GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Winners of nine straight overall and five straight at home, the nation's 19th-ranked Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will put both streaks on the line this weekend in what will likely be their final home matches of the season.
 
The 17-4 Mavs are tied for second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings, and will play Chadron State College (7-16, 5-9 RMAC) on Friday at 6 p.m. before hosting 21st-ranked Colorado School of Mines (17-5), one of the teams the Mavs are tied with in the conference standings, on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Saturday's match, which will also loom large in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament qualification and seeding process, will be preceded by Senior Day festivities as the Mavs will honor five departing standouts in Erin Curl, Maddi Foutz, Kerstin Layman, Maranda Theleus and Tye Wedhorn.
 
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 also be purchased at the link above.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks extended their winning streak to nine with a pair of 4-set wins on the road last weekend.
 
The Mavericks were in Gunnison on Friday night and hit .373 as a team as they defeated Western Colorado University for the 19^th straight time since 2013.
 
Middle hitter Savannah Spitzer and outside hitter Sierra Hunt both finished the match with 16 kills while outside Sydney Leffler had 14.  Tye Wedhorn also added ten more in the 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 21-25, 25-13) win.
 
Spitzer also finished with six blocks and hit an errorless .696 on 23 attempts.  Wedhorn also hit well above .600, committing just one error and hitting .643.  Hunt also hit .364 while Leffler hit at a .308 clip. 

Setter Sabrina VanDeList had 48 assists, eight digs and three blocks while Kerstin Layman had 18 digs.
 
On Saturday, the Mavericks had another big and balanced effort from their hitters in a 19-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-21 come-from-behind win at Fort Lewis.  Leffler led the team with 16 kills while Hunt had 14.  Spitzer also put down 13 while Wedhorn had a dozen.  She also had six blocks and hit .500 against her former team as the Mavericks won the second, third and fourth sets after falling a set behind.
 
Meanwhile, VanDeList registered her seventh double-double of the season with 44 assists and 15 digs while Kerstin Layman amassed a season-high 29 digs, the second highest total in her impressive career.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavericks moved up one spot to No. 19 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.  That ranking is equal to their highest of the season.  The Mavs have now been ranked in the top 20 for four straight weeks and in the top 25 for all nine regular season polls since Aug. 29 after starting out in the "others receiving votes" category of the preseason poll.
 
The Mavs received a season-high 309 points in the polling of 47 AVCA member coaches from around the country.
 
The poll has a new No. 1 team as CMU's RMAC rival MSU Denver moved into the top position after former No. 1 Wayne State (Neb.) was one of five top ten teams to suffer a defeat last weekend.
 
In this week's poll, MSU Denver received 26 first place votes and has 1,146 points overall.  Wayne State received 18 first place votes but dropped two spots to third while Concordia-St. Paul moved up a spot to second and is receiving the other three first place votes.
 
Minnesota Duluth remained in the fourth spot while Southwest Minnesota State, which beat Wayne State, remained fifth as the fourth Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference team in the top five.
 
Tampa moved up two spots to sixth in this week's poll.
 
CMU's only four losses this season have come to the top six teams in MSU Denver (twice), Southwest Minnesota State and Tampa.
 
The Mavericks are still of four RMAC teams in the top 25.
 
Regis won the opening set against MSU Denver on Saturday afternoon but dropped the next three to fall for just the second time in conference play.  However, the Rangers did move up one spot to 17^th in this week's poll.  The Colorado School of Mines also moved up a spot to 21^st.
 
CSU Pueblo, who the Mavs defeated, is still in the others receiving votes category of the poll.
 
On a regional basis, there are five NCAA Division II South Central Regional teams in the top 25 with No. 11 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.

Regional "Rankings"
 
The Mavericks appeared in the NCAA Division II Regional Rankings, which were released for the first time on Wednesday.  Although not listed with an official rank, the Mavericks were originally listed fourth amongst ten teams in the South Central Region, made up of the Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conferences.  The other seven regions had the teams listed alphabetically in accordance to new policies this year that call for first set of rankings are due to be released in that format.
 
The rankings were then later corrected and shown in alphabetical order.
 
Both South Central Region conferences had five teams listed with CMU, MSU Denver, Regis, Mines and CSU Pueblo representing the RMAC.  West Texas A&M, Dallas Baptist, UT Tyler, Texas A&M International and Texas A&M-Kingsville were the Lone Star's representatives.
 
The rankings will also be updated, in order, and released on Nov. 2 and Nov. 9 before the official NCAA Tournament selection show, which will air at 8 p.m. MST on Sunday, Nov. 13.
 
A total of eight teams from the region will be selected, with the LSC and RMAC Tournament Champions earning automatic berths.  The remaining selections and the No. 1-8 seeding will then be determined by the regional rankings.
 
Setter of the Week… and the month
 
Maverick Setter Sabrina VanDeList was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the third time in the month of October on Monday.  She had also received that honor on Oct. 3 and Oct. 10 and now has nine career honors, three in each of her three seasons as a Maverick.
 
