­­GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will begin its second straight and tenth total march into the NCAA Division II Tournament this Thursday when the Mavericks take on Dallas Baptist University in the fourth and final South Central Regional Quarterfinal match at 7:30 p.m. in Denver and MSU Denver's Auraria Event Center.

The Mavericks, 21-6 overall, were selected as the region's No. 5 seed on Sunday night's NCAA selection show, which aired on NCAA.com and will play the fourth-seeded Patriots (25-6), who advanced to the Lone Star Conference Tournament's Championship match last Saturday.
 
The top-seeded and host Roadrunners will take on No. 8 seed CSU Pueblo in the third quarterfinal match at 5 p.m.  The winner of that match will take on the CMU/DBU winner on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
 
The other half of the bracket includes No. 2 seed West Texas A&M, which will face No. 7 UT-Tyler in an all-Lone Star Conference encounter to open the tournament Noon on Thursday.  No. 3 seed Regis and No. 6 Colorado School of Mines will also play in Thursday's quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. in an all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference affair.
 
The championship match is slated for 6 p.m. on Saturday.  The winner of that and the other seven regionals around the country will advance to the final three rounds of the 64-team NCAA Division II Tournament, which will held from Dec. 1-3 in Seattle as part of the NCAA Division II Fall Sports Championship Festival.
 
A live stream for the entire regional tournament can be found on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can be accessed here and tickets and all-tournament passes can be purchased through the tournament information page, which will also include links to post-match press conferences.  Parking information, including a free parking code, can also be accessed through that page.
 
Return to Denver
 
The Mavs' trip to Denver will be their third in as many weekends and fourth this season.  The Mavs closed out the regular season on Nov. 5, playing at Regis.  The Rangers won that match in five sets and also ended the Mavs' run in the RMAC Tournament last Friday, taking a 4-set victory at the Auraria Event Center.
 
The Mavs did win their RMAC Tournament quarterfinal over Colorado Christian last Thursday.
 
CMU also played in Denver at the Auraria Event Center back on Sept. 8, when they dropped their RMAC-opener to MSU Denver in three sets.
 
The Mavs also went to Golden, part of the Denver metropolitan area, to begin the season, going 3-1 at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic hosted by the Colorado School of Mines.  One of the Mavs' victories in that tournament was over UT-Tyler, which ended the Mavs' 2021 season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which was also hosted by MSU Denver.
 
Tenth Appearance
 
As mentioned in the introduction, the Mavericks will be making their second straight and tenth all-time appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament.  The Mavs have a combined 7-9 record in their previous appearances and reached the regional final in both 2006 and 2014.
 
Their last NCAA Tournament win was in the opening round of the 2018 bracket, when the Mavs defeated Dixie State, now known as Utah Tech, before falling to Texas A&M-Commerce in the regional semifinals, played in Stephenville, Texas.  Both of those opponents are now in the Division I transition process and members of the Western Athletic and Southland Conferences, respectively.
 
Results from CMU's previous nine NCAA Tournament appearances, eight of which have been in 18^th-year Head Coach Dave Fleming's tenure, which began in 2005, are listed below.

2004 (0-1): L, Eastern New Mexico (2-3)
2005 (1-1): W, Western New Mexico (3-0) & L, Nebraska-Kearney (0-3)
2006 (2-1): W, Nebraska-Kearney (3-2); W, MSU Denver (3-2) & L, West Texas A&M (2-3)
2007 (0-1): L, Nebraska-Kearney (0-3)
2014 (2-1): W, Angelo State (3-0), W, West Texas A&M (3-1) & L, Arkansas-Fort Smith (1-3)
2015 (1-1): W, Tarleton State (3-2) & L, Arkansas-Fort Smith (2-3)
2016 (0-1): L, MSU Denver (2-3)
2018 (1-1): W, Dixie State (3-0) & L, Texas A&M-Commerce (L, 2-3)
2021 (0-1): L; UT-Tyler (1-3)
 
Experienced Mavs and rookie Patriots
 
Ten different Mavericks have played a combined 12 NCAA Tournament matches earlier in their careers.  All but one of DBU's players will be NCAA Tournament debutants as the Patriots have not qualified since 2013.
 
