GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Less than five months after winning the 2020-21 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Regular Season title in the spring, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team will open up a traditional fall season this Friday and Saturday playing four matches at the Oredigger Classic Presented by Courtyard and Residence Inn by Marriott in Golden.
The Colorado School of Mines will host, the 8-team, 16-match tournament on two courts throughout the weekend in Lockridge Arena.
All of the Mavericks' matches can be streamed live (no commentary) through the new
RMAC Network and followed via live statistics. Links for both can be accessed on the
tournament webpage.
On Friday, the Mavericks will take on a pair of opponents from the traditional powerful and deep Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference facing Southwest Minnesota State in their opener at 11:30 a.m. before taking on Sioux Falls later that day at 4 p.m. Both of those matches will be on Court One. On Saturday, the Mavericks will play Seattle Pacific at 9:30 a.m. and Grand Valley State at 4:30 p.m. with both matches of those matches to be played on Court Two.
In the Polls
Coming off their impressive 15-1 spring season, the Mavericks are unsurprisingly receiving some pre-season attention. They were picked first in the
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll and were tabbed tenth as the first of four RMAC teams in the
American Volleyball Coaches NCAA Division II Preseason Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
In the RMAC poll, where the conference's 15 head coaches ranked their opposition 1-14 without voting for their own squad, the Mavs received seven first place votes and scored 182 points. MSU Denver and Mines were picked second and third with 174 and 172 points, respectively. Both received three first place votes as well. Regis was picked fourth with one first place vote and 156 points.
In the AVCA poll, which was released on Aug. 23, the Mavs received 607 total points in the balloting of 47 coaches from around the country. MSU Denver (555) and Mines (537) were just behind in the No. 11 and 12 spots while Regis checked in 22
nd in the poll with 236 points.
Angelo State received 22 first place votes and topped the poll with 1,018 points while perennial power Concordia-St. Paul was second with 969 points. Defending (2019) NCAA Division II Champion Cal State San Bernardino was third with 957 points.
The Mavericks reached as high as No. 2 and finished in the No. 3 spot of the last AVCA Spring Season Poll, which only included teams that played in the spring of the pandemic-effected 2020-21 academic year. There was no NCAA Division II Tournament last season.
We're Back
The Mavericks return every starter, all six of their 2021 spring season All-RMAC selections and 15 total players from last season's title winning team to this fall's 19-player roster.
First Team All-RMAC selections
Savannah Spitzer, a redshirt junior middle blocker, and setter
Sabrina VanDeList, the 2021 Spring RMAC Freshman of the Year, are expected to lead the team in the absence of fellow First Team All-RMAC outside hitter and RMAC Player of the Year
Maddi Foutz, who is expected to miss the entire season after suffering an injury in the lead-up to Bring It Promotions Global Challenge that she and Spitzer went to in Pula, Croatia, this July.
Spitzer went on to be named to the all-tournament team at that event.
However, the Mavericks do have another two All-RMAC outside hitters to make up for that loss in Second Team selection
Holly Schmidt and honorable mention pick
Sierra Hunt.
Defensively, Spring 2021 Second Team and 2019 Honorable Mention All-RMAC libero
Kerstin Layman also returns for her redshirt junior season while 2-time honorable mention All-RMAC pick
Ara Norwood is back for her fifth and final season as the Mavericks' secondary setter in their 6-2 attack.
Redshirt sophomore
Haley Hahn also returns after leading the Mavericks in blocks from her starting spot in the middle last year while
Gabrielle Vogt,
Ashton Reese and
Maranda Theleus all return after splitting starts on the right side in the spring.
New faces
The Mavericks also have added four new players to this year's roster in freshman pin hitter
Brooklyn Leggett, freshman outside hitter
Sydney Leffler, freshman libero
Jordan Woods and redshirt freshman libero
Libby Borgerding, a transfer from Division I Omaha.
300 & Counting
With CMU's RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal win over UCCS on Apr. 8, Maverick Head Coach
Dave Fleming became just the fifth coach in RMAC history to reach 300 career wins while coaching in the league. Fleming, who is just the fourth head coach in the program's history, which celebrated its' 35
th season last spring, was also named as the RMAC Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
In his previous 16 seasons with the Mavericks, Fleming is 300-159, good for a .654 winning percentage. His 300 career wins are the most of any active RMAC Coach and his tenure is equal to the longest in the conference amongst active coaches.
The success is nothing new for Fleming, who has led the Mavericks to seven NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament titles (2014, 2018, 2021-Spring), 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, including in 2018, when they went 24-7 while winning the RMAC Tournament title and advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA South Central Regional. Fleming was also named as the RMAC Co-Coach of the Year that year after earlier earning that honor outright in 2009 and 2014.
The 2014 team went 29-4, won the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and hosted the South Central Regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament while advancing to the regional final.
Good starts
The Mavericks have won three of their last four season-opening matches since 2017 and have gone at least 2-2 in each of their last eight season-opening tournaments dating back to 2012. In the spring, the Mavericks swept then fifth-ranked Regis as they went on to win each of their first 15 matches before falling in the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament to Mines. That 15-0 start was the best in program-history.
