GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Winners of three straight matches and nine straight sets on the road, the now 11-4 Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team will return home to Brownson Arena to face the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's two South Dakota schools in a pair of conference matches this weekend.
 
The Mavericks, tied for fourth in the RMAC standings, at 6-2, will host Black Hills State University (5-11, 2-6 RMAC) on Friday night at 7 p.m.   They will then take on South Dakota Mines on Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock after the Hardrockers (8-8, 2-6 RMAC) play at Westminster on Friday evening.
 
Both of CMU's opponents are currently tied for 12^th in the RMAC standings.
 
Tickets for both matches can be purchased online and a live stream will be available on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics for both matches can also be accessed at the link above.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
After playing their last four matches on the road, the Mavericks are eager to return home to Brownson Arena, where they have enjoyed a great deal of success.  The Mavericks swept Adams State and New Mexico Highlands in their last two home matches on Sept. 24 and 25, outscoring their opponents by a wide 150-84 margin to move to 2-1 at home this season.
 
The home-court success is nothing new as the Mavs went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season and are 61-12 (.836) at home over the past eight seasons since the start of 2014.
 
In the fall of 2019, the Mavs went 8-1 after going 9-1 in Brownson Arena during the 2018 campaign.
 
In the past four seasons, the Mavericks have won 25 of their 29 home matches, good for an .862 winning percentage, losing at home just once each season.
 
The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in both 2016 and 2017.  CMU was also an impressive 15-1 in 2014 en-route to a RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last nine seasons since and including 2012, going 76-21 (.784) at home in that that span.
 
The Mavericks are slated to play six more home matches this season, including this weekend's pair.
 
Four for #5
 
Redshirt freshman Sabrina VanDeList was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the fourth time in her career on Monday after averaging 13.67 assists, 2.17 digs, one kill and 0.50 service aces per set for the Mavericks, who recorded a pair of 3-set road sweeps over the weekend.  The Mavs also had a combined .343 hitting percentage in the victories over Fort Lewis and Western Colorado on Friday and Saturday, respectively.  She matched a career-high with 42 assists in Friday's win at Fort Lewis before tallying 40 more while orchestrating the Maverick attack, that hit .402 in Saturday's sweep over Western.
 
Over .400
 
The Mavs' .402 team hitting percentage in Saturday's win was the team's highest single-match total in more than two years.  Prior to Saturday, CMU had last hit at .400 clip on Sept. 20, 2019 when the Mavs hit .408 in a 3-set sweep at New Mexico Highlands.
 
Get out the brooms
 
The Mavericks claimed 3-set sweeps in both wins this past weekend at Fort Lewis and Western Colorado and have now swept their opponents in eight of their 11 victories this season.  The Mavs have also won nine consecutive sets over the last three matches after winning the third, fourth and fifth sets in a 5-set reverse sweep win over Colorado Christian on Oct. 2.
 
A win in every match
 
The Mavericks have also managed to win at least one set in each of their 15 matches this season.  Three of the Mavericks' four losses this season have come in four sets while another (at MSU Denver) came in five.
 
In the 2021 calendar year, the Mavericks have won at least one set in all but one of their 30 matches, going 25-5 overall. 
 
The Mavs are 38-16 in sets this fall and have a combined 83-28 set record in 2021, after winning 45 of their 57 total sets in the spring while posting a 15-1 record.
 
A fine return
 
Maverick redshirt junior middle blocker Tye Wedhorn had a solid match and overall weekend.  On Friday, in her return to Fort Lewis, where she played as a freshman and sophomore in 2018 and 2019, the Glenwood Springs, Colorado native matched a season-high with six blocks while recording seven kills and hitting .333.  Wedhorn then put down eight kills and three more blocks while hitting a season-best .615 in Saturday's sweep at Western.
 
Wedhorn, who earned Second Team All-RMAC honors as a Skyhawk in 2018, now has 50 blocks on the season for CMU and ranks third in the RMAC with her 1.06 per set average.  She is also third on the team with 102 kills and 137 total points and leads the team with her .328 attack percentage to rank sixth in the RMAC.
 
On their way to 900 and then 1K
 
Two Maverick standouts are approaching the 1,000 career milestone in their respective statistics and are almost sure to eclipse the 900 mark on Friday.
 
Maverick redshirt freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList now has 898 career assists, including 540 this season.  She had 358 in 16 matches during the spring, when she was named as the RMAC Freshman of the Year and to the First Team All-RMAC squad.
 
Fellow setter Ara Norwood, a fifth-year Maverick senior, has 1,631 career assists to her credit.  She earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors in both 2018 and 2019.
 
Meanwhile, redshirt junior Kerstin Layman libero has tallied 895 career digs in her four total seasons as Maverick.  She has 245 this season and ranks second in the RMAC with her 4.54 per set average, just off her 2019 season pace of 4.56 per set, when she earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC accolades.  She also had 146 digs to average 3.95 per set en-route to second team all-conference plaudits in the spring.
 
Borrowing from the Beach
 
The Mavericks borrowed a player from their beach volleyball roster to provide depth to the indoor team last week in fourth-year CMU student Macie Lachemann.  The Arroyo Grande, California native, who has posted 13 doubles wins as a regular in CMU's beach lineup over the past three springs, played in the second set of Friday's match at Fort Lewis, attempting two serves in what was her collegiate indoor debut.
 
Looking to the outside
 
The Maverick outside hitters were quite strong in last weekend's wins, unsurprisingly so considering the depth the Mavericks have at that key position.  Redshirt freshman Sierra Hunt came off the bench to record a career-high 17 kills on .375 hitting in Friday's win over Fort Lewis and then started Saturday's match at Western, when she put down another 14 kills while hitting .357.
 