There is no official monthly award, but she would certainly be the top candidate for the hypothetical honor after recording 295 assists (11.35/set), 20 aces (0.77), two 50-plus assist nights and two double-doubles in the Mavs' October matches.  The Mavs are 7-0 in that time and have hit .272 as a team during the month thus far.
 
Century Club and Ace Streak

Sabrina VanDeList tallied three service aces in Saturday's win over Fort Lewis, raising her season-long total to an RMAC-leading 40.  In the process, she became just the fourth Maverick to surpass the 100-career service ace milestone during the rally-scoring era (2001-Present).
 
VanDeList now has 101 aces in 65 career matches, trailing only Drew Choules (153), Taylor Woods (120) and Megan Rush (107) on the era record-book.
 
Just a redshirt sophomore, VanDeList has had at least one ace in nine straight and ten of the Mavericks' last 11 matches, coinciding with the Mavs' current winning streak.
 
Senior Capsules
 
The Mavericks will honor their five "seniors" before Saturday's match.  The group has taken diverse paths to and through the CMU program but have certainly shined, combining for RMAC Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards as well as an Honorable Mention All-America plaudit.
 
Erin Curl
 
The Flower Mound, Texas native joined the Maverick program this fall as a graduate student after graduating from Loyola Marymount University.  Prior to her time at LMU, Curl played in the Southeastern Conference for the University of Alabama.  Bringing that Division I experience from two different schools, Curl has started all 21 of the Mavs' matches this year as a right side and middle blocker.  She was named as the Oredigger Volleyball Classic's Tournament MVP and has recorded 196 kills (2.84/set) while hitting .252.  She also has tallied 48 blocks, second most on the team.  Curl is eligible to return for a sixth year next fall.
 
Maddi Foutz
 
The Bayfield, Colorado native is in her sixth season of collegiate volleyball, playing a combo role as both a defensive specialist and outside hitter.  Recording 441 digs in two seasons at Division I Colorado State, where she started 43 matches while helping the Rams win two Mountain West Conference titles, Foutz went on to earn RMAC Player of the Year honors in the spring of 2021 after leading the Mavericks to a RMAC title while pacing the team in both kills (171) and digs (151) as a fourth-year senior.  She then missed all of last season due to an injury on a summer volleyball trip to Europe but has returned for a sixth year this season.  In her three seasons and four years at CMU, Foutz has tallied 268 kills and 375 digs.
 
Kerstin Layman
 
Tabbed as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and to the First Team D2CCA All-South Central Region team last year, Layman is a 3-time overall All-RMAC selection, who has been with the Mavericks for five seasons.  She has racked up 1,472 career digs to date to rank fifth in CMU's all-time history and enters the weekend just 28 away digs away from 1,500.  The Littleton, Colorado native who has donned the Mavs' libero uniform for each of the past four seasons surpassed the 1,000 milestone against Chadron State last year and ranks second in the RMAC for digs per set this year, averaging a career-best 5.13.
 
Maranda Theleus
 
The redshirt junior from West Palm Beach, Florida was named to the RMAC All-Tournament team in the spring of 2021 after helping the Mavericks to the RMAC's regular season title.  Despite not yet playing this season after suffering an early-season injury, Theleus has put down 317 kills and 74 blocks in 63 career matches over the previous three seasons as a Maverick.  Eligible to return for a fifth year in 2023 if she so later chooses, Theleus has been steady on the right side throughout her career, averaging more than a kill per set while hitting .222 throughout her career.
 
Tye Wedhorn
 
The Glenwood Springs, Colorado product began her collegiate career at RMAC rival Fort Lewis, earning Second Team All-RMAC honors as a freshman in 2018 while registering 304 kills and 140 blocks in her two seasons as a Skyhawk.  She then transferred to CMU for the 2020-21 academic year and spring season, while making her way into the starting lineup at the middle blocker position last fall.  Wedhorn shined, hitting a team-best .356 while putting down 225 kills and 89 blocks en-route to All-South Central Region honors from both the AVCA and D2CCA and Honorable Mention All-America honors from the AVCA in the fall of 2021.  She has put up similar honors this season and enters the weekend with 380 kills and 157 blocks in a Maverick uniform and overall career totals of 684 kills and 297 blocks as an RMAC player.
 
The quest for ten
 
The Mavericks would extend their winning streak to ten matches if they are able to get past Chadron State on Friday. 
 
Double-figure winning streaks are nothing new to the Mavericks who have already had such a streak in each of the last two seasons.  In the spring of 2021, the Mavericks won their first 15 matches en-route to the RMAC title and finished the season 15-1.  Last fall, the Mavericks had a 10-game winning streak from Oct. 2-Nov. 5, winning their tenth straight match against Chadron State.
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 18^th season as the Mavs' head coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 338 career victories.  He is 338-170 in his time at CMU, good for a .665 winning percentage in over 500 matches (508). 
 
