­­GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After reaching the 20-win mark for the second straight season, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will enter the post-season as the third seed for this week's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
The nation's 17th-ranked Mavericks (20-5, 15-3 RMAC) will play sixth-seeded Colorado Christian University (15-12, 10-8 RMAC) for the third time this season in Thursday's quarterfinal round at 2:30 p.m.
 
MSU Denver will host the entire 8-team, 3-day tournament at the Auraria Event Center in downtown Denver and is the top seed.
 
The semifinals are on Friday evening, beginning at 5 p.m., while Saturday's championship match will be played at 6 p.m.
 
A live stream for the entire tournament be found on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can be accessed here and tickets can be purchased through the RMAC Championship webpage.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks played a pair of road matches last week, sweeping Westminster in Salt Lake City on last Tuesday (Nov. 1) before falling in a 5-set classic on Saturday afternoon at Regis, ranked 14th in the nation.
 
In Tuesday's 25-19, 25-15, 25-20 win, outside Sierra Hunt led three Maverick in double-figures for kills, putting down 20.
 
The Mavs hit .373 as a team in what was their 12^th straight win as Hunt hit .405 while being joined in double figures by Tye Wedhorn and Sydney Leffler.  Wedhorn recorded 12 kills and hit .556 while Leffler had ten kills on .250 hitting.  Savannah Spitzer also recorded nine kills while hitting .615.
 
The Mavs had a big 57-31 advantage in total kills and nearly as big of a 54-33 advantage in total digs as libero Kerstin Layman tallied 17 while freshman defensive specialist Allison Waller dug up 11 Griffin attacks, only one shy of a career-high. 
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList also had another strong outing with 47 assists and eight digs.
 
Hunt and Wedhorn finished with three solo apiece as the Mavericks recorded seven blocks.
 
On Saturday at Regis, CMU's two outside hitters combined for 38 kills.  Hunt had a season-high 21 and hit .326 while Leffler recorded 17 on .412 hitting.
 
The Mavs dropped the first set, 25-15 but roared back to take the next two sets by commanding 25-12 and 25-13 margins only to see the Rangers come back from 2-1 down with a 25-21 fourth-set win.  The Rangers then hit .500 in the fifth set, taking it and the match, 15-10.
 
The Mavs had a slight 63-60 advantage in total kills and out-hit the Rangers, .279-.276.  They also had a 57-53 edge in total digs as Layman recorded 18 while Hahni Johnson recorded a career-high 11.  Maddi Foutz was also in double figures with ten.
 
VanDeList finished with 46 assists, six digs and three kills.
 
Tourney Time
 
The Mavericks will be playing in their 11^th consecutive RMAC Tournament, having qualified in all but one (2011) of the 18 seasons with Head Coach Dave Fleming leading the program.  The Mavericks have won the RMAC Tournament twice under Fleming (2014, 2018) and are 16-14 in it under Fleming, who began his tenure at CMU in 2005.
 
The Mavs also have a winning 9-7 record in the quarterfinal round under Fleming, including a 2-1 mark against Colorado Christian.
 
The Mavs have won their quarterfinal match in each of the last two RMAC Tournaments, defeating UCCS in the spring of 2021 before taking out Colorado Christian last fall.
 
The Mavs are 7-3 against the rest of the tournament field this season, having won all seven matches against teams seeded lower than them while going 0-3 combined against the top two seeds in MSU Denver and Regis.
 
The road ahead
 
The winner of Thursday's match, the second of four on the day, will advance to the semifinals, which will be played at 5 p.m. on Friday.  The Maverick/Cougar winner will play the winner of the first quarterfinal between No. 2 seed Regis and No. 7 seed South Dakota Mines, which begins at Noon.
 
The host MSU Denver Roadrunners are the top seed and headline the other half of the bracket.  They will play No. 8 seed Fort Lewis in the third quarterfinal at 5 p.m. on Thursday.  The final quarterfinal will pit No. 4 seed Colorado School of Mines against fifth-seeded CSU Pueblo, slated for 7:30 p.m.
 
The second semifinal will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday with the two semifinal round winners to meet on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the championship match.
 
The complete bracket can be seen here.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavericks are sitting 17^th in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, their second highest ranking of the entire season.
 
CMU, which was ranked 15^th last week, has now been ranked in the top 20 for six straight weeks and in the top 25 for all 11 regular season polls since Aug. 29 after starting out in the "others receiving votes" category of the preseason poll.
 
The Mavs received 403 points in the polling of 47 AVCA member coaches from around the country this week.
 
RMAC rival MSU Denver is ranked No. 1 for the third straight week and once again picked up 31 of the first place votes to top the poll with 1,155 total points.  Wayne State (Neb.) remained second with 15 first place votes and 1,141 points while Concordia-St. Paul remained third.  Minnesota Duluth and Alaska Anchorage, which is receiving one first place vote, both moved up a spot to round out the top five while Tampa dropped two spots to sixth.  Southwest Minnesota State remained seventh while St. Cloud State, one of five Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams, dropped a spot to ninth while switching with Western Washington.
 
Northwest Missouri State continues to round out the top 10.
 
CMU's only five losses this season have come to ranked teams in MSU Denver (twice), Tampa, Southwest Minnesota State and Regis, 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.
 
