GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Up to a season-best 19^th in the national poll and riding a 3-match winning streak, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will take to the road this weekend for a pair of matches in South Dakota.
 
The Mavericks, 11-4 overall and tied for fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with a 6-2 mark, will take on Black Hills State (2-14, 1-7 RMAC) in Spearfish on Friday at 7 p.m. before venturing to Rapid City to face South Dakota Mines (5-11, 2-6 RMAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
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.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks claimed a pair of home wins last weekend, running their overall record to 11-4 and their conference mark to 6-2.
 
On Friday, the Mavericks dominated Fort Lewis, hitting .435 as team while recording 50 kills, 30 more than Skyhawks' total of 20 en-route to a comfortable 25-15, 25-19, 25-10 sweep.
 
Outside hitter Sierra Hunt led the Mavs with 12 kills while middle Savannah Spitzer put down another ten on .616 hitting.  Tye Wedhorn, who hit an errorless .692 against her former team, Sydney Leffler and Erin Curl all had nine kills as well in a balanced victory.
 
Defensively, Kerstin Layman recorded 19 digs while setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied 43 assists, six digs and four aces.
 
In Saturday's 3-1 win over Western Colorado, the Mavericks shook off a slow start, winning the second third and fourth sets to extend their winning streak over the Mountaineers to 18 consecutive matches.
 
Hunt had 11 of CMU's 43 total kills while Wedhorn finished with ten.  She hit .381 while her fellow middle, Spitzer, had nine kills on .421 hitting.  Wedhorn also had four blocks.
 
Layman recorded 13 digs while VanDeList finished with 34 assists and six digs while recording four aces for the second straight outing.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavs moved up two spots to a season-high 19^th in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.  The Mavs received 280 points in the balloting of 47 coaches from around Division II.   That total was 22 more than last week.
 
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 moved up another spot to 16^th.  The Colorado School of Mines moved up two positions to 21^st 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 moved up a spot to fourth.
 
CMU's four losses have come against teams in the top eight in MSU Denver, twice, Tampa and No. 8 Southwest Minnesota State, who have a combined 41-4 record.
 
2K Setter and one away
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Sabrina VanDeList surpassed the 2,000-career assist mark late in the third set of Friday's 3-set sweep of Fort Lewis.  She finished that match with 43 assists and tallied 34 more in Saturday's win over Western Colorado and now has 2,036 career helpers.
 
VanDeList has tallied 552 of those assists this year and is averaging 11.04 per set, a mark that ranks her second in the RMAC and ninth in Division II.
 
VanDeList is also just one more dig away from the 500-career dig milestone.  She had 12 last weekend and has 499 in 59 career matches to date.  She has tallied 120 this year and ranks second on the team behind Kerstin Layman.
 
Double Player of the Week
 
VanDeList and Layman were both recognized as conference players of the week on Monday following their weekend efforts.  VanDeList was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the first time this season and the seventh of her career after recording 77 assists (11.00/set) and conference-leading eight service aces (1.14/set) last weekend.  She now stands third in the RMAC's season-long statistics for service aces per set (0.48) and has tallied 24 this season and 85 in her career.
 
Meanwhile, Layman tallied 32 digs (4.57/set) and committed just one reception error while the Mavs held their two opponents at a .096 attack percentage in two victories.  She has now been named as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week four times in her career.
 
Layman ranks second in the RMAC with her 4.92 per set average and now has 1,349 career digs, fourth most in CMU history during the rally-scoring era (2001-Present).  VanDeList ranks sixth in career assists during that span and is now fourth for career service aces.
 
VanDeList and Layman are the first two Mavericks to earn a RMAC Player of the Week honor this season.
 
Into the top-10
 
Maverick redshirt junior Savannah Spitzer put down 19 kills while hitting a combined .500 in last week's wins and in the process, raised her season-long hitting percentage to .420.  That mark leads the RMAC and puts her tenth in the NCAA Division II statistics.
 
She was ranked 14^th nationally last week.
 
Spitzer has 108 kills and has been guilty of just 19 attack errors in 212 swings this year.
 
