GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After setting yet another program-record ranking record last week and coming off a massive win in their last action, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team is eager to return to the court this week, playing a series of three matches in just over 48 hours.
Unable to play last Saturday at CSU Pueblo, due to adverse travel conditions from the recent snow storm on Colorado's front range, the Mavericks, current ranked second nationally, begin their busy week hosting Westminster College in a RMAC make-up match on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Brownson Arena before traveling to Alamosa to play in an originally scheduled 3-team Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference pod against Black Hills State University and host Adams State University on Friday in Plachy Hall.
Friday's matches will begin 2 and 5 p.m., respectively. Black Hills State and Adams State will meet in the first match of the pod at 11 a.m.
How to Follow
Fans will be permitted to attend CMU's home match against Westminster under the current COVID-related fan attendance protocols. However, ASU is not allowing fans for Friday's matches at this time.
Maverick fans can still follow the action as all three matches will be live streamed on the RMAC Network. Live statistics can also be accessed at the links above.
Where We Stand
The Mavericks, ranked fourth nationally at the time, last played on Mar. 4, when they claimed a 4-set win over then No. 3 MSU Denver on Mar. 4 in Brownson Arena and enter this week atop the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with their 9-0 overall and 6-0 conference records.
This year's RMAC Regular season title and the right to host next month's 8-team RMAC Tournament will be based on the NCAA Performance Indicator. In unofficial calculations made by the CMU Sports Information Office, the Mavericks current lead those standings with a 17.333 mark. MSU Denver is second at 15.444 while the Colorado School of Mines and Regis are tied for third at 15.222. CSU Pueblo is fifth at 13.429.
Here is a quick rundown of how the PI works:
- Teams will earn points based on their opponent and whether they win or lose each match. The better the opponent, the more points a team will earn, win or lose.
- The breaks for opponents occur at .250, .500 and .750 winning percentages and can change all year long
- The chart can be seen here
- Once a team has their points, they will be divided by the number of matches that have been played this year to get their PI number.
- The highest PI will be the conference champion and will earn the right to host the RMAC Tournament
Another new Ranking Record
The Mavericks continue to set program- ranking records and moved up two more spots to second in the latest edition of the
AVCA Division II Coaches' Top 25 Poll, which was released last Wednesday afternoon (Mar. 10). Another new poll will be released this Wednesday afternoon a few hours before the Mavericks face Westminster.
The Mavericks had been ranked fourth in the Mar. 3 poll after occupying the No. 5 spot for the previous two weeks, all of which have been higher rankings than their previous all-time best of No. 7 coming into this season.
The Mavs have now been ranked in each of the last six weekly regular season polls to date since Feb. 3, when they were ranked 20
th. They have been included in the top 5 in each of the last four and in the top 10 for each of the last five.
In the latest poll, the Mavericks received 1,113 points in the poll. Only Lewis, 9-0 at the time of the poll and now 11-0, received more points. The Flyers garnered 46 of the 47 first place votes and had 1,174 total points to retain the top spot. Hillsdale also moved up two spots to third with 1,026 points while MSU Denver slipped just one spot to fourth with 1,002 after falling to the Mavericks. Former No. 2 Angelo State dropped to fifth with 943 points after losing their first match of the season to West Texas A&M.
The Colorado School of Mines is the third RMAC team in the top six with 914 points while Regis moved up two spots to 21
st giving the RMAC their fourth ranked team in the top 25. CSU Pueblo is also receiving votes in the poll and has 23 points.
It should be noted that only teams that have played at least one match this spring are eligible to be ranked in the poll.
Momentum
Volleyball is certainly a momentum sport and the momentum the Mavericks have had as of late is only on the rise. In their last indoor match on Mar. 4, senior outside hitter
Maddi Foutz tallied 14 kills to match a career-high and 20 digs, a new career-high, to help lead the Mavericks over then No. 3 MSU Denver.
Underclassmen
Savannah Spitzer, a sophomore middle blocker, and
Sierra Hunt, a freshman outside hitter, who was making her first career start, also combined for 24 kills in the 4-set (25-22, 28-26, 24-26, 25-20) win over the Roadrunners. Spitzer had 13 kills on .435 hitting while Hunt tallied 11.
Setters
Sabrina VanDeList (27 assists, 13 digs) and
Ara Norwood (13 assists, 13 digs) also joined Foutz in recording double-doubles.
Less than 48 hours later on Mar. 6, all of those players and several other Maverick indoor players joined their beach-only counterparts to give the Mavericks their first ever wins over a Pac-12 Conference foe in beach volleyball. The Mavericks swept visiting Utah claiming 3-2 and 5-0 victories on the sand.
