GOLDEN, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team's 10-match winning streak was snapped by the nation's 11
th-ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers on Saturday night in CSM's Lockridge Arena.
The Orediggers, now 21-3 overall, improved to 14-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with the 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 victory. The Mavericks, who entered the night in a 3-way tie with the Orediggers and Regis for second place in the RMAC standings, fell to 18-5 and to 13-3 in the RMAC and into fourth place after Regis swept New Mexico Highlands.
The Mavs will host Regis in their regular season finale on Friday (Nov. 12) after welcoming in Westminster to Brownson Arena on Tuesday. A win on Tuesday would allow the Mavericks to clinch a top-4 finish and the right to host a RMAC Tournament quarterfinal. Two victories would give the Mavericks at least the No. 3 seed in the tournament, which begins on Tuesday, Nov. 16.
On Saturday, the Orediggers hit .406 as a team as three different players recorded double-figure kill efforts while hitting above .500.
The Mavericks, held to a .115 attack percentage, had one such performance from redshirt junior middle blocker
Tye Wedhorn, who had 10 kills on .529 hitting.
Outside hitters
Sierra Hunt (6) and
Sydney Leffler (5) combined for 11 additional kills for CMU.
Defensively,
Libby Borgerding tallied nine digs while
Kerstin Layman and
Sabrina VanDeList, who had 25 assists, recorded eight apiece.
The Orediggers had a 48-29 advantage in kills and a 51-38 edge in digs. They also tallied nine service aces, three times as many as the Mavericks.
The first set was tied at 12 before two of those aces on back-to-back points helped the Orediggers seize control and a 16-12 lead with a 4-0 run.
After winning that set by eight points, using a 3-0 run to clinch it, the Orediggers used another 5-1 run to take an 8-4 lead in the second. They then later went up 12-7 on another 3-0 run and gradually extended the final margin of victory to 11.
The Orediggers then used a 5-0 run early in the third set to take a 5-1 lead as the Mavericks would get no closer than three the rest of the way.
