RAPID CITY, S.D.— A host of Colorado Mesa University volleyball players put up big numbers as the nation's 19^th-ranked Mavs shook off a slow start before pulling out a 4-set Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference road win over the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers on Saturday afternoon.
 
Erin Curl led four Mavs in double figures for kills in the 17-25, 25-17, 25-20, 27-25 victory, CMU's fifth straight overall.  The Mavs, now 13-4 overall and 8-2 in RMAC play, also received a season-high matching 56 assists from Sabrina VanDeList and 26 digs from libero Kerstin Layman as the Mavs finished the afternoon with 66 kills, equal to the highest total of the season, and a solid .252 team attack percentage.
 
Curl also recorded her second career double-double with 12 digs and hit .314 from her right side position.
 
Outside hitters Sierra Hunt (14) and Sydney Leffler (11) also combined for 25 kills while Savannah Spitzer finished with 12 kills and three blocks while hitting .375.  Fellow middle blocker Tye Wedhorn also chipped in nine kills and three more blocks.
 
Freshman defensive specialist Allison Waller also added 12 digs while VanDeList was just two digs shy of a double-double of her own with eight digs.
 
Paisley Gibson and Jacey Koethe each put down 13 kills for the Hardrockers (6-12, 3-7 RMAC), who had 44 as a team.
 
However, South Dakota Mines kept things close as they out-blocked the Mavs, 12-9 while taking advantage of 28 Maverick hitting errors throughout the match.

The Mavs were guilty of seven of those and hit just .167 in the opening set defeat, but roared out to 10-4, 14-6 and 16-7 leads in the second set to level the overall match.
 
CMU had 15 kills and hit .344 in the second set and led by as many as ten points (21-11).
 
The third set was tighter although the Mavericks went on a 4-0 run that featured kills by Wedhorn and Curl as well as a VanDeList ace to take a 13-7 lead.
 
The Hardrockers did come back to tie it at 15 before the Mavs took the first of several 2-point leads in the second half of the set.
 
Later, the Mavs went on another 4-0 spurt that included kills by Wedhorn, Curl and Hunt as well as a Hunt solo block to build a 23-18 lead, which proved to be enough as a Hardrocker service error and Leffler kill gave the Mavs the set.
 
The Mavs then got out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set and later posted a 12-7 lead.
 
They went on to extend that to as much as six at both 19-13 and 20-14 before the Rockers scored three straight points to turn what was a 23-21 disadvantage into a 24-23 lead and a set point.
 
Spitzer then put down a kill from the middle to fight that set point off before the Hardrockers earned another on a Gibson kill to go up 25-24.
 
Hunt then finished off an extended rally to again fight off a set point before VanDeList won a joust at the net to put the Mavs up 26-25 and on the verge of the victory.
 
Redshirt senior Maddi Foutz then finished the match off with a back-row laser that hit the floor, clinching the victory for the Mavs.
 
CMU, now a perfect 10-0 all-time against the Rockers, will now return home to host UCCS and CSU Pueblo next weekend.  Friday's match against UCCS will begin at 6 p.m. in Brownson Arena while Saturday's tilt with CSU Pueblo is slated for a 4 p.m. start.