In 2019, the Mavericks also opened the season at the Oredigger Classic and posted a 3-1 record with their only loss coming to then No. 8 Northern State.
About Southwest Minnesota State
The Mustangs finished 18-10 in the fall of 2019 and did not have any official matches in all of 2020-21. They qualified for the NCAA Tournament in every year from 2004-18 before seeing that streak snapped in 2019 and have won two regular season (2012, 2016) and two tournament (2012, 2017) titles last decade in the brutally tough Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. They were also the 2014 NCAA Division II National Runner-Up.
They were picked seventh out of 16 teams in the NSIC's Preseason Coaches' Poll. Junior right side hitter Meg Schmidt was named as an NSIC Player to Watch after earning All-NSIC second team honors in 2019, when she tallied 328 kills and hit .238. Senior outside hitter Angela Young, an All-NSIC first team pick in 2019, also returns after leading that year's squad with 420 kills.
Senior Payton Hjerleid will help anchor the defense after recording a team-high 426 digs in 2019.
Terry Culhane has led the Mustangs to a 410-116 combined record and 15 NCAA Tournament appearances in his previous 17 years with the program. They have won 25 or more matches in 13 of his 16 seasons.
The Mustangs received 89 total points in the AVCA Preseason Division II Coaches' Poll.
About Sioux Falls
The Cougars have been picked 11
th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 17-11 overall and 9-11 in conference play in the fall of 2019 while garnering their first ever national ranking Their 2020 season was canceled.
Dan Mathews is the team's new head coach and returns 12 letter winners and five players who made starts in 2019.
Senior Setter Krista Goerger, the program's first-ever CoSIDA Academic All-American, is the team's NSIC Player to Watch. She is the career leader at USF in assists with 2,397. Senior middle blocker Kenzie Byers, also had 212 kills (2.26/set) and 0.83 blocks per set in 2019. 2018 All-NSIC outside hitter Averey Yaksich also returns with 519 career kills to her credit, the tenth most at USF.
About Seattle Pacific
The Falcons went 11-7 in the spring of 2021 after going 13-15 overall and 10-10 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference during 2019. They were picked fifth in this season's GNAC Preseason Poll.
Fifth year head coach Abbie Wright will have the services of two GNAC Preseason All-Conference selections in Maddie Batiste and Hannah Hair. Batiste, a fifth year senior put down 369 kills (3.51/set) and came up with 344 digs (3.28/game) in 2019 en-route to All-GNAC honorable mention recognition. She had 185 kills and 172 digs as well as 21 aces and 29 blocks in the abbreviated 2021 spring season.
Hair, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker, played in all 18 spring matches of her freshman year and led the GNAC in total blocks with 90. She was also second on the team behind only Batiste with 170 kills and hit .340 last spring, the second best mark in the GNAC.
About Grand Valley State
The Lakers, who hail from Allendale, Michigan, went 12-4 overall and took second in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with an 11-3 record last spring after posting a 13-15 record and 8-8 conference record in the fall of 2019.
They have been voted first in the GLIAC South Division, according to the conference's preseason coaches' poll.
New Head Coach Jason Johnson returns the services of 17 letterwinners from the spring season, including seven who played in 50 or more sets. He had been the program's top assistant for 20 years under now retired former court-boss Deanna Scanlon.
Leading that charge is GLIAC Blocker of the Year and First Team All-GLIAC Jaelianna Primus, who led the league in blocks per set (1.37), total blocks (70). She also tallied 137 kills. The Lakers also bring back First Team All-GLIAC Ali Thompson, who led the team in kills with 143. She also had 239 digs and 19 service aces in the spring.
Series Histories
Southwest Minnesota State holds a narrow 4-3 lead in the all-time series with the Mavericks. Like this Friday, the previous four meetings have all come on a neutral-court in Colorado's Front Range. The Mustangs have won three of those, the last of which came on Sept. 11, 2015 when they took a 5-set win in Denver as part of that year's Colorado Premier Challenge. CMU had won a Sept. 13, 2014 4-set match in Denver. All but one of the seven previous meetings have been neutral-court affairs.
Friday's meeting with Sioux Falls is believed to be the first in CMU's history.
The Mavericks have not faced the Seattle Pacific Falcons in more than 20 years after meeting them five times in as many years from 1995-99. The Falcons won the last match-up on Sept. 4, 1999 after CMU, which leads the overall series, had won all three home meetings in 1995, 1996 and 1998. SPU's wins have both come on neutral courts.
CMU has not previously played against Grand Valley State.
Up Next
The Mavericks will play in another 4-match tournament on Sept. 10-11, heading to Wichita Falls, Texas for the MSU Texas Hampton Inn-Vitational, where they will face three Lone Star Conference and South Central Regional foes, including the hosts. CMU will also play Arkansas Tech, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Eastern New Mexico at that tournament.
The Mavericks then begin a slate of 19 RMAC and nine home matches on Sept. 16 against MSU Denver.
