GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team made quick work of visiting Fort Lewis College as they needed just 62 minutes to dispatch of the Skyhawks on Saturday afternoon in Brownson Arena.  The 25-13, 25-12, 25-18 sweep was CMU's ninth straight victory overall and moved the Mavericks to 17-4 overall and to 12-2 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
They will end the day in at least a second place tie in the RMAC standings pending results of matches involving the Colorado School of Mines and Regis University later Saturday evening.
 
The Mavericks out-hit the Skyhawks (6-12, 6-8 RMAC), .400 to .063 throughout the match and more than doubled the Skyhawks with a 47-23 advantage in total kills.  They also had a 52-36 advantage in digs.
 
Maverick junior middle blocker Tye Wedhorn, playing against her former squad, led CMU with 12 kills on .611 hitting.  She also had a team-high three blocks.
 
Fellow middle Savannah Spitzer also had a strong night effort with nine kills on 15 errorless swings, good for a .600 attack percentage.  Outside hitters Sydney Leffler and Sierra Hunt also combined for 17 kills with Leffler managing nine.
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied 35 assists and eight digs and also chipped in a pair of service aces, helping the Mavericks to a 7-4 edge in that category.
 
Defensively, libero Kerstin Layman had a match-high 16 digs and is now just seven short of 1,000 for her career.  She and Spitzer also had two service aces.
 
Jordan Woods also managed an ace and had eight digs as the Mavericks swept the season series with FLC after needing just 75 minutes to win a match in Durango earlier this month (Oct. 8).
 
The Mavericks hit above .350 as a team in each of the three sets and used long runs to open up big leads in each.
 
In the first, the Mavericks used an 11-3 spurt to open up a 16-6 lead en-route to the 12-point win.  Spitzer, who triggered that run behind the service line, and Wedhorn had five kills each in that opening frame.
 
The Mavs then found themselves down 4-3 early in the second.  However, Wedhorn put down a kill to tie the set as the Mavericks went on a 14-3 run to build a 17-7 lead.  Woods and Ashton Reese, who had six kills on .357 hitting, were each behind the service line for extended part of the spurt.
 
The third set was also close at the start and was tied at 8 before a Leffler kill triggered a 6-0 Maverick run that featured three consecutive Reese kills followed by a Leffler and Wedhorn block.
 
Leading 14-8 at that point, the Mavericks increased the lead gradually to 24-14 before the Skyhawks managed to fight off four match points.
 
However, Wedhorn fittingly ended the match on the next point with her final kill.
 
The Mavericks, who won their sixth straight home match, will now go on the road for their longest RMAC trip of the season, playing at Chadron State next Friday (Oct. 5) at 6 p.m. before heading to Golden, Colorado to face Mines next Saturday (Nov. 6) at 5 p.m.