Meanwhile, redshirt junior Holly Schmidt also had 14 kills while hitting .370 against Western after recording 11 kills on .310 hitting in the victory over Fort Lewis.
 
Both earned All-RMAC plaudits in the spring.
 
True freshman Sydney Leffler, also an outside hitter, leads the Mavericks with 154 kills this season but played sparingly last weekend.
 
Fifth-year senior Maddi Foutz, also an outside hitter, was the RMAC Player of the Year in the spring and earned first team all-conference honors at that position.  She is missing the entire 2021 fall season due to an injury sustained over the summer, but would be eligible to return for a sixth year next fall if she so chooses.
 
300 & Counting
 
With CMU's RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal win over UCCS on Apr. 8, Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming became just the fifth of now six coaches in RMAC history to reach 300 career wins while coaching in the league.  Fleming, who is just the fourth head coach in the program's history, which celebrated its' 35^th season last spring, was also named as the RMAC Coach of the Year for the fourth time after leading the Mavericks to a 15-1 record in the spring.
 
Now in his 17^th season, Fleming is 311-163, good for a .656 winning percentage.  His 311 career wins are the most of any active RMAC Coach and his tenure is equal to the longest in the conference amongst active coaches.
 
The success is nothing new for Fleming, who has led the Mavericks to seven NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament titles (2014, 2018, 2021-Spring), a 2014 RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and three RMAC West Division crowns (2005, 2009, 2010).

The Mavericks have had winning campaigns in all but one of his seasons and his teams have reached the 20-win mark five times, including in 2018, when they went 24-7 while winning the RMAC Tournament title and advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA South Central Regional.  Fleming was also named as the RMAC Co-Coach of the Year that year after earlier earning that honor outright in 2009 and 2014.

The 2014 team went 29-4, won the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and hosted the South Central Regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament while advancing to the regional final.
 
About Black Hills State
 
The Yellow Jackets broke a 5-match slide with a 3-0 home win over Colorado Christian but then dropped a 3-set decision to national No. 2 MSU Denver on Saturday to fall to 5-11 overall and to 2-6 in RMAC play.
 
Four different 'Jackets have recorded more than 100 kills this season, a group led by junior outside hitter Madison Hoopman, who has put down 198 to average 3.19 per set, the eighth best average in the RMAC.  Hoopman is also second on the team in digs with 156 (2.52/set) and is hitting at a .204 clip from her outside hitter position.
 
Sophomore setter Karly Marx is averaging 7.28 assists per set to stand eighth in the RMAC while sophomore libero Haedyn Rhoades has tallied 277 total digs, good for a 4.47 per set average that ranks her fourth in the conference.  She also leads the team with 20 service aces.
 
Senior middle hitter Peyton Bodemann has 55 blocks (0.89/set) to lead the team and rank 12^th in the RMAC but has managed just 63 kills and a .028 attack percentage offensively.  Senior outside hitter Sierra Ward (134 kills, 32 blocks) and sophomore middle Mariah Robinson (107 kills, 42 blocks) are also putting up solid numbers for eighth-year head coach Kristin Carmichael and are hitting .228 and .232 respectively.

The Jackets rank just 13^th in the RMAC for hitting percentage (.143) but are in the upper half (7^th) of the league defensively, holding opponents to a .184 combined clip.
 
About South Dakota Mines
 
The Hardrockers (8-8, 2-6 RMAC) got off to a solid 6-1 start but have struggled as of last going just 2-7 in their last nine matches heading into their Friday night encounter at Westminster.  They have been swept in their last three matches at home by Regis, MSU Denver and Colorado Christian after claiming a 5-set win over Black Hills State back on Sept. 28.
 
They have an incredibly balanced offensive attack with six different players posting between 87 and 122 kills this season.  Junior middle hitter Dejah Behrend leads the squad and is averaging 2.07 per set while hitting .185.  Emma Grimm is just behind with 121, but has been held to a .115 percentage.
 
Jacey Koethe has the team's best kill per set average at 2.11 and is hitting a team-best .247 as well from her middle blocker position.  She also paces the team in blocks with 45 (0.85/set).  Sophomore outside hitter Sydney Crites has put down 118 kills on a team-high 484 swings.
 
Kiley Metzger (5.11) and Shyann Bastian (4.04) are averaging more than nine combined assists per set.
 
Addie Stanley, also listed as a setter on the roster, ranks ninth in the RMAC for digs per set (3.98) and has 243 in total, 18 more than Grimm, who stands 13^th with her 3.69 per set average.

Six Hardrockers from their large 22-player roster, are also in double figures for aces as the team ranks sixth in the RMAC with their 1.49 per set average.
 
Fourth-year head coach Lauren Torvi Prochazka's team is hitting .152, just the 11^th best mark in the conference, although they have held opponents to a .175 clip to rank sixth in the RMAC.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks and Head Coach Dave Fleming are 9-1 all-time against Black Hills State.  They have won four straight matches, including three in straight sets.   They defeated the 'Jackets in three sets (25-16, 25-20, 25-15) on Mar. 19 in a neutral-court encounter in Alamosa last spring after winning a hard-fought 5-set match in their last home match against them on Oct. 18, 2019.  CMU is 5-0 all-time at home against BHSU.
 
Fleming and the Mavericks have been even more dominant against South Dakota Mines, winning all eight match-ups while dropping just four sets.  The Mavs are 3-0 against the 'Rockers at home and have won both of the last two matches in the series in four sets, winning at home on Oct. 19, 2019 and then in Rapid City, South Dakota on Feb. 20 of this calendar year during the spring season.  Holly Schmidt had a career-high 25 kills in that victory.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return to the bus for another road trip on Oct. 22 and 23 facing UCCS and CSU Pueblo.