GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Riding a season-best 5-match winning streak, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will march on with their season this weekend as they travel to Colorado Springs and Pueblo to face UCCS and CSU Pueblo on Friday and Saturday nights.
 
The Mavericks enter the weekend with a 13-4 record and are 8-2 in RMAC play, tied for fourth place with CSU Pueblo (14-4) in the RMAC standings and just a match behind a second place tie with Colorado School of Mines and Regis, who hold 9-1 records.
 
UCCS is 5-12 overall and 2-8 in RMAC play as part of a 4-way tie for 12^th.
 
Live streams of both matches, which both begin at 7 p.m., will be available on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics for both matches can also be accessed at the links above.
 
Masks are required for admittance to the UCCS match in the Mountain Lions' Gallogly Events Center.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks continued their strong play at home last weekend, taking care of business with wins over Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines to improve to 4-1 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 63-12 (.840) 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 27 of their 31 home matches, good for an .871 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 ten seasons since and including 2012, going 78-21 (.788) at home in that that span.
 
The Mavericks are slated to play four more regular season home matches this season.
 
NORCO Player of the Week Connection
 
The Maverick squad includes three players, who played their club volleyball for NORCO in northern Colorado before taking their talents to CMU.  Two of those earned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors as the former club-mates connected regularly in last weekend's wins.
 
True freshman outside hitter Sydney Leffler, a 2021 graduate of Eaton High School, recorded 43 combined kills, good for an impressive average of 6.17 per set, while hitting .395 over the weekend and was named as the RMAC's Offensive Player of the Week. 
 
Meanwhile, Maverick redshirt freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList, a 2020 Fort Collins High School graduate and Severance, Colorado native, doled out 86 assists (12.29/set) while recording 12 digs, five blocks, three kills and a pair of service aces throughout the weekend.  She was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the second consecutive week and fifth time in her career.
 
Maverick fifth-year redshirt junior Ashton Reese, who also hails from Eaton, also played her club volleyball for NORCO and has had the best three back-row matches of her career in a defensive specialist role.  She had 11 digs against Black Hills State and recorded 12 against South Dakota Mines after tallying a career-high 13 a week prior in a 3-set sweep at Western Colorado.
 
In Good Company
 
Recording 21 kills in Friday's win over Black Hills State and then a career-high matching 22 on Saturday against South Dakota Mines, Leffler became the first Maverick since 2-time all-American Kasie Gilfert to record 20 or more kills in consecutive matches.  On Oct. 26 and 27, 2018, Gilfert had 20 kills in a 3-set win at UCCS before recording 24 in a 5-set win at Mines on the next night.
 
Her 22 kills against South Dakota Mines are also tied for fifth most in a 3-set match in available single-match history that dates back to 1994.  The last Maverick to have 20 or more kills in 3-set match, was Gilfert, who did it twice in 2018, including the aforementioned match.
 
Leffler is also the first Maverick freshman since Allison Smith in 2016 to record 20 or kills in a single match and is the first CMU freshman to have three such matches during their debut season since Corinne Cascioppo, who had three 20+-kill nights back in 2008.
 
50-plus
 
Sabrina VanDeList became the first Maverick setter to record 50 or more assists in a single match since 2017 when Samantha Ritter had two 50-plus nights during her sophomore campaign.
 
A win in every match
 
The Mavericks have managed to win at least one set in each of their 17 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 32 matches, going 27-5 overall. 
 
The Mavs are 44-17 in sets this fall and have a combined 89-29 set record in 2021, after winning 45 of their 57 total sets in the spring while posting a 15-1 record.
 
1K milestone
 
After recording 168 assists en-route to back-to-back RMAC Setter of the Week honors over the last two weeks alone, Sabrina VanDeList has quickly approached the 1,000 career assist milestone.  With 984 assists in 33 career matches during the 2021 calendar year, VanDeList will likely reach the milestone on Friday at UCCS as she enters the weekend just 16 shy of the milestone.
 
If she does, she would join redshirt senior teammate Ara Norwood as Mavericks who have surpassed the mark.  Norwood has 1,631 assist to her credit in 100 career matches.  Norwood earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors as a setter in both 2018 and 2019 as part of a 6-2 Maverick offensive attack.  She continued in that role during the spring season along with VanDeList, who has emerged as the Mavs' go-to setter in what has become a mostly 5-1 offensive formation this fall.
 
No RMAC team currently has two setters with 1,000 career assists on their roster.
 
Massey No. 17
 
Through matches on Sunday, the Maverick rank 17^th nationally in the NCAA Division II Massey Ratings.  They and many other sports ratings are produced by Kenneth Massey, an American sports statistician, whose ratings have been part of the college football Bowl Championship Series selection process for over two decades.
 
To read more about and see his ratings, please see his Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Massey) and his ratings at https://masseyratings.com/cvol/ncaa-d2/ratings
 
The Mavs are one of four RMAC teams in the top 20 of the rankings as MSU Denver, which also took over the No. 1 spot in Monday's AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, leads the way with a 7.01 rating.  Mines ranks seventh at 6.66 while Regis is 15^th at 6.46.  The Mavericks have a 6.36 rating.  CSU Pueblo is ranked 37^th at 5.99.
 
Still the only one
 
As has been the case for much of the season, the Mavericks continue to have an individual ranked amongst the RMAC's top ten in all seven individual statistical categories, a claim that no other RMAC school can currently claim.
 
Freshman Sydney Leffler, highlighted earlier, leads the RMAC with her 3.58 kill per set average.  She also ranks third in total points per set at 3.85.
 
