COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Turning in their best team attack percentage since 2007, the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks extended winning streak to six with a 4-set (25-12, 28-26, 19-25, 25-17) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball victory on the road at UCCS on Friday night here in the Mountain Lions' Gallogly Events Center.
 
The Mavs hit .425 as a team as true freshman Sydney Leffler recorded her third straight 20-plus kill night with an even 20 kills on .514 hitting.  She also had three block solos. 
 
Meanwhile, redshirt junior middle blocker Tye Wedhorn added 14 kills and hit .824, the best single-match attack percentage for a Maverick since Abby Ney hit .833 at New Mexico Highlands in 2013.  Wedhorn also added three blocks.
 
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList matched her career-high with 50 assists as she zoomed past the 1,000 career assist milestone.   She also added eight digs, three kills on five attempts and a pair of service aces.
 
Kerstin Layman added a match-high 13 digs to lead the defense while Jordan Woods chipped in seven more digs and a pair of aces.
 
Sierra Hunt also had a solid night with eight kills on .333 hitting off the bench as did Gabrielle Vogt, who managed seven kills from her starting right side position.  Savannah Spitzer and Holly Schmidt recorded five kills each as well.
 
With the win, the Mavericks improved to 14-4 overall and to 9-2 in RMAC play setting up a massively important Saturday night tilt at CSU Pueblo (15-4), which also stands 9-2 in RMAC play after a 3-set home sweep over Westminster earlier Friday.  The Mavs and ThunderWolves are tied for fourth place in the RMAC standings and just a match out a second place tie.  Both squads also early consideration for a potential NCAA Division II Tournament berth.
 
The Mavericks got off to a fast start building 4-0 and 10-1 leads in the first set.  They hit at an incredible .739 clip, committing just one hitting error.  Leffler connected on six of her eight swings while Wedhorn, Vogt and Hunt all put down three each.
 
The second set was much more a battle as the Mavericks trailed by as many as five (15-10).  Still down 18-14, the Mavericks then came back to within one at 19-18 with a 4-1 run that featured kills from Spitzer and VanDeList as well as an Ara Norwood ace of the bench.
 
The teams then exchanged points and were tied at every point from 21 to 26 until the Mavericks benefited from a successful video review challenge that resulted in a Leffler kill.  Wedhorn and VanDeList then blocked UCCS's Lauryn Shockley, who had 17 kills for the Mountain Lions, to claim the thrilling set.
 
CMU hit .438 in that stanza as Leffler and Wedhorn each put down five kills on just six attempts, good for .833 second set hitting percentages.
 
The Mavericks also dug themselves a hole in the third set, falling behind 14-6 before a 5-0 run made it tight.  The Mavs would go on to pull within two at 16-14 but could get no closer as a 6-2 Mountain Lion spurt helped the hosts stay alive, temporarily.
 
The fourth set was then tied on seven early occasions before a 3-0 run with Woods at the service line gave the Mavericks a bit of breathing room at 15-12.  Woods had an ace in the middle of that run, sandwiched by two Mountain Lion setting miscues.
 
UCCS never fully recovered and trailed by the same 3-point margin at 19-16 before back-to-back Leffler kills helped the Mavs close out the match on a 6-1 run.