GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Winners of five straight and eight of their last nine, the nation's 20^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks will return home to Brownson Arena for a pair of key Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matches this weekend.
 
They will take on UCCS on Friday night at 6 p.m. before facing CSU Pueblo on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
The Mavericks, 13-4 overall, are tied with CSU Pueblo (15-3) for fourth place in the RMAC standings at 8-2.
 
Meanwhile, UCCS (8-10) is just one match out of the eighth and final RMAC Tournament qualification spot with a 3-7 record.
 
A live stream for both of this week's and all of the Mavs' conference matches can be found on the RMAC Network.
 
Live statistics for this weekend's matches can be found at the links above.
 
Tickets can be purchased at the line above as well.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks were on the road in South Dakota last week and came home with two victories.  On Friday (Oct. 7), the Mavs dominated Black Hills State, hitting more than 300 points higher than the Yellow Jackets in a 25-16, 25-9, 25-12 sweep in Spearfish.
 
The Mavs hit .368 as a team as Erin Curl put down 11 of CMU's 40 kills on .435 hitting.  Tye Wedhorn also had nine kills on 11 errorless attempts, good for a .818 attack percentage.   Sydney Leffler also chipped in seven kills while setter Sabrina VanDeList recorded five of CMU's season-high 12 service aces, the most for a Maverick team in a single match since 2015.
 
Libero Kerstin Layman also tallied 15 digs as she and the rest of the Mavs held the Jackets to a .056 attack percentage.
 
On Saturday afternoon, the Mavs matched a season-high by recording 66 kills in a 4-set (17-25, 25-17, 25-20, 27-25) win over South Dakota Mines in Rapid City.  Curl finished with 17 kills and 12 digs to register her second double-double of the season.  Sierra Hunt finished with 14 kills while Savannah Spitzer had 12.  Sydney Leffler put down 11.
 
Meanwhile, VanDeList matches a season-high with 56 assists while Layman recorded 26 digs.
 
The Mavs shook off a slow start and then fought off two set points before winning the fourth in that match.
 
In the Polls
 
After sitting a season-high 19^th in last week's poll, the Mavs are now ranked 20^th in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.  The Mavs received 287 points in the balloting of 47 coaches from around Division II.   That point total was seven more than last week.
 
The Mavs have now been ranked in all seven regular season polls since Aug. 29 after starting out in the "others receiving votes" category of the preseason poll.
 
The Mavs are still one of four RMAC polls in the top 25.  MSU Denver continues to hold down the No. 2 spot while Regis remained in the No. 16 spot.  The Colorado School of Mines moved down two spots to 23^rd while CSU Pueblo is still in the others receiving votes category.
 
Wayne State continues to hold down the No. 1 spot as a unanimous first place pick.  Concordia St.-Paul is still third while Tampa is still fourth.  Minnesota Duluth moved up a spot to No. 5.
 
CMU's four losses have come against teams in the top eight in MSU Denver, twice, Tampa and No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State, who have a combined 48-4 record.
 
On a regional basis, there are five NCAA Division II South Central Regional teams in the top 25 with No. 12 West Texas A&M being the lone Lone Star Conference representative while joining the four aforementioned RMAC teams.  Dallas Baptist is also receiving votes in the AVCA poll.
 
Dealing Aces
 
The Mavericks recorded a season-high 12 service aces in Friday's win over Black Hills State, their most in a single match since 2015, when they had 13 in an RMAC Tournament match against MSU Denver on Nov. 20 of that year.
 
The 12 aces were also the most a Maverick team has had in a 3-set match, since recording 14 on Sept. 22, 1996 against Denver.
 
Setter Sabrina VanDeList recorded a career-high five aces in Friday's win while defensive specialist Allison Waller had three for the second straight match.  Kerstin Layman also recorded two while Erin Curl and Maddi Foutz had one apiece.
 
VanDeList now leads the RMAC with 30 aces, a 0.53 per set average.

Tough D
 
The Mavericks have conceded just 58 total service aces to their opponents this week, the best mark in the RMAC.  The Mavs have a solid .943 serve reception percentage as a team this season and have some impressive individual numbers.

Reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Kerstin Layman has just four reception errors in 182 serve reception attempts this season, good for an .978 percentage.  Sophomore Jordan Woods also committed just four errors and has a .977 percentage while freshman Allison Waller has a .955 reception percentage in 199 attempts.