Fifth-year senior Kerstin Layman is the most experienced Maverick having appeared in both of CMU's NCAA Tournament matches in 2018 as a true freshman before tallying a team-high 16 in last year's tournament match against UT Tyler.

Nine other current Mavs also played last year, including fifth-year senior Tye Wedhorn, who had 12 kills and five blocks .357 hitting and setter Sabrina VanDeList, who had 44 assists, five digs, four kills and three aces a year ago.  Sydney Leffler and Savannah Spitzer also started last year's match and finished with ten combined kills.
 
Libby Borgerding, Sierra Hunt, Hahni Johnson, Maranda Theleus and Jordan Woods all came off the bench in last year's match against the UT Tyler Patriots.
 
DBU outside hitter Delaney Fuller is the lone Patriot to have played in the NCAA Tournament, doing so in an Angelo State uniform last fall.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavericks are sitting 18^th in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, down one spot from last week's No. 17 ranking.
 
CMU, which was ranked a season-best 15^th the week prior (Oct. 31), has now been ranked in the top 20 for seven straight weeks and in the top 25 for all 12 regular season polls since Aug. 29 after starting out in the "others receiving votes" category of the preseason poll.
 
The Mavs received 361 points in this week's polling of 47 AVCA member coaches from around the country.
 
RMAC rival MSU Denver is ranked No. 1 for the fourth straight week and picked up 44 of the 47 first place votes to top the poll with 1,172 total points.  Wayne State (Neb.) remained second with two first place votes and 1,065 points while Concordia-St. Paul remained third with 1,039. 
 
Alaska Anchorage moved up a spot to fourth with 988 points and is receiving the other first place vote.  Tampa also moved up a spot to fifth while three other Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams in Minnesota Duluth (6^th), St. Cloud State (7^th) and Southwest Minnesota State (10^th) are all ranked in the top 10.  Western Washington is now ninth while West Texas A&M is now ranked ninth, up two spots from last week.
 
Southwest Minnesota State was left out of the NCAA Tournament field in the brutally tough Central Region, which includes eight of the top 15 teams in the poll.
 
CMU's only six losses this season have come to ranked teams in MSU Denver (twice), Tampa, Southwest Minnesota State and Regis (twice), which continues to sit 14^th.
 
The Mavericks are still of four RMAC teams in the top 25 as the Colorado School of Mines remained in the No. 22 spot.
 
Six of the teams in this week's regional are ranked or receiving votes, which is the case for Dallas Baptist.
 
All-Tournament Team
 
Maverick redshirt junior middle blocker Savannah Spitzer was named to the RMAC All-Tournament team, which was announced Saturday night after the MSU Denver Roadrunners were able to claim what had been an elusive RMAC Tournament title in their seventh time of asking.
 
Spitzer recorded 25 kills (3.57/set) while hitting a combined .548 in the Mavs' two RMAC Tournament matches.  She also had three service aces and three blocks during the tournament, recording 29.5 total points to co-lead the team.
 
Spitzer had 15 kills, three aces and two blocks while hitting .609 against Regis in the semifinals on Friday.  She had recorded ten kills and hit .474 in Thursday's 3-0 quarterfinal round sweep of Colorado Christian.
 
Surging into the RMAC lead and nation's top five
 
With her hitting prowess last week, Spitzer has surged into the RMAC lead and now ranks fourth in all of Division II with her season-long hitting percentage of .411.
 
If she can finish above .400, Spitzer would become just the second Maverick (with 200 or more attempts) to ever do so joining Maverick All-American and Regional Player of the Year Kasie Gilfert is the only former Maverick hitter (with 200 or more attempts) to have ever surpassed the .400 mark for a complete season, hitting an RMAC record .451 in 2018 before hitting .391 a year later in 2019.
 
Fellow Maverick middle Tye Wedhorn is now ranked third in the RMAC and fifth in the South Central Region with her .354 mark.
 
For those unfamiliar with attack percentage calculations, they are compiled by taking the total number of kills and subtracting hitting errors and then dividing that number by the number of total attack attempts. 
 
