GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Nearly a year after playing for the last time, the Colorado Mesa University Beach Volleyball team will begin its sixth all-time season this weekend when they take on three nationally-ranked foes from the state of Arizona at the Canyon Classic, hosted by Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.
On Friday, the Mavericks will face No. 20 Arizona State at 11 a.m., No. 17 Arizona at 1 p.m. and the seventh-ranked hosts at 3 p.m. in a series of team matches.
On Saturday, all four schools will enter 2-woman teams into a pairs tournament.
A look back to 2020
The Mavericks only played three matches on one weekend last season before the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of the rest of the season, about a week before the Mavericks were due to make their annual spring break pilgrimage to southern California, where a bulk of their schedule was due to be played.
In their lone action of the season that was played at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson on Feb. 28 and 29, the Mavericks went 0-3 dropping 5-0 decision to Pac-12 Conference foes Arizona, ranked 13th nationally at the time, and Washington that book-ended a 3-2 heartbreaker against Stephen F. Austin.
Individually, the No. 2 duo of
Magdalena Dabrowski and
Macie Lachemann and the No. 4 pair of
Ara Norwood and
Ashton Reese won matches against the Ladyjacks.
A look back to 2019
The 2019 season was a strong one for the Mavericks, who recorded a program-record seven wins while finishing fourth in their debut appearance at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships in Tavares, Florida, where they went 4-3.
The Maverick also played a very challenging schedule season with ten matches against NCAA Division I institutions. The Mavericks claimed wins over Nebraska and CSU Bakersfield in that run at The Belmont Shore Challenge.
CMU was a strong 5-3 against non-NCAA Division I foes throughout the campaign and finished with a 7-11 overall record.
Individually, the No. 4 pairing of
Ara Norwood and
Holly Schmidt posted a winning 9-8 record as they set a school-record for single-season dual-meet wins. They went 7-3 in their final ten matches and were 5-1 at the AVCA tournament.
Magdalena Dabrowski and
Kerstin Layman went 8-9 at No. 5 and were a team-best 9-2 in tournament matches while finishing third at the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Sand 2's Championships, which wrapped up CMU's campaign.
Katie Scherr also finished the beach volleyball portion of her Maverick career with 18 career wins as she surpassed the former record of 15, which had been held by
Taylor Woods (2016-18).
Breaking for the beach
Twelve members of the CMU Beach Volleyball team are also on the Mavericks' indoor volleyball squad, which is off to a perfect 8-0 start and ranked fifth in the country as of the latest AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll (Feb. 17) this spring. Those players will take a break from the indoor game this week to join their five beach only counterparts for this weekend's trip to Phoenix.
CMU's indoor team is off this weekend.
In normal years, indoor volleyball is played in the fall while beach is held in the spring and is thus not as much of an roster-management issue. However, due to COVID related issues, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference while much of the country moved indoor volleyball to the spring semester, which has left a tricky balancing act for the Maverick coaching staff.
David Skaff, in his 14th year overall on the Mavericks' coaching staff, and has been the only head coach in the Maverick's 6-year beach history. He is also the top assistant coach for the indoor team and head coach
Dave Fleming.
Bri Strong, hired right after the start of the 2020 beach season, is an assistant for both programs.
Breaking down the Mavs' roster
As mentioned in the previous section, the Mavericks have a dozen dual-format players and five beach only players on the roster this season.
Three of the five beach only players are returning faces, but all are still underclassmen, eligibility wise after all 2020 players were granted an automatic waiver to using a season of eligibility due to the COVID-related cancelations of last season.
Macie Lachemann is the veteran of the beach only group as a redshirt sophomore, returning for her third total season. She has played in the No. 2 position for most of her career and enters 2021 with five career wins, third most of anyone on the 2021 team.
Savannah Ott and
Mary McGinnis also return for their second year on the team as redshirt freshman after playing in CMU's lone weekend of competition in 2020.
Redshirt sophomore
Hailey Peters and true freshman
Rianne Brown are the new faces in the beach only portion. Peters, a native of Cypress Ranch, Texas, played on the University of Alabama's Division I indoor season for two seasons before transferring to CMU in the fall of 2020 for the opportunity to play on the beach. Brown hails from Pleasant View, Utah and attended Weber High School while playing club beach volleyball for RPM Sand earning Utah Defender of the Year honors.
Of the dozen crossover players, eight are returning players from the 2020 beach season while four are newcomers.