Outside hitter Sierra Hunt, who like Layman has played in all 57 sets this season, has been served a team-high 200 times and has a .940 reception percentage while Maddi Foutz, who plays both as a defensive specialist and outside hitter, has a .944 mark in 45 sets played and 125 reception attempts.
 
The Mavericks also lead the RMAC in opponent kills allowed, giving up just 10.00 per set and rank second in the RMAC for opponent hitting percentage at .130.
 
Balanced winning
 
A key ingredient to the Mavs' success this season this year has been their balanced attack, very much confirmed during the Mavs' current 5-match winning streak.  In that stretch, the Mavericks have had all five of their primary hitters put down between 41 and 51 kills while averaging 2.41 to 3.00 per set.
 
Sierra Hunt has led the Mavs with 51 kills (3.00/set) during the winning streak and led the team in the wins over Fort Lewis (12) and Western Colorado (11) on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.  Hunt also leads the team in total kills this season with 186.  She is ranked seventh in the RMAC with her 3.26 per set average.
 
Erin Curl is just behind with 50 kills during the winning streak and led the Mavs with 17 kills in Saturday's win over South Dakota Mines and 11 over Black Hills State on Friday.  She is third on the team with 160 throughout the season and ranks 14^th in the RMAC with her 2.91 per set average.
 
Sydney Leffler has recorded 44 of her 161 kills during the winning streak while middle blockers Savannah Spitzer and Tye Wedhorn have 43 and 41 during the streak, respectively.  Both are hitting above .390.
 
Setter Sabrina VanDeList has orchestrated the attack and has recorded 190 of her 635 assists in the winning streak, a 11.18 per set average that is just ahead of her 11.14 per set season-long average.
 
As a team, the Mavs are hitting .274 during the winning streak, 37 points higher than their season-long .237 team hitting percentage.
 
Repeat Setter of the Week
 
VanDeList was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the second straight week and eighth time in her 3-year Maverick career on Monday.  She tallied 83 assists, 17 digs and six service aces in the two road wins in South Dakota last week.
 
She had a career-high five aces and had 27 assists while leading the CMU attack to a .368 hitting percentage in Friday's win over Black Hills State.  She also had nine digs and went over the 500-career dig mark.
 
VanDeList then matched a season-high by recording 56 assists in Saturday's win at South Dakota Mines, good for her third 50-plus assist performance of the season and the eighth of her career.
 
South Dakota Domination
 
With their two wins last weekend, the Mavericks continued their domination of the RMAC's two South Dakota based institutions.  The Mavericks are now 11-1 all-time against Black Hills State, including a 10-1 mark since the Yellow Jackets joined the RMAC in 2012.
 
The Mavs are now 10-0 all-time against South Dakota Mines, including an 8-0 mark since the Hardrockers joined the conference in 2015.
 
RMAC leaders
 
The Mavericks now have the RMAC statistical leader in two categories and the No. 2 ranking player in two others.  Savannah Spitzer continues to pace the RMAC in hitting percentage with a .411 clip while Sabrina VanDeList leads in total aces and aces per set (0.53)
 
Meanwhile, VanDeList ranks second in the conference for assists per set with 11.14 while Kerstin Layman is second for digs per set (5.04).
 
On a national level, VanDeList is ranked seventh in Division II for assists while Spitzer is 11^th for hitting percentage.
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 18^th season as the Mavs' head coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 334 career victories.  He is 334-170 in his time at CMU, good for a .663 winning percentage in over 500 matches (504). 
 
The Mavs recorded their sixth 20-win season under Fleming in the fall of 2021 after going 15-1 while winning the RMAC's 2021 Spring Season.
 
The success is nothing new for Fleming, who has now led the Mavericks to eight NCAA Division II National Tournament berths, two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season titles (2014, 2021-Spring), two RMAC Tournament crowns (2014, 2018) and three RMAC West Division crowns (2005, 2009, 2010).

The Mavericks have had winning campaigns in all but one of his seasons and are a combined 224-88 (.718) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks will look to continue their strong home-court form this weekend.
 
The Mavs currently have a 4-1 home-court record this year and are now 72-13 (.847) at home since the start of 2014.  They have not lost more than one home match in each of the previous 4 ½ seasons, going 36-5 (.878) since the start of 2019.
 
They went 9-1 at home last year with their only loss coming to MSU Denver, which is the only team to have knocked off the Mavs at home this year as well.
 
The home-court success is nothing new as the Mavs went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season.  In the fall of 2019, the Mavs went 8-1 after going 9-1 in Brownson Arena during the 2018 campaign.
  