Spitzer has recorded 215 kills and has committed just 43 errors in 418 attempts this season.
 
Record-setting All-Conference haul
 
The Mavericks had a program-record seven players named to the All-RMAC teams, which were announced last week.  The Mavs had three first team selections in redshirt senior libero Kerstin Layman, recognized as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, and redshirt sophomores Sierra Hunt and Sabrina VanDeList.
 
VanDeList is now a 3-time First Team honoree while Layman was named to the first team for the initial time in her career, which includes four consecutive overall all-conference recognitions.  Layman had been a second team honoree for the past two seasons after earning honorable mention status in 2019.
 
Hunt was also an honorable mention selection as a true freshman in the spring of 2021.
 
The Mavs also had three second team selections this year in outside hitter Sydney Leffler and middle blockers Savannah Spitzer and Tye Wedhorn.  Right side Erin Curl was an honorable mention pick.
 
Leffler, a true sophomore, was a first team honoree and the RMAC Freshman of the Year last year.  Wedhorn, a fifth-year senior, is now a 3-time second team honoree, having earned the honors in 2018 as a freshman at Fort Lewis, and again last fall for CMU.  Spitzer is also now a 3-time honoree having picked up first team plaudits as a true freshman in 2020-21 before pickup second team honors last year.
 
Curl, a Division I graduate transfer, is in her first year as a Maverick.
 
CMU had three first team and six overall picks in 1991, the spring of 2021 and in 2014, when they won RMAC regular season titles, but had never had seven players honored in the same season until Thursday.
 
Smart Mavs
 
The Mavericks had two first team and ten total selections to the RMAC All-Academic Teams, which were announced last week as well.  That list includes Sabrina VanDeList, named as the RMAC Academic Player of the Year, and fellow First Team selection Tye Wedhorn.

VanDeList was also later named as the RMAC Summit Award Winner for having the highest GPA of any student-athlete competing in the RMAC Tournament and is the first Maverick volleyball player to earn the honor.
 
Libby Borgerding, Maddi Foutz, Sierra Hunt, Hahni Johnson, Kerstin Layman, Sydney Leffler, Brooklyn Leggett and Jordan Woods were all honor roll selections.
 
VanDeList, who is just the second Maverick to receive RMAC Academic Player of the Year honors (Taylor Woods, 2018) has a perfect 4.000 GPA.  Wedhorn completed her bachelor's degree with a 3.929 mark and is now enrolled in graduate work.
 
To be eligible for selection to the elite 10-player first team, student-athletes must have a 3.500 or higher GPA, up from previous year's 3.30 cut-off, be in at least their second year at the nominating institution and have used a season of eligibility.  Sports information directors from the RMAC member institutions nominated and selected the first team based on a combination of athletic and academic accomplishments.
 
Those not selected were automatically placed on the honor roll, which has a minimum GPA requirement of 3.30 or higher.
 
Five from four
 
Maverick libero Kerstin Layman recorded 28 digs in the RMAC Tournament last weekend, recording 21 in the semifinal against Regis, her eighth 20-plus dig effort of the season and the 23rd of her brilliant career.
 
The 2-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Year has now recorded 1,573 career digs, fifth most in CMU's all-time history.  She is just four digs away from matching Ashley Loftsgard for fourth place on the Mavs' all-time charts.
 
Layman also ranks third behind Loftsgard on the Mavs' rally-scoring era (2001-Present) career digs chart. 
 
20-Win seasons
 
The Mavs' win over Westminster on Nov. 1 was the Mavs' 20^th of the season and allowed them to reach the 20-win mark for the seventh time under the direction of 18^th-year Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming. 
 
The Mavs now have back-to-back 20-win seasons and are guaranteed of at least equaling last year's mark when the Mavs went 21-7 after going 15-1 in the spring of 2021 during the COVID-shortened and delayed season.
 
The Mavs were also 20-match winners in 2018 (24), 2014 (29), 2013 (21), 2010 (20) and 2005 (23).
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 18^th season as the Mavs' head coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 342 career victories.  He has a 342-172 mark in his time at CMU, good for a .665 winning percentage in over 500 matches (514). 
 
