GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Riding a 9-match winning streak and now in a 3-way tie for second place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will embark on their longest and last road trip of the conference season.  The Mavs, who are set to put more than 1,000 miles on the bus odometer, will play at last place Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska on Friday night at 6 p.m. before heading to Golden, Colorado to face the nation's 11^th ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers, one of the two teams the Mavs are currently tied with in the RMAC standings, on Saturday at 5 p.m.
 
With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Mavericks are now 17-4 overall and 12-2 in conference play. 
 
Chadron State (4-17, 2-12 RMAC) has lost six straight.  Mines is 19-3 overall.
 
Live streams for both matches can be seen on the RMAC Network and live statistics for both matches can also be accessed at the links above.
 
Securely In but looking for home-court advantage
 
With their wins last weekend, the Mavericks secured a spot in the RMAC Tournament for the tenth straight year.  The Mavericks, who won that tournament in both 2014 and 2018, will be no lower than the No. 5 seed for the 8-team affair, that begins on Tuesday, Nov. 16 with the quarterfinal round.
 
Should the Mavericks win both of their matches this weekend, they would also be guaranteed of a top-4 seed and the right to host a quarterfinal round match-up.  The four quarterfinal winners will then converge at the highest remaining seed for the Friday, Nov. 19 semifinals and Saturday, Nov. 20 championship match.
 
Mathematically, the Mavericks could still end up as the top seed, but realistically, they are in an intense battle with Mines and Regis for the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds as all three teams are 12-2, two matches behind top-ranked MSU Denver, which has a 14-0 victory and head-to-head wins over all
 
The Mavericks will play both opponents in a 7-day span.  With head-to-head matches begin the top tie-breaker, the results down the stretch will be of massive importance.
 
Regional Rankings looming
 
On a grander scale, the Mavericks are also hoping to get into the NCAA Division II Tournament.  Eight teams from the South Central Region, made up of the Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conferences will be selected with the two post-season conference tournament winners receiving automatic berths.  The remaining six teams will be selected at-large based on the regional rankings, which will be released for the first time on Wednesday and then updated weekly until the official selections are announced on Monday, Nov. 22.
 
Although the AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll has no bearing whatsoever on the national rankings, it can be at least a rough guide of who might be included in the regional rankings.  There are six South Central Region teams, three from each conference, in this week's AVCA poll while the Mavericks are the top team in the "others receiving votes" category and unofficially ranked 26^th nationally.
 
MSU Denver continues to lead the national poll while Angelo State continues to sit sixth.  Mines is up one spot to No. 11 in the poll while Regis remained in the No. 24 spot.  Lone Star Conference standings leader Texas-Tyler is ranked 16^th this week while West Texas A&M remained in the No. 25 spot.
 
Lubbock Christian and CSU Pueblo, who are both 16-6 overall, are also likely candidates to appear in Wednesday's regional rankings.
 
Leading Ladies
 
The Mavericks now have two conference statistical leaders.
 
Maverick redshirt junior libero Kerstin Layman tallied 36 total digs in the Mavericks' home-court wins last weekend, recording 20 in Friday's 4-set win over Western Colorado before registering 16 in Saturday's 62-minute, 3-set sweep of Fort Lewis.  In the process, she raised her season total to 343.
 
She now leads the RMAC in digs per set by the slightest of margins, averaging 4.455 digs per set in 77 sets.  Mines counterpart Elle Duis has 347 total digs in 78 sets played, good for a 4.449 per set average.
 
Offensively, Maverick freshman outside hitter Sydney Leffler continues to pace the RMAC in kills per set.  She is now averaging 3.49 per set, recording 248 in 71 sets played.  MSU Denver's Rylee Hladky is second in the category at 3.46 after tallying a league-high 287 kills in 83 sets.
 
Leffler put down 19 kills in last weekend's wins.
 
Top D vs Top O
 
Saturday's match-up with Mines will also be a meeting of the RMAC's top defense and the conference's top offense, according to the hitting percentage category, that coaches watch so closely.  The Maverick defense is holding opponents to a league-low .150 attack percentage while the Mines offense is clipping along at a national and conference-leading .325 attack percentage. 
 
The Maverick offensive attack is also potent and is hitting a combined .264 this season, the second best mark in the conference.  Mines' defense is ranked sixth in the RMAC at .180.
 
For those unfamiliar with hitting percentage, it is calculated by taking a team or player's total number of kills then subtracting the number of hitting errors and then dividing by the total number of attack attempts.
 
Looking to join the dig club
 
Maverick libero Kerstin Layman will likely become the 18th Maverick in program history to reach the 1,000 career dig milestone on Friday.  She will enter Friday's match at Chadron State just seven digs shy of that mark at 993. 
 
The Littleton, Colorado native has been CMU's starting libero for much of the past three seasons after beginning her career as a defensive specialist and understudy to Division II era career digs record holder Taylor Woods, a senior at the time, in 2018.  
 
