PUEBLO, Colo.— Thanks in large part to a career-high 23 kills from redshirt freshman Gabrielle Vogt and a career-night from setter Sabrina VanDeList, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team came from a set down on two separate occasions to pull out a massively important 5-set (21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-11, 15-8) road win at CSU Pueblo on Saturday night in the ThunderWolves' Massari Arena.
 
The victory was CMU's seventh straight overall and allowed the now 15-4 Mavericks to move into a third place tie in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings  with national No. 7 Colorado School of Mines, which dropped a 5-setter of their own at now second-place Regis.  The Mavericks and Orediggers, who have yet to meet, are now 10-2 in conference play, just one match behind the 11-1 Rangers, who will visit CMU's Brownson Arena on Nov. 12 in what will be CMU's final match of the regular season.

National No. 1 MSU Denver continues to lead the RMAC at 12-0. 
 
CMU's only two conference losses have come to the Roadrunners.
 
Meanwhile, CSU Pueblo dropped to 15-5 overall and to fifth in the RMAC standings at 9-3.  With the top four teams in the final RMAC standings at home for the opening round of next month's RMAC Tournament, Saturday's win gives the Mavs an inside track to such a home-court opportunity in a possible post-season re-match as they will also win any direct head-to-head tie-breakers with the ThunderWolves thanks to Saturday's win.
 
The Mavs' victory was also their marquee win of the campaign, at least thus far, and will certainly be a big bullet point on the CMU's NCAA Tournament bid resume.
 
Vogt hit .340 on the night, putting down the most kills of any Maverick this season.  Her 23-kill total was also ten higher than her former career-best. 
 
The Mavs have now had a player reach 20 kills in each of their last four matches after Sydney Leffler had come in with three straight such efforts.  Leffler finished Saturday's win with 12, but also had ten hitting errors.
 
More on that later.
 
Meanwhile, VanDeList tallied 51 assists and 18 digs.  Both marks are new career-highs and allowed her to record her sixth double-double of the season and 12^th of the calendar year.
 
CMU redshirt junior libero Kerstin Layman also finished with 18 digs while Sierra Hunt chipped in 11 kills from the outside.  Savannah Spitzer also contributed nine.
 
The Mavericks finished the match with a 65-52 advantage in total kills and registered a 75-58 edge in total kills.  However, they committed 34 hitting errors as CSU Pueblo, the RMAC's top blocking team, recorded 16 rejections as they pestered the Maverick left side and middle attacks regularly.
 
Middle blocker Jazzy Espinoza had eight blocks while opposite Payton Stack, who recorded 14 kills on .353 hitting added seven.  Middle blocker Josey Nunn also registered seven blocks.
 
However, they could not stop Vogt on the right side in key moments.  The Centennial product put down five kills in the fifth set alone and .714 in the final frame.
 
With the final stanza tied at 3, the Mavericks brought in Jordan Woods to serve.  She delivered back-to-back aces before Vogt had consecutive kills on both ends of a CSU Pueblo timeout.
 
Going on a 5-0 spurt as part of a 7-1 stretch, the Mavericks built a 10-4 lead in the decisive set.  Vogt, Hunt, Spitzer and Tye Wedhorn then put down kills in the final minutes of the match as the Pack never regained their footing.
 
Much earlier, the ThunderWolves led the entire first set and despite seven Vogt kills, claimed it as they recorded six blocks in the opener.
 
The Mavs then turned the tables, getting out to a 7-2 and 11-3 second set led while cruising to the most lop-sided set win of the night for either team.
 
The third and fourth sets were split and tight throughout as the teams were tied on a combined 17 separate times.  Vogt had five kills in the third although Savannah Coats matched her on the Pack side of the net.  The Mavs hit just .086 in the third set and were also out-hit .286 to .171 in the fourth.
 
The momentum turned in the middle stages of the fourth as the Mavericks overcame a 13-11 deficit, turning it into a 19-16 lead thanks to an 8-3 spur, that featured three Vogt kills.
 
The ThunderWolves then came back with a 3-0 run of their own to tie the set at 19.  It was also tied at 20 and 21 before two kills and two setting miscues allowed the Mavs to pull it out, 25-22, sending the match to five.
 
In the decisive fifth frame, the Mavericks put down ten kills and hit .304.  CSU Pueblo managed just four on .080 hitting.
 
The serving game was also a key aspect of the Mavs' victory.  Woods finished with a career-high six service aces, the most for any Maverick since her cousin Taylor Woods recorded seven in a 2018 match.  CMU had ten as a team and were guilty of just for service errors throughout the 2-hour and 21-minute thriller. 
 
Layman also recorded three aces.
 
The Mavericks will look to continue their momentum at home next weekend as they host Western Colorado (11-9, 6-6 RMAC) on Friday at 6 p.m., an hour earlier than the originally scheduled 7 p.m. start. 
 
They then will take on Fort Lewis (6-10, 6-6 RMAC) on Saturday (Oct. 30) at 4 p.m.