History making-start
The Mavericks' 9-0 start marks the first time in at least their NCAA Division II era history, which dates back to 1992, that they have started a season with nine straight wins.
The last time the Mavericks have won nine or more consecutive matches at any point during a season came in 2014 when the Mavericks went on a 20-match winning streak into the NCAA Division II South Central Regional final, where their record-setting 29-4 season came to an end.
Making Fleming-era history
The win over MSU Denver, ranked third in the AVCA poll at the time, also made some history. The victory came over the highest ranked-team that Head Coach
Dave Fleming, now in his 16
th season at the helm of the Maverick program, had ever defeated. That is quite a statement considering the veteran now has 294 career victories, the most of any current RMAC coach.
More about Fleming
Fleming is now 294-158 in his tenure, which is good for a .650 winning percentage. His tenure is equal to the longest in the RMAC, amongst active coaches, and coached his 450
th career match against South Dakota Mines on Feb. 20.
In his time at CMU, which dates back to the 2005 season, Fleming has guided the Mavericks to seven NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament titles (2014, 2018), 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, most recently in 2018, when they went 24-7. Fleming was also named as the RMAC Co-Coach of the Year that year by a vote of his peers. He also earned that honor outright in 2009 and 2014.
The double-doubles continue
In their first nine matches, five different Mavericks have combined to register 19 total double-doubles this season, one more than they had throughout their 27-match 2019 season, when the Mavs went 17-10. The Mavericks have had at least one player with a double-double in each of their last eight matches.
In last week's win over MSU Denver,
Maddi Foutz recorded her team-best sixth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 20 digs. Setter
Ara Norwood also had her fifth double-double while fellow setter
Sabrina VanDeList tallied her third of this year her freshman campaign.
Holly Schmidt has four double-doubles this year while
Emily Tucker has one as well.
Stronger as we go along
The Mavericks continue to be nearly perfect in the third, fourth and fifth sets combined this year, posting a perfect 15-1 combined set record in those frames. The Mavs had won the third set in each of their first eight matches this season before MSU Denver claimed the third set last week to force a fourth, when the Mavericks closed out the Roadrunners while moving to 6-0 in the fourth set. The Mavericks also claimed the fifth set in their lone 5-setter of the year against Northwest Nazarene.
The Mavericks are also a strong 7-2 in the opening set but are just 5-4 in the second set.
They have a 27-7 overall set-record this year.
Leading killers
As a team, the Mavericks lead the RMAC with their 14.47 kill per set average, a mark that ranks them fourth nationally. A large part of that success comes from the balance that the Mavericks have as eight different CMU players are averaging more than a kill per set.
Maddi Foutz has a team-high 109 (3.21/set) this year to lead the way while
Holly Schmidt (3.07) is just behind. Both sit amongst the RMAC's top six in kills per set, standing fifth and seventh, respectively.
Right side hitters
Ashton Reese (2.56) and
Gabrielle Vogt (2.35) are also faring well as is freshman outside hitter
Sierra Hunt, who has a 2.27 per kill set average.
Savannah Spitzer, who leads the team while ranking third in the RMAC with her .385 hitting percentage, is also averaging 1.91 kills per set while
Maranda Theleus (1.48) and
Haley Hahn (1.03) are also aiding the cause offensively.
Top Defense
The Mavericks also lead the RMAC in digs per set, averaging 17.15. Balance has also been key as the Mavericks have three players averaging more than three per set, with
Emily Tucker leading the way with her 3.56 per set average.
Maddi Foutz is right behind with her 3.47 per set average and leads the team in total digs with 118, four more than Tucker.
Holly Schmidt is also averaging right at 3.00 per set and has 90 to her credit.
Welcome back
Kerstin Layman made her first start of the season at the libero position in the Mavs' last match against MSU Denver, recording 14 digs in the process. The junior had missed the first five matches of the season due to injury and then inched back as a substitute defensive specialist during the Mavs' 3-match road-trip to South Dakota and Nebraska on Feb. 20 and 21. Layman was an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection as a sophomore in 2019, when she started all 27 of the Mavs' matches at libero while leading the team with 442 digs, to rank seventh in the RMAC with her 4.56 per set average.
