GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Beach Volleyball team will have the rare opportunity to play at home this Saturday when the Mavericks host Pac-12 Conference foe Utah for a doubleheader.
The matches will begin at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the CMU on-campus Beach Volleyball courts, located just to the south of the Maverick Pavilion. A live stream will be provided for both matches at
www.cmumavericks.com/tv.
Saturday's matches will be the third and fourth of the season against Pac-12 opposition.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks got their 2021 season underway Friday and Saturday at Grand Canyon University's Canyon Classic. On Friday (Feb. 27), the Mavericks dropped 5-0 decisions to a trio of nationally-ranked foes in No. 20 Arizona State, No. 17 Arizona and the No. 7 host Lopes.
On Saturday, all four squads fielded pairs in an all-day pairs tournament.
Lone winners
Facing the very tough competition, the Mavericks were able to manage just one win throughout the weekend. That was recorded by freshman
Rianne Brown and redshirt freshman
Mary McGinnis, who bested GCU's Alyssa Vortouni and Justine Spann by a 21-15, 21-14 margin in their first match of the 5&6 bracket of the pairs tournament. The victory was the first of both players' collegiate careers.
Home History
Saturday's matches with the Utes will mark the first time in CMU's relatively brief 6-year history that they will have played a home match against an official NCAA opponent.
They will also be CMU's lone home matches of 2021.
In 2017 (Apr. 24), the Mavericks defeated Colorado Northwestern Community College by a 5-0 score to wrap up their second all-time season. In 2018, the Mavericks also defeated the Spartans and the Colorado College Club Team by that same margin on Apr. 28 of that year.
The Mavericks have not played at home since.
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 the lineup
Maverick Coach
David Skaff used the same lineup in the first four flights during all three duals last Friday but had three different pairs of six different players play in the No. 5 spot.
The consistent pairings were:
No 1:
Macie Lachemann/
Savannah Spitzer
No. 2:
Hahni Johnson/
Sierra Hunt
No. 3:
Ara Norwood/
Tye Wedhorn
No. 4:
Maddi Foutz/
Sabrina VanDeList
At No. 5, Brown and McGinnis played against Arizona State while
Paige Gwaltney and
Savannah Ott got the not against Arizona.
McKenna Palmer and
Hailey Peters then played in the No. 5 spot against Grand Canyon.
The Mavs used the same seven partnerships in the Saturday pairs tournament.
About Utah
The Utes got their fifth all-time season underway last weekend as well going 1-3 at the Green Wave Invitational, hosted by Tulane in New Orleans. On Friday, the Utes split matches falling 5-0 to UAB before coming back for a 3-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana. They then fell to the hosts 5-0 and New Orleans by a 4-1 score on Saturday.
In the win over SLU, the pairings of Grace Andrews/Marisssa Koch, Olivia Teerlink/Camille Lee and Mia Kowalczykl/Joana Saucedo Mondragon all recorded straight set wins on the No. 2, 3 and 4 courts.
Against UNO, Macy Rideout and Hannah Stahle won by default at No. 5 as the Privateers did not field a full lineup.
Rocky Mountain Rivalry Forming
Despite being located just 285 miles apart by road according to Mapquest, the Utes and Mavericks have faced just one time before. That came on Apr. 13, 2019 in Salt Lake City as part of the Utah Beach Classic tri-dual. The Utes, who started their program in 2017, just one season after the Mavericks, edged the Mavericks 3-2 in that match with the Mavericks claiming wins on the fourth and fifth courts along with an exhibition match win.
Current Maverick players
Kerstin Layman,
Ara Norwood and
Holly Schmidt were all winners for the Mavs that day.
The Mavericks and Utes were also set to square off in 2020, but the Apr. 10 match-up along with much of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Up Next
The Maverick beach squad will next play on Mar. 22 at CSUN in Northridge, California. They then play Concordia University-Irvine and Long Beach State on the following day in a tri-dual in Irvine.
A majority of the Maverick' beach players are also on the CMU indoor squad, which is currently 8-0 and ranked fourth in NCAA Division II. The indoor team plays tonight (Mar. 4), on Mar. 13 and Mar. 17 and twice on Mar. 19 before the next beach trip.
