DENVER— Despite 15-kill efforts from
Sydney Leffler and
Savannah Spitzer, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team fell in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals for the third straight season as the nation's 14
th-ranked Regis University Rangers took down the 17
th-ranked Mavs for the second time in seven days, by a 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22) margin on Friday evening here in MSU Denver's Auraria Event Center.
The Mavericks, 21-6 overall, had fell in five sets to the Rangers (22-6) last Saturday in the regular season finale before both claimed Thursday night RMAC Tournament quarterfinal wins to set up Friday's rematch.
The Rangers, who now advance to Saturday's tournament final to face top-seeded and No. 1 ranked MSU Denver, hit .307 as a team and finished with a 59-48 advantage in total kills and a 60-50 edge in total digs.
The Mavericks were guilty of 24 hitting errors and finished with a .161 attack percentage and will now await Sunday evening's NCAA Division II Tournament Selection Show, which will air at NCAA.com at 8:30 p.m. to determine who and where they will play in next week's South Central Regional.
The Mavs, seeded third in the RMAC Tournament, were ranked fourth in the latest regional rankings, released Wednesday, and will almost certainly be included in the 64-team field, divided into eight 8-team regionals.
Regis, seeded second in the RMAC Tournament, was ranked third in the region coming into the week.
Spitzer had a fine night in the middle to lead the Mavericks, committing just one hitting error on 23 swings to hit at a .609 clip. She also had three service aces and a pair of blocks. Fellow middle
Tye Wedhorn also contributed six kills and five blocks while hitting .263.
However, the Mavericks could not match a balanced Ranger attack as Klaudia Sowizral, Halle Theis and Amelia Davis all put down 13 kills. Nadine Burbrink also added 12 while setter Mara LeGrand recorded 47 assists and 11 digs for her second double-double of the tournament. She also had five blocks.
Theis also had a double-double with 12 digs while libero Haley Kennedy finished with 14.
CMU setter
Sabrina VanDeList had 39 assists and two more service aces while Maverick libero
Kerstin Layman, the repeat RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, tallied a match-high 21 digs.
The Mavericks did have a 9-5 advantage in total blocks and recorded eight service aces, compared to the Rangers' five.
However, the hitting miscues were too much to overcome.
The Mavericks were guilty of five in the first set and hit just .077. They fell behind 17-7 and 20-8 before mounting a late charge to make the opening set more respectable.
The Mavs then hit .286 in the second set, opening a 17-14 lead on a Spitzer ace before the Rangers rallied to tie the set at 21. However, Leffler took over recording three kills in a 4-0 Maverick run that evened the overall match.
The third set was also tight and was tied on eight separate occasions, including at 17 before the Mavs committed five attacking errors during a 6-0 Ranger run that ended up being their un-doing.
Trailing 2-1 overall, the Mavericks did jump out to a 10-5 lead in the fourth set but saw the Rangers gradually come back to eventually take an 18-16 lead.
The Mavericks would then regain a 20-19 advantage with a 4-1 run that featured kills from right side hitters
Maranda Theleus and
Brooklyn Leggett before another Spitzer kill.
However, the Rangers went on to record a 5-1 run of their own as Theis and Davis registered three successive kills.
The Mavs were able to fight off one of three match points with Leffler's final kill before Theis countered to end the match after a high-quality set, which saw the Rangers record 18 kills while hitting .486.
The Mavericks put down 16 kills and hit .343 in the final frame.
