GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Spotting the visiting Western Colorado University Mountaineers a set, the Sierra Hunt-led Colorado Mesa University Mavericks roared back to claim a 4-set (20-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-20) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball victory on Friday evening in Brownson Arena. 
 
Hunt, a redshirt freshman outside hitter, recorded a career-high 22 kills while hitting .487 off the bench in the win.  She put down ten in the fourth set alone as the Mavericks won their eighth straight overall match to improve to 16-4 overall and to 11-2 in the RMAC.
 
The Mavericks have now had a player reach 20 kills in the last five of those victories, a feat CMU last accomplished in 2006.
 
The Mountaineers received 12 kills from Savanna Meyer and another 11 from Emily Mangone but fell to 11-10 overall and to 6-7 in the RMAC with what was their 17^th straight loss to the Mavericks since 2013.
 
The Mavericks also benefited from another strong night from redshirt freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList, who recorded her seventh double-double of the campaign with 49 assists and ten digs.  She also had two kills, two blocks and two aces.
 
Redshirt sophomore Savannah Spitzer and freshman outside hitter Sydney Leffler also contributed with 10 kills apiece.  Spitzer also hit at a .500 clip.
 
The Mavericks out-hit the Mountaineers .279-.119 throughout the night and held the Mountaineers to a .075 combined attack percentage in the final three sets. 
 
Defensively, Kerstin Layman tallied a match-high 20 digs while Ashton Reese chipped in another ten.  Jordan Woods also recorded nine to help the Mavericks finish with a 63-52 team advantage in digs.
 
The Mavericks also finished with 58 kills, 18 more than the Mountaineers.
 
The first set was tied at 11 after the teams exchanged blocks before the Mountaineers scored the next three points to build a 14-11 lead.  The Mavericks came back to tie the set at 15, 16 and 17, 19 and 20 but then saw the Mountaineers go on to win the final five points of the opening set.
 
The visitors hit .276 in that frame and used five blocks to hold the Mavericks, who were also guilty of three first set service errors, to a .143 clip.
 
After a second set opening salvo that saw the teams tied at five, the Mavericks then roared out to a 10-6 lead.  They still led by that same 4-point margin at 17-13 as they used a 7-0 run with Reese at the service line to go up 23-13 on a Spitzer kill. 
 
After another service error, Hunt and Spitzer, each put down kills to even the match.
 
After holding the Mountaineers to a negative .029 attack percentage in the second set, the Maverick offense took over in the third set as Reese (5), Hunt (4) and Leffler (3) combined for a dozen kills on a combined .524 hitting clip in a dominating third set win.
 
The Mavs trailed 2-0 in that frame but went on a 10-2 run to seize control of the match.  They hit .464 as a team in that stanza.
 
Down 2-1 overall, the Mountaineers did not go away quietly and stormed out to a 5-0 fourth-set win only to see the Mavericks rally back to tie the set with a 5-0 run of their own as Hunt put down kills on three of CMU's first six points.
 
With the score tied at 13 minutes later, the Mavericks then went on a 3-0 run with kills by Spitzer, VanDeList and substitute middle blocker Caroline Pung to go up for good.  The Mountaineers never recovered as Hunt rotated into the lineup to record four kills in the final stages alone.

Spitzer then finished the match with kill on a nice slide to the right side.
 
CMU will remain at home for a Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.) encounter with Fort Lewis, which dropped a 5-setter at Westminster on Friday evening.  The Skyhawks are now 6-11 overall and 6-7 in the RMAC.