Layman was a Second Team All-RMAC selection in the spring of 2021 after picking up honorable mention honors in 2019.   She recorded 62 digs as a freshman, 442 as a sophomore in 2019 and 146 in the spring of 2021, when she missed five matches of the already-abbreviated season, due to injury.
 
Woods, the last Maverick to reach the 1,000 career mark, finished her brilliant 4-year Maverick career with 2,080 digs, a Division II era (1992-Present) program record and the second most in CMU all-time history behind only RMAC Hall of Famer Amy Miller, who had a RMAC-record 2,542 digs during her 1991-94 career, which spanned both NAIA and Division II seasons.
 
CMU's other 1,000 career dig club members include:
 
Pam Glenn (1,783), Ashley Loftsgard (1,578), Megan Rush (1,409), Drew Choules (1,331), Jenny Day (1,293), Stacey Vogel (1,281), Phyllis Jennings (1,191), Kate Matthews (1,145), Kelly Beer (1,139), Michelle Mather (1,128), Lindy Casselman (1,127), Jeanie Sutter (1,115), Nikki Kneuer (Green) (1,081), Sarah Francis (1,076) and Terene Foutz (1,018).
 
Streaking
 
The Mavericks are enjoying a 9-match winning streak and have won 15 of their last 17 matches overall.  Their only two losses in that stretch have come to national poll No. 1 MSU Denver, the latter of which came in five sets back on Oct. 1.
 
A win on Friday at Chadron State would allow the Mavericks' winning streak to reach double-figures for the second time during this calendar year.  In the spring, the Mavs won their first 15 matches and finished 15-1. 
 
CMU's previous double-figure winning streak came in 2014, when the Mavericks won 20 straight matches to advance to the South Central Regional championship match.
 
As of Tuesday morning, only eight other Division II programs around the country have active double-figure winning streaks.  West Florida leads that group at 22 while MSU Denver has won 18 straight matches.  Like CMU, Tampa, Spring Hill and St. Cloud State all have 9-match winning streaks.  St. Cloud State will host Bemidji State on Tuesday night while all three will play on Friday, as will the Mavs.
 
Hunt joins the 20-club

Maverick redshirt freshman outside hitter Sierra Hunt became the third different Maverick to record 20 or more kills in a single match this season and in the month of October alone when she recorded a career-high 22 in Friday's win over Western Colorado.  The performance marked the fifth straight match that a Maverick has reached 20 kills after fellow redshirt freshman Gabrielle Vogt put down 23 on Oct. 23 at CSU Pueblo.  True freshman outside hitter Sydney Leffler had three straight 20-kill efforts against Black Hills State (21, Oct. 15), South Dakota Mines (22, Oct. 16) and UCCS (20, Oct. 22).
 
In total, the Mavericks have had six 20-plus kill efforts this season, all by true or redshirt freshman.  Leffler has four of those.
 
400 Leads to Quick Match
 
The Mavericks hit .400 as a team in Saturday's win over Fort Lewis, putting down 47 kills while committing a season-low seven errors on 100 total attempts in the 3-set sweep of the Skyhawks.  They needed just 62 minutes to sweep the match.
 
The Mavericks have now hit .400 or higher as a team three times this season after hitting .425 at UCCS, their highest single-match hitting percentage in 14 years and .402 at Western Colorado on Oct. 9.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
With wins over Western Colorado and Fort Lewis last weekend, the Mavericks improved to 6-1 at home this season.  Their only home loss came to now national poll No. 1 MSU Denver in the home-opener on Sept. 16.
 
The home-court success is nothing new as the Mavs went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season and are 65-12 (.844) at home over the past eight seasons since the start of 2014.
 
In the fall of 2019, the Mavs went 8-1 after going 9-1 in Brownson Arena during the 2018 campaign.
 
In the past four seasons, the Mavericks have won 29 of their 33 home matches, good for an .879 winning percentage, losing at home just once each season.
 
The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in both 2016 and 2017.  CMU was also an impressive 15-1 in 2014 en-route to a RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last ten seasons since and including 2012, going 80-21 (.792) at home in that that span.
 
The Mavericks are slated to play at least two more regular season home matches this season, wrapping up their regular season with affairs against Westminster and No. 24 next Tuesday (Nov. 9) and Friday (Nov. 12), respectively.  Should the Mavericks win at least two of their final four matches, they would also be guaranteed a top-4 seed for the RMAC Tournament and the right to host a quarterfinal round match.
 
Smart Ones
 
The Mavericks had 11 honorees on the 2021 RMAC All-Academic Team, which was announced on Monday.  The group was led by first team selection Sabrina VanDeList, a pre-nursing major with a perfect 4.00 GPA.
 
The Mavericks' honor roll selections were Haley Hahn, Sierra Hunt, Hahni Johnson, Macie Lachemann, Kerstin Layman, Ara Norwood, Caroline Pung, Holly Schmidt, Gabrielle Vogt and Tye Wedhorn.
 
To be eligible for the honor, a student-athlete must have a 3.30 or higher GPA, be in their second year at the RMAC member institution and have used a season of competition.  Sports information directors from around the conference voted for the 10-player first team based on a combination of athletic and academic accomplishments.
 