Meanwhile, Kerstin Layman stands second in the conference for digs with her 4.52 per set average, just 0.01 off leader Elizabeth Rupprecht of Western.
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList is amongst the leaders in a pair of categories, ranking third in the RMAC for assists (10.26/set) and fourth for service aces (0.41).  With five aces over the weekend, true freshman Jordan Woods has also moved up to fifth in the conference in the serving category with her 0.40 per set average.
 
Maverick middle blockers Savannah Spitzer and Tye Wedhorn are also ranked right next to each other in attack percentage as Spitzer is now hitting .338 on the season to stand fifth in the RMAC, one spot above Wedhorn, who is hitting .329.  Wedhorn also stands third in the conference for blocking, averaging 1.09 per set.
 
As a team, the Mavericks sit in the top half of the RMAC statistics in numerous categories, standing
atop the conference with a .142 opponent hitting percentage and kills allowed (10.52/set).  The Mavericks also rank third with their offensive hitting percentage of .254, assists (12.85/set), kills (13.72/set) and blocks (2.21/set) amongst others.
 
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 313-163, good for a .658 winning percentage.  His 313 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 UCCS
 
The Mountain Lions split a pair of 5-set home matches last weekend after losing their three previous matches.  They have played seven 5-set matches this, going 3-4 in them, and are a dangerous squad from the bottom half of the RMAC standings that sits just two matches out of qualification spot for the RMAC Tournament.
 
Lauryn Shockley, a redshirt junior outside hitter and right side, has recorded a team-high 231 kills this season and ranks fifth in the RMAC with her 3.35 per set average.  She is also hitting a team-best .246 and stands second on the team with 150 digs (2.17/set).  Shockley, who earned Second Team All-RMAC honors in the spring, recorded 37 combined kills this past weekend putting down 19 in a 5-set win over Western Colorado and 18 more in Saturday's defeat against Fort Lewis.
 
Hannah Ammerman and Camden Strain have also put together solid campaigns.  Ammerman, another redshirt junior pin hitter, has 166 kills and has hit .205.  She also ranks third on the team in digs with 120 (1.79) and paces the squad with 30 blocks (0.45/set).  Strain, a sophomore pin, has 133 kills (2.02/set) and 81 digs (1.23) to her credit.
 
Redshirt sophomore Emily Ettel, who missed five matches earlier this season, has recorded 447 assists, good for an average of 9.12 per set, which ranks her sixth in the RMAC.  Abbie Boren recorded 220 assists (11.00/set) in 20 sets played over five matches earlier in the season but has not appeared in a match since Sept. 17.
 
Jordyn Kinsey leads the team with 223 digs (3.23/set) although defense has been an issue for the Mountain Lions as a team, who have allowed opposing teams to hit .270 against them.  They have also averaged a league-low 1.22 blocks and 11.20 digs per set.
 
Offensively, UCCS is hitting .204 as a team to rank sixth in the RMAC.
 
About CSU Pueblo
 
The ThunderWolves will enter the weekend with a 14-4 overall record are tied for fourth place in the RMAC standings with the Mavericks at 8-2 in conference play.  They host Westminster on Friday before taking on CMU. 
 
The ThunderWolves and Mavericks are both holding opponents to a .142 attack percentage to top the RMAC in defense although CMU has the slightest of advantages when rounding to the thousandths place.  They lead the conference in blocking with an average of 2.29 team blocks per set and have the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week in junior libero Elaine Thibadeau, who registered 36 digs in last weekend's wins over Fort Lewis and Western Colorado.  She ranks sixth in the RMAC for digs per set this season at 4.00.
 
The Pack is also hitting .223 offensively to rank fourth in the RMAC, one spot behind CMU.
 
Payton Stack leads the team with 185 kills (2.72/set) while Hannah Delor has put down 158 (2.32/set).  Stack is also hitting .293 while Jazzy Espinoza is hitting at a .295 clip and also has 124 kills (1.82/set) to her credit.

Delor also leads the conference in service aces with 35, good for a 0.51 per set average.  The ThunderWolves rank third in the RMAC as a team in serving with 1.82 aces per set.
 
Delor is also second on the team behind Thibadeau with 174 digs (2.56).
 
Espinoza, Milica Djukick and Stack all rank amongst the conference's top ten players in blocking.  Espinoza sits fourth with her 1.07 per set average.
 
Setter Grace Hern has played in all 68 of the team's sets this year and has 318 assists.  Grace Jansen (145) and Sabrina King (111) are also in triple figures have played in a combined 71 sets thus far.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks hold a 30-8 series advantage over UCCS in the Division II era (1992-Present).  The Mavs have also won four straight and eight out of the last nine matches against the Mountain Lions and have won three straight against them on the road.  Dave Fleming is 13-6 against the Mountain Lions in his tenure and holds an 8-1 record against his Mountain Lion counterpart Chrissy Elder, now in her ninth season with the Mountain Lions.
 
Fleming claimed his 300^th career win over UCCS in the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Tournament in the spring.
 
The Mavs have had similar success against CSU Pueblo, winning 35 of the 50 meetings since 1992, including eight of the last nine.  However, the Mavs were downed in five sets in their last trip to Pueblo back on Sept. 21, 2019 and are just 12-9 in Pueblo during the Division II era. 
 
Fleming is 20-6 against the ThunderWolves and 1-1 against third-year CSU Pueblo coach Austin Albers.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home for two home matches on the following weekend hosting Western Colorado and Fort Lewis on Oct. 29 and 30.  The Mavericks swept both of those teams earlier this month on Oct. 8 and 9.
 
New Time
 
To accommodate some transportation issues for Western, the start time of the Friday, Oct. 29 home match against the Mountaineers has been moved up one hour to 6 p.m.  The Mavericks will then take on Fort Lewis at the originally scheduled time of 4 o'clock on Saturday, Oct. 30.