The success is nothing new for Fleming, who has now led the Mavericks to nine 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 231-89 (.722) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Fleming is 7-8 in NCAA Tournament matches.  He is 5-0 against Dallas Baptist but has never coached against Patriot Coach Jordan Fish, in her second year in charge of the DBU program.
 
About Dallas Baptist
 
The Patriots are making their third NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2013 after setting a new school-record with 25 wins.  They are 25-6 overall and went 14-2 in Lone Star Conference play to earn the No. 2 seed for last week's LSC Tournament, which saw them advance to the championship match for the first time since joining the conference in 2019.
 
They had also won their last three regular season matches and have now won five of their last six with the lone loss coming to West Texas A&M in Saturday's championship match.
 
Graduate transfer Lauryn Burt, who previously played for four years at UNLV, was named as both the Lone Star Conference Setter and Newcomer of the Year.  She is the first DBU player to earn LSC Setter of the Year honors and is the second to receive LSC Newcomer of the Year recognition, joining all-American Halee Van Poppel last year.
 
Burt has recorded 1,136 assists this season (10.42/set) and ranks second in the LSC.  She also dumps a lot and has recorded 103 kills throughout the season.
 
Burt was joined on the First Team All-LSC squad by redshirt senior outside and opposite hitter AJ Koele and sophomore middle blocker Shaylee Shore.  All three were also named to the LSC All-Tournament Team.
 
Juniors Delaney Fuller, an outside hitter, and Lindsey Otero, a middle blocker, were honorable mention selections to the all-conference teams.
 
Koele has had an impressive season, registering 431 kills (4.10/set) and ranks second in the LSC and the region and 16^th nationally for kills per set She is also hitting a strong .313, seventh best in the LSC, and is third on the team for blocks (59) and second in the LSC for total points with 465.5.
 
Shore leads the Patriots with 68 blocks (0.83/set) and has put down 156 kills (1.90/set) while hitting .385 offensively, the best mark in the LSC.
 
Fuller has recorded 180 kills (2.43/set) while Otero has put down 155 (1.48/set) while hitting .423 on 293 attempts.  She is not eligible for the NCAA or LSC hitting percentage leader statistics due to her number of attempts.
 
Kenzie McNeill has a LSC-leading 52 service aces (0.48/set) to rank second in the region behind CMU's Sabrina VanDeList while Leah Palensky, who was named as the LSC Academic Player of the Year, has a team-high 369 digs (3.51/set).  Burt is second with 243 digs and has 11 double-doubles to her credit, including four straight from Nov. 4-11 of this month.
 
The Patriots are hitting .269 as a team and lead the LSC while ranking tenth nationally with that mark.  They also lead the LSC in service aces with 221.

Series History
 
The Mavericks are a perfect 7-0 all-time against DBU.  All seven previous meetings have been held on neutral-courts in early-season tournaments.
 
Three of those matchups have been played in Golden, Colorado, including each of the last two.

In the last meeting, the Mavs won a Sept. 7, 2019 encounter, in which three current Mavericks played.  Maddi Foutz had four kills, eight digs and a block while Kerstin Layman had a team-high 16 digs.  Maranda Theleus had seven kills, four blocks and three digs.
 
Up Next
 
With a win over DBU, the Mavericks would advance to the regional semifinals for the sixth time in program history to face either No. 1 seed MSU Denver or No. 8 seed CSUP Pueblo on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Mavs are 0-2 this season against MSU Denver but defeated CSU Pueblo in four sets on Oct. 15.  All three sets of the Mavs' home match against MSU Denver on Sept. 23 were decided by just two points, including two in "overtime" or extra points.

The Mavs are 1-1 against the Roadrunners in NCAA Tournament play but trail in the Division II era (1992-Present) series, 34-11. 
 
The Mavs have never faced CSU Pueblo in the NCAA Tournament but hold a 37-15 lead in the Division II era series, having won three straight and ten out of the last 11 matches against the ThunderWolves.
 
If the Mavs were to lose on Thursday, they would end the season at the same stage of the NCAA tournament and with a 21-7 record for the second consecutive year.