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 317-163, good for a .660 winning percentage.  His 317 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 Chadron State
 
The Eagles have dropped six straight matches, five of which have been in straight sets, since claiming a 15-13 fifth-set and 3-2 overall Homecoming night win over Adams State on Oct. 9.  However, five of those losses have come against teams in the top half of the conference standings.
 
Now 4-19 overall and 2-12 in RMAC play, they only have the slightest of RMAC Tournament qualification hopes, which would be completely extinguished if the Mavs can win on Friday.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Olivia Moten-Schell leads third-year coach Jen Stadler's Eagles with 153 kills (2.19/set).  Freshman Aiyana Fujiyama is second on the squad with 116 kills (1.51/set) and his hitting .247 from her middle hitter position.  She also leads the team with 67 blocks and ranks 13th in the RMAC for blocks per set at 0.87.  Fellow middle Micaiah Vrbka, a junior, is 14^th in the conference for her per set average at 0.86 but has played in just 49 of the Eagles' total 77 sets, missing seven matches, including all six of the current Eagle slide.
 
Freshman setter Audrey Bennett has started 18 of the Eagles' matches and has tallied 328 assists (4.69/set).  Juniors Breshawna Kelly and Devyn Volz have also seen significant time as secondary setters.  Bennett also has 24 aces (0.34/set) to lead the team in that category.  She is ninth in the conference rankings as well.
 
Junior Rylee Greiman has recorded 275 digs (3.57/set) to stand 13^th in the RMAC.
 
As a team, the Eagles are hitting .126 as a team, the worst mark in the conference.  Their opponents are hitting a combined .241, the 13^th best mark in the league.  They do rank fourth in the conference for service aces at 1.58 per set.
 
About Colorado School of Mines
 
The Orediggers, who sit 11th in this week's AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll, lead the country with their .325 team hitting percentage, 18 points higher than West Florida.  They also have three of the top five individual hitters in the conference while CMU has the other two in Savannah Spitzer (.360) and Tye Wedhorn (.335).
 
Taylor Hicken leads the Orediggers with her impressive .444 mark, currently the third best in Division II and within striking distance of the RMAC record of .451, set by CMU's Kasie Gilfert in 2018.  Hicken also ranks seventh in the RMAC for kills per set (3.33) and is second for points per set (4.04).  She has put down 260 kills in total.
 
Amanda Donais is hitting .389 to rank second in the RMAC and has 197 kills to her credit.  She is ranked tenth in the conference wit her 2.94 per set average.  Julia Eiken, who is third on the team with 188 kills, is fourth in the RMAC for attack percentage at .360.   She also leads the team with 57 blocks, one category where the Orediggers a bit weak.  They check in just 13^th in the conference statistical rankings.
 
Reigning RMAC Setter of the Year Drew Stokes leads the RMAC and ranks second nationally with her 11.71 assist per set average.
 
Hicken (0.40) and Stokes (0.37) are sixth and seventh in the conference for service aces per set while Elle Duis is just fractions of a point behind CMU's Kerstin Layman for the conference lead for digs per set at 4.45.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks have won 26 straight matches against Chadron State and lead the Division II era (1992-Present) series by a commanding 32-3 margin.  The Eagles last win over the Mavericks came in 1995.  Friday's match-up will be the third straight in the series taking place in Chadron and the Eagles' Chicoine Center.    The Mavericks won a 4-set match there on Feb. 21 during the spring season after surviving a 5-setter on Oct. 5, 2019.
 
The Eagles, who have not come to Grand Junction since 2018, also took the Mavs to a fifth set in Chadron in 2016.
 
Fleming is a perfect 16-0 in his coaching career against the Eagles, including a 2-0 mark against Stadler.
 
The series with Mines has been much more intense.  The Mavs hold a 22-17 lead in the Division II series.
 
The visiting team has won four of the last five match-ups, including both in the spring.  The Mavs secured the RMAC Regular Season title with a Mar. 29 3-set sweep in Golden before the Orediggers avenged that loss on Apr. 9 in the semifinal round of the CMU-hosted RMAC Tournament en-route to the tournament crown.

The previous three meetings, including the 2019 RMAC Tournament quarterfinal in Golden, all went to five sets.
 
The Mavs are 11-9 against the Orediggers in Golden since 1992 and have won two of the last three in the Orediggers' Lockridge Arena.  CMU is 2-2 in that building this year after opening the season at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic on Sept. 3-4.
 
Fleming is 9-13 against the Orediggers and 6-12 against Mines' 14^th year head coach Jamie Magalei, who is just behind Fleming with 311 career wins after joining the elite 300-win club earlier this season.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's road trip, the Mavericks will return home to close out the regular season with matches against Westminster and Regis on Tuesday, Nov. 9 and Friday, Nov. 12, respectively.  Both of those matches are set for 7 p.m. starts in Brownson Arena.
 
Senior Night festivities will be held prior to the match against Regis.