First non-sweep win
 
Saturday's win over Western Colorado marked the first time that the Mavericks have won a match that went longer than three sets.  CMU's previous ten wins had all come by 3-0 margins.
 
The victory also marked that the Mavs have won a match after dropping the opening set.  They are now 12-3 in the opening set this season.
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 18^th season as the Mavs' head coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 332 career victories.  He is 332-170 in his time at CMU, good for a .661 winning percentage in over 500 matches (502). 
 
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 222-88 (.716) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks continued their strong home-court form last weekend with the wins over Fort Lewis and Western.
 
The Mavs now 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 four-plus 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.
 
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 Black Hills State
 
The Yellow Jackets will bring 2-14 overall and 1-7 RMAC records into Friday's match.   They have lost three straight on the road to metro-Denver opponents Regis, Colorado Christian and MSU Denver since their last win, which came on Sept. 20 at South Dakota Mines.  That win snapped a 10-match slide.
 
They are currently 0-3 at home this season.
 
Senior outside hitter Madison Hoopman leads the team with 177 kills and is fifth in the conference with her 3.34 per set average.  Hoopman also ranks fifth in the RMAC for total points per set (3.77).
 
Senior outside Kindra Cerrone (136 kills; 2.31/set) and junior outside Abigail Renner (116; 2.07/set) also provide some offensive punch while Karly Marx has tallied 485 assists to rank ninth in the conference with her 8.22 per set average.
 
Libero Haedyn Rhoades leads the conference and ranks 29th nationally with her 5.02 dig per set average.
 
Audrey Brgoch leads six Yellow Jacket players with double-figure service ace numbers.  She has 14.
 
Aiyana Byrd and Mariah Robinson are tied for the team blocking lead with 29.
 
About South Dakota Mines
 
The Hardrockers are currently 5-11 overall and 2-6 in RMAC play heading into a Friday night home match against Westminster.  They snapped a 6-game losing streak last Saturday claiming a 5-set road win over Colorado Christian, who is in the top half of the RMAC standings at 5-3.
 
6-foot-1 senior middle blocker Jacey Koethe had 23 kills and hit .388 in that victory after putting down ten kills on .643 hitting a night earlier at No. 2 MSU Denver.  She stands second in the RMAC with 214 kills this season and ranks third in the conference with her 3.45 per set average.  Named as the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, Koethe also leads the team while ranking tenth in the RMAC for hitting percentage (.305), blocks per set (0.94).  She is also paces the RMAC with 265 total points.
 
Dejah Behrend (111) and Morgan Daugherty (103) have also eclipsed the century mark for kills this season while Emma Grimm and Lily Bartling have 90 each to their credit.
 
Setter Kiley Metzger has started 13 matches and has recorded 476 assists (8.35/set) to rank eighth in the conference while Anna Thomas is fifth in the RMAC with her 4.45 dig per set average.
 
Hannah Benes has 23 service aces and is tenth in the RMAC with her 0.37 per set average.
 
As a team, the Rockers are fifth in the conference for digs per set (15.02), but in the bottom half of the RMAC in most of the other statistical categories.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks lead the all-time series against Black Hills State by a 10-1 margin.  They have won the last five matches since BHSU claimed their only win in Spearfish on Oct. 21, 2016.  The Mavs been victorious in their other three trips to Spearfish. Last winning on Oct. 8, 2018.
 
Friday's match will be Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming's first against Yellow Jacket Interim Head Coach Bree Davis, who was an assistant coach in 2021, when the Mavs won a 4-set home match over BHSU on Oct. 15.
 
The Mavs are a perfect 9-0 all-time against South Dakota Mines.  They are 5-0 against the Hardrockers in Rapid City, last winning there on Feb. 20, 2021, during the spring season.
 
CMU has won five of the previous matches in straight sets and have claimed four other 3-1 victories.
 
Fleming is 4-0 against his Hardrocker counterpart Laruen Torvi Prochazka, who is in her fifth year in Rapid City.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home to face UCCS on Oct. 14 and CSU Pueblo on Oct. 15.  The Mavs are currently tied with CSU Pueblo in the RMAC standings.  UCCS has a 2-6 conference mark.  Those two opponents play at Fort Lewis and Western Colorado this weekend.