GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— A balanced Colorado Mesa University volleyball team gave their coach Dave Fleming his 300^th career victory as the top-seeded Mavericks swept No. 8 seed UCCS in the quarterfinal round of the 2021 Spring Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday night in Brownson Arena.

Six different Mavericks finished with between six and nine kills as CMU, ranked second nationally, improved to 15-0 on the season with the 25-20, 25-20, 25-21 win while the Mountain Lions ended their campaign with a 4-10 mark.
 
The Mavericks will now play No. 15 and fourth-seeded Colorado School of Mines in Friday's semifinal round at 7:30 p.m. after the Orediggers (9-4) also swept Western Colorado University in the final quarterfinal match of the day.
 
On the other half of the bracket, No. 2 seed and third-ranked MSU Denver will take on No. 3 seed and 25^th-ranked CSU Pueblo in the first semifinal at 5 p.m.  MSU Denver claimed a 3-1 win over Colorado Christian on Thursday afternoon while CSU Pueblo received a bye to the semifinals after their scheduled quarterfinal match with South Dakota Mines was declared a no contest following COVID-19 issues within the Hardrocker program.
 
In Thursday's Maverick win, senior outside hitter Maddi Foutz, named as the RMAC Player of the Week on Wednesday, finished with a match-high nine kills.  Right side hitter Maranda Theleus came off the bench to tally eight kills while Haley Hahn and Holly Schmidt finished with seven kills each.  Hahn also hit an errorless .700 on just 10 swings while Schmidt tallied eight digs.
 
Meanwhile Ashton Reese and Savannah Spitzer finished with six kills each.  Spitzer also recorded six blocks as the Mavericks out-blocked the Mountain Lions, 10-5, while holding UCCS to a .108 hitting percentage.  Kerstin Layman had a part in that, recording 10 digs.
 
CMU setters Ara Norwood and Sabrina VanDeList each tallied 19 assists and three digs as the Mavericks hit .232.
 
With his milestone victory, Fleming is now just the fifth coach in RMAC history to win 300 matches while coaching in the league.  His predecessor Rusty Crick holds that record of 563 from 1982-2004.
 
The Mavericks were especially strong in the end of each of the three sets, which were all tied at 15.
 
The Mavericks trailed in the first set by a slight 15-14 margin but went on a 5-2 run to seize a 20-17 lead on Schmidt, Hahn and Foutz kills.
 
After an exchange of points made the score 21-18, the Mavericks went on another 3-0 run before finishing off the set on Foutz's fifth kill.
 
The Mavericks were also behind 15-14 in the second set but rallied with a 4-0 to seize control once again, before going on to win the second set by an identical 25-20 score.
 
In the third, the Mavericks trailed 18-16  but rallied for a 20-19 lead on a Spitzer and Foutz block before another 3-0 spurt moments later gave the Mavs a 23-20 lead.  After UCCS scored one point on a kill by setter Emily Ettel, Reese put down a kill to set up a match point, which was converted on a Schmidt and Hahn block allowing the Mavericks to reach double figures in blocks for the third time this season.