GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks played arguably their best match of the season and crushed visiting Colorado School of Mines in a battle of nationally-ranked Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball squads on Saturday afternoon in Brownson Arena.
 
The nation's 19^th-ranked Mavs hit an impressive .455 as a team in the 25-17, 25-22, 25-11 Senior Day victory over the No. 21 Orediggers and took at least temporary sole possession of second place in the RMAC standings with what was their 11^th straight victory.
 
The Mavericks are now 19-4 overall and 14-2 in RMAC play.  Mines fell to 18-6 overall and to 13-3 in the RMAC.  No. 17 Regis, who the Mavs will visit next Saturday, was 13-2 in the RMAC going into a Saturday evening match at Adams State.
 
In Saturday's victory, Redshirt sophomore Sierra Hunt put down 15 kills on impressive .538 hitting while redshirt senior Tye Wedhorn, one of four Mavs honored before their last home match, finished with a dozen on .688 hitting from her middle blocker position.
 
Redshirt senior Kerstin Layman also surpassed the 1,500-career dig milestone, finishing Saturday's match with 16.  She now has 1,510, fifth most in program history. 
 
Maddi Foutz and Maranda Theleus were also late-match substitutions in their Senior Day match.
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Sabrina VanDeList recorded 35 assists outdueling her Oredigger counterpart Drew Stokes, the RMAC and NCAA Division II's second ranked setter in assists per set, who had 29.  VanDeList also matched a career-high with five service aces, recording four in 9-0 run at the start of the third and final set, which saw the Mavericks shellack the Orediggers.
 
CMU hit an error-less .448 in the final set after putting down 19 kills and hitting .567 in the opening set.  Hunt was 8-for-10 and hit .800 in the opening frame while Wedhorn finished with five kills in each of the first two sets.
 
CMU hit .345 in the second set and never trailed in either the second or third after being behind by just a single point on early first set occasions.
 
The Orediggers were efficient offensively as well, hitting .299, but were unable to slow the Mavericks, recording just one block and two service aces.  The Orediggers were also guilty of eight service errors while the Mavs were able to record eight aces.
 
CMU finished with a 47-36 advantage in total kills and was guilty of just seven attack errors.
 
The Mavs also had a 5-1 advantage in blocks and a 34-28 advantage in digs when looking at the defensive numbers.
 
The Mavs trailed 7-6 early in the first set but went on a pair of 3-0 runs to take a 13-9 lead after Wedhorn and Erin Curl, combined for three successive kills.
 
The Mavs then extended the lead to five at 17-12 on a Hunt kill and led 22-15 on a Hunt solo block.
 
Moments later, Hunt and Wedhorn combined for three more kills as the Mavs traded points en-route to the victory.
 
The Mavs also got out to a 7-3 lead in the second set on back-to-back blocks and later clung to single point leads before 5-2 run that featured to Wedhorn kills and another by Sydney Leffler allowed the Mavs to stretch the lead to 22-18.
 
The Orediggers did close to within 23-21 on a Rose Stuewe kill but could get no closer as Hunt, Mines' Emily Knight and Wedhorn finished with kills to close out the set.
 
VanDeList's serving, along with two more Hunt kills then gave the Mavericks a commanding 9-0 lead in the third set.  The Orediggers never recovered as the Mavs gradually extended the final margin to 14 points throughout the rest of the set and match.
 
With Saturday's victory, the Mavs moved to within a single victory of the 20-win mark, something they could reach as soon as Tuesday when the Mavs head to Salt Lake City to face Westminster before returning home for final preparations for the Nov. 6 regular season finale at Regis.
 
Saturday's victory also allowed the Mavericks to finish the 2022 campaign with an 8-1 home-court record.  They have now lost just one home match in each of the last five seasons.  Their lone loss this year came to top-ranked MSU Denver and was decided by just two points in each of the three sets.