The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in both 2016 and 2017.  CMU was also an impressive 15-1 in 2014 en-route to a RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last ten completed seasons since and including 2012, going 87-22 (.798) since the start of 2012.
 
About UCCS
 
The Mountain Lions have had an up and down season thus far.  They got out to a 5-3 start in non-conference play before dropping their first four RMAC matches.  They then bounced back with two wins before losing two straight.  First year Coach Tara Hittle's squad then split last weekend, sweeping Western Colorado in Gunnison before being swept by Fort Lewis in Durango.
 
Now 8-10 overall and 3-7 in RMAC play, they rely heavily on outside and right side hitters Hannah Ammerman and Raegen Emery, who have 176 and 171 kills, respectively.  Those two players have been set nearly 1,000 times combined.
 
Nicole Medlin and Julia Geiger are also in triple figures for total kiss with 105 and 102, respectively, while Lauren Shockley, a 2-time Second Team All-RMAC pick, recorded 91 in non-conference play.  She has not played since.
 
Setter Reilly Babock has recorded 534 assists and ranks sixth in the RMAC with her 8.61 per set average.  She also sits third in the conference for service aces at 0.47 per set, having recorded 29.
 
Defensively, Medlin has 65 blocks and ranks fifth in the RMAC with her 1.05 per set average while Jordyn Kinsey has tallied 219 digs (3.78/set) to rank 12^th in the conference.
 
As a team, the Mountain Lions are near the middle of RMAC teams in most statistical categories.  However, they are tied for second in the conference with 107 service aces.  They rank ninth for hitting percentage at .169 and are tenth in opponent hitting percentage (.210).
 
About CSU Pueblo
 
The ThunderWolves have the second best overall record in the RMAC at 15-3 and are tied with the Mavs for fourth in the conference standings with an 8-2 mark.
 
An NCAA Tournament qualifying team last year, the ThunderWolves' only losses have come to then No. 4 (now No. 2) MSU Denver, then No. 17 (now No. 16) Regis and to Dallas Baptist.
 
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Payton Van Veen leads the team with 186 kills (3.00/set) and is hitting a solid .300 while Sadie Scoville (137 kills), Jazzy Espinoza (133) and Hannah Delor (113) have all contributed significantly as well.  Espinoza also ranks second in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .395 while fellow middle blocker Josey Nunn is hitting .379.
 
Sabrina King and Grace Hern switch off at the setter position in fourth-year Coach's Austin Albers' 6-2 scheme.  King has 330 assists (5.32/set) and has started all 18 matches.  Hern has 283 assist (4.56/set).
 
Libero Elaine Thibadeau has 27 service aces while Espinoza has registered 23, helping the Pack to a team total of 107, tied for second most in the conference.  Thibadeau is fourth in the conference in that category while Espinoza is eighth.
 
Defensively, Nunn and Espinoza are also the RMAC's top two blockers as each is averaging 1.21 per set.  Thibadeau ranks eighth for digs per set (4.03).
 
As a team, the ThunderWolves rank fourth in the RMAC for both hitting percentage (2.52) and opponent hitting percentage (.171) and sit second for blocking with 2.51 rejections per set.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs are 31-8 against UCCS in the Division II era (1992-Present) and have won five straight matches since 2017.  They are also 15-2 at home against the Mountain Lions, who last tasted victory over the Mavs on Nov. 5, 2016, when they won a 5-set match in Brownson Arena, their only win in the last ten meetings.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming is 14-6 against the Mountain Lions and will go head-to-head with new UCCS Coach Tara Hittle for the first time on Friday.
 
The Mavericks are 36-15 against CSU Pueblo during the Division II era.  That includes a 22-5 home-court record.  The Mavs have also won 11 out of the 12 meetings between the teams.
 
However, two of the last three meetings have been decided in five sets, which the teams split in 2019 and 2021 in Pueblo.  The Mavs claimed a 4-set home-court win over the Pack on the opening day of the 2020-21 season, played in the Spring.
 
CSU Pueblo's last win over the Mavs in Brownson Arena came in 2011.
 
Fleming is 21-6 against the ThunderWolves in his 17 previous seasons and is 2-1 against his CSU Pueblo counterpart Austin Albers.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will head back on the road playing two Western Slope rivals.  They will be at Western Colorado in Gunnison next Friday (Oct. 21) before heading to Durango to face Fort Lewis next Saturday (Oct. 22).