On the Hunt
After playing sparingly in the early stages of the season, freshman
Sierra Hunt has emerged to be a significant contributor for the Mavericks. She came off the bench to record 12 kills on .360 hitting in three sets of work against Chadron State after fellow outside hitter
Holly Schmidt suffered an injury in the second set of that match. Last week, Hunt tallied 11 kills while appearing in three sets against MSU Denver. The Aurora, Colorado native and Rangeview High School graduate, started that match to make her first collegiate start although she still did split time with Schmidt in one of the Mavs' two outside hitter spots.
About Westminster
The Griffins will enter Wednesday's match with 6-9 overall and 3-7 RMAC records and have been the most active squad in the RMAC this season with 15 matches under their belt. They have lost their last two matches falling in four sets at Northwest Nazarene in non-conference play last Friday after dropping a 3-set home RMAC match to CSU Pueblo on Mar. 6 after defeating South Dakota Mines in five sets earlier that day.
Junior outside hitter Audrey Green leads the Griffins and the RMAC with 170 kills, an average of 2.74 per set, that puts her 16
th in the league. She went over the 1,000 career kill milestone against the Mavericks on a non-conference meeting between the teams in Salt Lake City back on Jan. 30, and will enter Wednesday's match with 1,133. She also leads the team and ranks fifth in the RMAC for service aces per set at 0.44.
Freshman Malinda Messner and sophomore Lydia Miller have also had strong seasons. Messner has 129 kills (2.08/set) to her credit and his hitting .283, the best mark for regular attackers on the squad. Miller has 125 kills and a slightly higher 2.12 per set average.
Messner also leads the Griffins with 40 blocks, good for a 0.65 per set average.
In the back row, Holland VandeMerwe leads a balanced squad with 192 digs (3.10/set). Setter Bri Mortensen is right behind with 166 (2.68/set) and has recorded a RMAC-leading 488 assists while ranking eighth in the conference with her per set average of 7.87.
About Black Hills State
The Yellowjackets will enter Friday's pod with a 5-5 overall record and are 3-4 in conference action. They split pair of non-conference matches on Sunday after sweeping in-state rival South Dakota Mines last Friday.
Kindra Cerrone leads the squad with 102 kills, a 2.43 per set average, while Sierra Ward (99) and Madison Hoopman (81) have slightly higher per set averages. Ward is also hitting .293 to pace the squad.
Haedyn Rhoades has a RMAC-leading 184 digs defensively and ranks second in the conference with her 4.84 per set average. Payton Bodemann, who has missed two matches, also leads the RMAC with her 0.53 service ace per set average and ranks fourth in the conference for blocks per set, averaging exactly one. Emma Desanti is also amongst the conference's top 10 blocker with her 0.95 per set mark.
About Adams State
The Grizzlies lost their first 11 matches of the season but claimed a 5-set win over CSU Pueblo in their last outing on Mar. 11 and will enter Friday's pod at 1-11 overall and 1-10 in RMAC play.
Anna Huggins paces the Grizzlies with 122 kills (2.65/set) while Shannon Mulkey is right behind with 115 (2.45/set). They have been the favorite targets for setter Bailey Schlosser, who has 366 assists (7.79/set).
Mackenzie Swanson leads the team defensively with 164 digs, good for a 3.49 per set average. Meanwhile, Mulkey is averaging 0.89 blocks per set to rank tenth in the RMAC. Her 42 total blocks are second most in the conference.
Series Histories
The Mavericks have enjoyed a good deal of success against all three of this week's opponents as of late, two of which are relatively new conference foes.
The Mavericks lead the all-time series with Westminster 12-1 and have won ten straight matches against the Griffins, who have yet to win in six tries in Brownson Arena. Five of those six matches have been straight set victories for the Mavericks, although the Griffins did win the first set of the last meeting in Grand Junction ack on Sept. 27, 2019, before the Mavericks bounced back to take the match in four sets.
The Mavericks are 8-1 against Black Hills State and have won three straight since dropping an Oct. 21, 2016 decision in five sets. The two teams have never met on a neutral floor.
The series with Adams State is much more extensive. Friday's meeting will be the 53
rd in both squad's NCAA Division II era (1992-Present). The Mavericks lead the series 36-16 in that span and have won eight of the last nine. The Mavericks are 16-7 against the Grizzlies in Plachy Hall and have won in four of their last five trips to Alamosa. All four of those victories have come in four sets. The Grizzlies' last win over the Mavericks came in five sets on Oct. 17, 2015 in Alamosa.
Up Next
After this weekend's matches, the Maverick indoor squad is next slated to play at Western Colorado on Saturday, Mar. 27 in Gunnison. A majority of the squad will also head to southern California next Monday and Tuesday (Mar. 22-23) for three beach volleyball matches.