Redshirt junior
Ara Norwood will be entering her fourth beach season and holds 15 career wins to her credit, tied for second most in CMU"s young beach history. She and fellow redshirt junior
Ashton Reese are the most veteran players on CMU's squad. Redshirt sophomore
Holly Schmidt has nine career wins and ranks second in career winning percentage (.450) amongst those that have at least five wins to her credit.
Kerstin Layman, also a third-year redshirt sophomore, is right behind with eight wins and a .400 winning percentage, fourth best in program history.
Paige Gwaltney, who graduated from Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California a semester early in December, 2019, and
McKenna Palmer, who transferred from the University of Northern Colorado, where she played indoor volleyball, were additions to the beach team and CMU last spring.
Redshirt junior
Maddi Foutz and redshirt freshman
Savannah Spitzer are also returning for their second beach seasons while serving as regular starters on the Mavericks' indoor team.
Sierra Hunt,
Hahni Johnson and
Sabrina VanDeList are all in their freshman years at CMU and making a big impact indoors.
Tye Wedhorn is the other new face to the beach roster. She played indoor volleyball at Fort Lewis for two years before coming to CMU last fall. She is also on the indoor roster, but is primarily focusing on the beach team.
Home Doubleheader on Tap
After this weekend's tournament festivities in Arizona, the Mavericks will return home and host a rare home event against the University of Utah on Saturday, Mar. 5. The Mavericks and Utes will play in a doubleheader at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. that day on the CMU Beach Volleyball courts.
The Mavericks have not had a home match since the fall of 2018 and have never previously played an official varsity team against an NCAA member at home. CMU is 3-0 all-time at home defeating Colorado Northwestern Community College in both 2017 and 2018 and the Colorado College club team in 2018.
The rest of the schedule
After the home doubleheader with Utah, the Mavericks seven additional scheduled matches set, split between two trips. On Mar. 22-23, they will head to California to face CSUN in Northridge on Mar. 22 before taking on host Concordia and Long Beach State in a tri-match in Irvine on Mar. 23.
The Mavericks will then play Missouri, State, Pepperdine, Grand Canyon and UC-Davis at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson on Apr. 2-3 before wrapping up their season at the Apr. 16-18 AVCA Small College Beach Championships in Tavares, Florida. The format and exact list of opponents for that event has yet to be determined
A look at this week's opponents
Arizona- Friday, Feb. 26 – 11 a.m.
Like the Mavericks, they will open the 2021 season this weekend. The Wildcats were enjoying a strong 2020 season, posting a 10-2 record before the COVID pandemic ended the season prematurely. They had gone a program-record 25-6 overall and finished 13th in the Final AVCA Poll in 2019 and look to be strong entering 2021.
They are ranked 17th in the AVCA Preseason Poll, released on Jan. 27.
Sarah Blacker and Alex Parkhurst went a team-best 10-1 in 2020 and both return to this year's roster. Natalie Anselmo and Carly Lowery were also a strong 10-2 and are also both back.
Both Brooke Burling and Olivia Hallaran, who played together in the top flight in 10 of their 12 matches in 2020, are also back. They went 7-5 last year, including a 5-5 mark at No. 1.
Arizona State- Friday, Feb. 26 – 1 p.m.
The Sun Devils were 4-6 overall and 1-3 in Pac-12 conference play in the early stages of 2020 before the pandemic. Five of their losses had come against nationally-ranked foes.
Head Coach Brad Keenan returns 13 players, thanks in part to the pandemic related eligibility extension. Sophomore Lexi Sweeney went 6-4 to lead the team last year. Three returning players in fifth-year senior Katelyn Carballo (56), senior Samantha Plaster (47) and senior Cierra Flood (39) rank in the program's all-time top 10 for wins.
Keenan also welcomes eight freshman and senior transfer Aleksandra Sochacka to this year's roster. Sochacka was an outside hitter on American University's indoor team and helped the team to three Patriot League Championships.
The Sun Devils are ranked 20th in the AVCA Preseason Poll and were in that same spot in the final poll of each of the last two years.
Grand Canyon- Friday, Feb. 26 – 3 p.m.
The Lopes will enter 2021 ranked seventh in the AVCA Preseason Poll and is coming off a pandemic-shortened 2020 season that saw them post a 10-2 record with ranked wins over No. 4 USC, No. 11 California and No. 17 South Carolina. They were also ranked seventh in the final 2020 poll.
Kristen Rohr is entering her sixth year as their head coach and has compiled a 78-45 (.634) record in her first five season.
Freshman Alyssa Garber was named as an AVCA Junior All-American in the fall as one of the top 16 prep players around the country. She is one of six freshman on Rohr's roster, which also includes seven upperclassmen and three sophomores.
