LAKEWOOD, Colo.— On Friday night, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team had a 2-set led and lost by a 15-11 score in the decisive fifth to the nation's second-ranked MSU Denver Roadrunners.
On Saturday afternoon, the Mavericks turned the tables 180 degrees, coming from two sets down to win a hard-fought 5-setter at Colorado Christian University in strikingly similar yet completely opposite fashion.
They won the fifth set by that same 15-11 score after coming from as many as seven points behind in the fourth.
The victory allowed the Mavericks to improve to 9-4 overall and to 4-2 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The Cougars fell to 6-8 overall and to 3-3 in the loop.
Prior to Friday, the Mavs had not played a 5-set match this season.
The Mavericks were monsters as the net on Saturday finishing the match with 12 blocks as right side
Maranda Theleus and middle blocker
Haley Hahn both came off the bench to finish with seven blocks a piece, a new career-high total for both.
Offensively, the Mavericks were incredibly balanced as Hahn, who hit .643 on 14 swings, and outside hitters
Sydney Leffler and
Holly Schmidt all had ten kills.
Ashton Reese added eight while Theleus put down seven.
Libero
Kerstin Layman tallied 22 digs while setters
Sabrina VanDeList and
Ara Norwood combined for 45 assists as CMU switched to a 6-2 attack during the match.
VanDeList, who started the first two sets, finished with 27 assists while Norwood recorded 18 assists and nine digs, both of which are new season-highs.
CCU's Libby Goodman had 15 kills and hit .387 to lead the Cougars.
She and the Cougars were on fire in the opening frame as CCU hit a sizzling .625 to take the early lead with a 25-20 win. They then jumped out to a 14-5 lead and cruised to the second set win by a 25-19 secore.
However, the Mavs were incredibly dominant in the third, winning 25-10 as they hit .476 as a team in the frame.
CMU led the third set by just one at 8-7 but went on a 11-0 run with Layman at the service line to go up 19-7 en-route to the 15-point margin of victory.
CMU's momentum would be short-lived as the Cougars bounced back to take a 10-3 lead in the fourth before the Mavs chipped away at the lead pulling within one at 15-14 thanks to kills by Theleus and
Sierra Hunt while Hahn was serving.
The Mavs then eventually tied the set at 19 and took a 20-19 lead before the Cougars scored two straight points to go back in front, 21-20.
However, Hahn took over with three kills in the final stages of the set, which wen the Mavericks' way, 25-22.
In the fifth, the Mavs got out to a 4-1 lead but watched the Cougars come back to tie the set at 9 and 10 before a Schmidt hill, Cougar hitting error and block by Theleus and Hahn on Goodman put the Mavericks in front, 13-10.
After a Cougar kill cut the CMU advantage to just two (13-11), Norwood and VanDeList recorded kills to close out the match.
The Mavericks continue their season on the road next weekend playing at Fort Lewis on Friday (Oct. 8) and Western Colorado a night late. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.