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 228-88 (.722) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks will look to continue their impressive home-court form this season and can lay claim to another impressive feat two home wins this weekend.
 
The Mavs have not lost more than one home match in each of the previous 4 ¾ seasons, going 38-5 (.884) since the start of 2019.  They are 6-1 at home this year and have only lost to new national No. 1 MSU Denver, ranked second at the time, in a match that all three sets were decided by the minimum 2-point margins back on Sept. 23.
 
The Mavs have since won five straight at home and are 74-13 (.851) at home since the start of 2014.
 
They went 9-1 at home last year with their only loss coming to MSU Denver.
 
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.
 
Mines was the only team to have come into Brownson Arena to win in the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2021.
  
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 89-22 (.802) since the start of 2012.
 
About Chadron State
 
The Eagles got off to a great start in conference play, going 5-1 in their first six matches.  However, they have since dropped eight straight matches to slide out of the RMAC's top eight spots.  They have won just one set in that stretch.
 
However, the Eagles are still in the hunt for their first RMAC Tournament appearance since 2003 and trail Fort Lewis and South Dakota Mines by just a single match entering the weekend.  The Eagles are also tied with UCCS for ninth.
 
Now 7-16 overall and 5-9 in the conference, the Eagles have five different players with more than 100 kills.  Junior outside hitter Alexia Hurtado leads the group with 155 while sophomore right side Mayson Fago has 150.
 
Defensively, Aiyana Fujiyama has recorded 81 blocks and ranks seventh in the RMAC with her 0.99 per set average.  Fujiyama is also fourth on the team with 117 kills and is hitting .202, the best mark amongst the main attackers.
 
Abby Schaefer has 224 digs and is ranked 12^th in the RMAC with her 3.67 per set average while Rylee Greiman has 204.  Greiman also leads the team with 20 service aces.
 
Senior setter Breshawna Kelly has recorded 343 assists while freshman Kiley West has 250.
 
About Mines
 
The Orediggers will enter a Friday night match at Westminster with 17-5 overall and 12-2 RMAC records and are tied with the Mavericks and Regis for second place in the RMAC standings.  They are ranked 21^st in the national poll, just two spots behind the Mavs.  They have won four straight and 11 of their last 12 matches, with their only loss coming in five sets and by just two points (16-14) in a "overtime" fifth set to now top-ranked MSU Denver on Oct. 8.
 
The Orediggers lead all of Division II in kills per set (15.12) per set and rank second for assists per set (14.05), largely thanks to 3-time all-American and 2-time RMAC Setter of the Year Drew Stokes, a fifth-year graduate student.  Stokes is second in the nation and atop the conference with her 12.00 assist per set average this year.
 
Senior outside hitter Rose Stuewe has been her favorite target and balanced attack.  Stuewe has tallied 267 kills (3.47) and is hitting .263.  She ranks fourth in the RMAC for kills per set.  Emily Knight (225 kills), Shannon Perna (215) and Megan Neil (198) are just behind.  Knight also paces the group with her .301 hitting percentage and leads the Orediggers with 51 blocks (0.65/set).
 
In the back-row, graduate libero Elle Duis has accumulated a school-record 2,143 career digs, including 360 this year.  She ranks fourth in the conference for digs per set (4.62) this year.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks have won 27 straight matches against Chadron State dating back to 1995 and hold a 33-3 lead in the Division II era (1992-Present) series.  The Mavs are a perfect 17-0 against Chadron State at home in the era.
 
Friday's visit will be the Eagles' first to Grand Junction since Sept. 21, 2018.
 
Maverick Coach Dave Fleming is a perfect 17-0 against the Eagles and is 3-0 against his Eagle counterpart Jennifer Stadler.
 
The series with Mines has been much more competitive.  The Orediggers have won three straight meetings between the teams to take a 22-19 advantage in the Division II era.
 
However, the Mavericks still hold a 10-7 lead in the series during the era at home.
 
CSM won the last match-up between the teams in Brownson Arena on Apr. 9, 2021 in the semifinal round of the spring RMAC Tournament.
 
Fleming is 9-15 against the Orediggers and 6-14 against Mines Coach Jamie Magalei, who is second amongst active RMAC coaches, just behind Fleming with 335 career wins
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will be on the road next week playing Westminster in Salt Lake City next Tuesday (Nov. 1) before closing out the regular season with a monster match at No. 17 Regis on Nov. 5. 
 
The 8-team RMAC Tournament will then begin on Thursday, Nov. 11 with the quarterfinal round.  All three rounds of the RMAC Tournament will be hosted by the No. 1 seed this year, a change from most recent years that saw the top four seeds host quarterfinal round matches before the remaining four teams converged at the site of the highest remaining seed for the semifinals and finals.
 
However, it should also be noted that the 2021 spring tournament was also held at one site due to COVID related issues and ended up only having seven teams due to those issues.