GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After splitting a pair of 5-set matches last weekend, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team continues a 4-match stretch on the road this weekend heading to Durango and Gunnison to face Fort Lewis College and Western Colorado University.
 
The Friday and Saturday night matches will both begin at 6 p.m. and can be streamed live through the RMAC Network.  Live statistics for all matches can also be accessed at the links above.
 
The Mavericks enter the weekend with a 9-4 overall record and are 4-2 in RMAC play, good for fifth place in the conference standings.  Fort Lewis is 2-8 overall and 2-4 in the conference while Western is 8-6 overall and just a match behind the Mavs at 3-3 in the conference standings heading into a Friday night home encounter against Westminster.
 
Going Back
 
Maverick junior middle blocker Tye Wedhorn will make her return to Durango and Fort Lewis College this Friday.  Wedhorn, who joined the Maverick program for the 2020-21 academic year after transferring from Fort Lewis, played for the Skyhawks for two years in 2018 and 2019 seasons, earning Second Team All-RMAC honors as a freshman in 2018.
 
In her two seasons with the Skyhawks, Wedhorn played in 50 matches making 41 starts.  She led the team in blocks in both seasons, recording 294 kills and 133 blocks.  Wedhorn did not play in CMU's 3-set neutral-court victory over Fort Lewis in the spring but has been a standout for the Mavericks this season.
 
She leads CMU in total blocks (41) and is second on the team with her .310 attack percentage.  She also stands fourth in the conference for blocks per set (1.00) and 11^th for her percentage.
 
First Two in five
 
After not playing a 5-set match in their first 11 matches of the season, the Mavericks played a pair of 5-setters during a roller coaster type of a weekend in the Denver metropolitan area.  On Friday, the Mavs got out to a 2-0 overall lead downtown at No. 2 MSU Denver but could not close the door on Friday, falling 15-11 in the fifth set to the Roadrunners.  The Mavs then came out slowly at Colorado Christian in Lakewood on Saturday afternoon dropping the opening two sets to the Cougars.  However, the Mavs rallied for a 25-10 third set win and went on to the win the fourth and fifth sets by 25-22 and 15-11 scores, respectively.
 
The Mavs only played two 5-set matches in the spring of 2021 as well, winning both.
 
Triple 10's
 
In Saturday's win over Colorado Christian, three different Mavericks put down ten kills to lead the Mavericks to a very balanced victory, a calling card of CMU's success over the last two seasons in the 2021 calendar year.  Outside hitters Holly Schmidt and Sydney Leffler both finished with ten kills as did middle blocker Haley Hahn, who came off the bench to record a season-high ten kills.  Hahn also hit a season-best .643, committing just one error in 14 swings in the victory over the Cougars.
 
The trifecta marked just the second time this season that three or Mavs have reached double-figures in the same match this season.  On Sept. 11, Tye Wedhorn (14), Sydney Leffler (14), Savannah Spitzer (12) and Holly Schmidt (12) all recorded ten or more kills in the same match.
 
Speaking of 10
 
Maverick veteran Ashton Reese has had a solid stretch of matches for the Mavericks on the right side, arguably the best stretch in her career, which has spanned five total seasons since 2017.  Reese put down 14 kills, a career-high at the time, while hitting .571 in the Sept. 25 win over New Mexico Highlands before registering a new career-high 17 at MSU Denver last Friday.  She then had eight more on Saturday against Colorado Christian and has averaged 13 kills over her last three matches.
 
He only comparative stretch of offensive production came in the latter sages of the 2019 season, when she put down 39 kills in the final four matches of the season, reaching double figures in three of those.
 
Five for 5
 
Maverick redshirt freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList, who wears uniform No. 5, has recorded a team-high five double-doubles this season.  She recorded her fifth on Friday at MSU Denver, tallying 38 assists and 13 digs against the Roadrunners.  VanDeList's previous double-double had also come against the Roadrunners, when she had a career-high matching 42 assists along with ten digs in the Sept. 16 home match.
 
