put down another four in the second, which saw the Mavs use an early 8-1 run with Schmidt and Tucker behind the service line to take an early 10-3 lead.
 
Reese and fellow right side Gabrielle Vogt then had five kills a piece in the third and final frame.  They combined to hit .600 in that set.
 
The Mavericks finished the morning with a 48-38 advantage in digs and a 45-30 cushion in total kills   The Rangers had a slight 5-4 advantage in blocks as Ayala Plummer registered four.
 
Savannah Spitzer had two for the Mavericks, who were picked fourth in the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll.  The Rangers were tabbed as co-favorites and were tabbed fifth in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 poll as well after winning the RMAC's regular season title before advancing to the NCAA Division II Tournament semifinals in the fall of 2019.
 
The Mavericks will face CSU Pueblo in the final match of a 3-match Sunday pod at 4 p.m.  The Rangers will also play the ThunderWolves at 1 p.m.  Both of those matches are non-conference affairs.