VanDeList also had six double-doubles during the spring season.
 
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 309-163, good for a .655 winning percentage.  His 309 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 Fort Lewis
 
The Skyhawks enter the weekend with a 2-8 overall record, including a 2-4 RMAC mark.  They have won just one of their last five matches, taking down Chadron State last Friday, after starting conference play with a 5-set victory over New Mexico Highlands back on Sept. 14.
 
Both of FLC's wins have come at home, where they have a 2-1 record.
 
Alexis Hobie leads the team with 78 kills (2.29/set) while Chailyn Swenson has 72 to average a team-best 2.88 per set.  Both outside hitters hail from Oregon.
 
Payton Harmann and Natalia Lambos have split starts at setter and right side positions and have combined for 235 assists with Harmann leading the way with 151 and a 5.03 per set average.  She also leads the team with nine aces.
 
Avynn La Rose leads the team in blocks with 17 while Rylee Johnson has 14 and a team-best 0.78 per set average.  Kamryn Lopez has 121 digs, good for a 3.27 per set average.  Johnson and Lopez earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC plaudits in the spring.
 
As a team, the Skyhawks have hit just. 121 this season to rank 14^th in the RMAC.  Their opponents are hitting more than double that (.244).
 
About Western Colorado
 
The Mountaineers will enter their second of two consecutive weekends at home with an 8-6 overall record.  They are an even .500 in RMAC play at 3-3 heading into a Friday night home match against Westminster and are currently 2-1 at home in the Paul Wright Gym with their only loss coming last Friday to nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Jordyn Todd and senior middle hitter Kat Finnerty lead the Mountaineer attack with 127 and 107 kills, respectively.
 
Sophomore right side Caroline Parker has missed the team's last five matches, but is still fourth on the team with 87 kills and leads the team in points per set (2.97).  Sophomore Jaeda Davis-Golliher has also been solid, recording 96 kills while leading the team with her .297 attack percentage, tenth best in the RMAC.
 
Four different Mountaineers, including Todd and Alex Galicia, who has 15, are in double-figures for aces.  Galicia is averaging 7.29 assists per set to rank sixth in the conference.
 
Defensively, Finnerty has recorded an even block per set (53 in total) to stand third (tied with CMU's Tye Wedhorn) in the conference while Elizabeth Rupprecht has racked up an impressive 239 digs, good for a 4.51 per set average that has her third in the conference.  Todd has also recorded 174 (3.35/set) and has five double-doubles as an all-around standout.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks are 41-12 against Fort Lewis in the NCAA Division II era (1992-Present) and have won six of the last eight meetings although the Skyhawks stunned CMU in 5-set victories in both 2017 and 2018, the latter of which came in Durango.  The Mavs had won three straight over FLC in Durango before that and are 18-8 there in the Division II era.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming is 19-7 against the Skyhawks in his tenure and is 1-0 against second-year Skyhawk coach Giedre Tarnauskatie having won a 3-set neutral-court match-up over the Skyhawks on Feb. 20, 2021 in Rapid City, South Dakota.
 
The Mavericks have been even better against Western holding a 50-12 series lead in the Division II era.  The Mavericks have won each of the last 15 matches dating back to 2013, the longest winning streak in the series history.  They also won 12 straight from 2006-12 and have been victorious in 27 of the last 28 meetings.  The Mavs are 23-5 against the Mountaineers in Gunnison during the Division II era but had to survive a 5-set battle there on Mar. 27 en-route to the RMAC Regular Season Championship in the spring. 
 
The previous six meetings were all 3-0 Maverick sweeps.
 
Fleming has lost to the Mountaineers just twice in 31 career matches against the Mountaineers and is 5-0 against fourth-year Mountaineer Coach Jessica Fey. 
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home next weekend to host Black Hills State and South Dakota Mine on Oct. 15 and 16, respectively.  Those will be CMU's only two home matches in an 8-match stretch.