On a regional basis, there are five NCAA Division II South Central Regional teams in the top 25 with No. 11 West Texas A&M being the only Lone Star Conference representative while joining the four aforementioned RMAC teams.

Regional Rankings
 
More importantly, the Mavericks were third in last week's NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings, released last Wednesday.  Those rankings, were the first released in rank order after the same ten teams were listed alphabetically in the previous rankings, released on Oct. 26.
 
The rankings will be updated and released again later this today (Wednessday, Nov. 9) in advance of the conference tournaments, did not yet include CMU's win over Westminster last week as data was cut off following Sunday.
 
The final set of rankings will then shape the region's portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament, the bracket of which will be unveiled this Sunday evening.
 
The Mavs will likely be fourth in this week's rankings after the loss to Regis, which was fourth last week.
 
MSU Denver was the top-ranked team and West Texas A&M was second.  They will likely remain there after both teams went 2-0 last week, continuing long winning streaks.
 
The Colorado School of Mines was ranked fifth last week while Dallas Baptist was sixth.  UT Tyler was seventh while CSU Pueblo was eighth.  Mines, Dallas Baptist and UT Tyler all went 2-0 last week while CSU Pueblo went 1-1, falling in five sets to MSU Denver in the regular season finale.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M International were ninth and tenth and both lost to West Texas A&M over the weekend during 2-1 overall weeks.
 
The Mavericks have head-to-head wins over Mines, UT Tyler and CSU Pueblo and had  the third best overall and "in-region records" as of last week.  The Mavs also had a .541 strength of schedule figure, tied for third best in the region, and had a .603 RPI, third highest. 
 
The Mavs are also 2-0 in in-region non-conference play and are 9-1 in their last ten matches as the late season performance factor is one of the selection and seeding criteria.
 
What it Will Take
 
To be guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament field, the Mavericks must finish at least sixth in the final regional rankings.  A total of eight teams will be selected and seeded via the regional rankings.  Teams that win the RMAC and Lone Star Conference Tournaments also receive automatic berths into the NCAA field even if they are outside of the top eight of the rankings.  Thus teams on the edge of selection in the No. 7 and 8 spots will be hoping that there are no upset tournament winners.
 
The LSC Tournament also begins on Thursday and will be played in Canyon, Texas and hosted by top-seeded West Texas A&M.  The Lady Buffs play No. 8 seed Angelo State in the first round while No. 4 seed UT Tyler will play No. 5 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville in the other quarterfinal on the top half of the bracket.  Dallas Baptist will be the No. 2 seed and takes on No. 7 seed Arkansas-Fort Smith while No. 3 seed St. Mary's will face sixth-seeded Texas A&M International in the bottom half.
 
To follow, the Lone Star Conference Tournament, please visit https://lonestarconference.org/tournaments/?id=63.
 
500 Club
 
The Mavericks had players go over the 500-career milestone in both matches last week.
 
Redshirt junior middle blocker Savannah Spitzer had nine kills in Tuesday's victory over Westminster and then recorded five more on Saturday at Regis.  She now has 507 career kills.
 
Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Sierra Hunt recorded 41 kills last week and now has 501 to her credit.  Hunt had back-to-back 20-kill efforts, tallying 20 in the win over Westminster before tallying a season-high 21 in Saturday's match against Regis to zip to the milestone.
 
Hunt has now been in double figures in seven straight, eight out of her last nine and 11 out of her last 13 matches and leads the Mavs with 298 kills this season.
 
Spitzer and Hunt are the second and third Mavericks to surpass the 500 total this season joining true sophomore outside hitter Sydney Leffler, who now has 608 career kills.  Leffler is second on this year's team behind Hunt with 268.
 
Fifth-year senior Tye Wedhorn leads the current Mavericks in total collegiate kills with 723.  She has recorded 419 of those as a Maverick over the last two seasons after recording 304 in first two collegiate years at Fort Lewis.
 
Milestone match looming
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList could reach a pair of setting milestones in Thursday's RMAC Tournament quarterfinal match.  She will enter it with 977 assists this season and just 23 shy of the 1,000 mark.  VanDeList also has 2,461 career assists, just 39 shy of 2,500 for her career.
 
She tallied 1,126 assists last season, becoming the first Maverick since Samantha Ritter (2017) to reach the 1,000 mark in a single campaign.  Ali Svorinic, who had 1,084 in 2015 and 1,013 in 2016 is the last Maverick to have had back-to-back 1K assist seasons.
 
If VanDeList records 39 more during the RMAC or NCAA Tournaments, VanDeList would become just the fourth Maverick in the rally-scoring era (2011-Present) to reach the 2,500 career milestone joining all-time school-record holder Jordyn Moody (4,202), Tara King (3,436) and Allison Krug (2,563).  Four other pre rally-scoring era Maverick setters have also reached the milestone in Jeanie Sutter (4,138), Erin Fiack (3,385), Kelly Beer (3,082) and Lora Houdek (2,862).
 
VanDeList is currently averaging 11.36 assists per set this year and ranks second in the RMAC and fifth in all of Division II volleyball with that figure.  She averaged 10.72 per set last year, when the Mavs played 28 matches and 105 total sets.  CMU has played 86 sets over 25 matches to date in this season.
 
VanDeList's average this season currently has her on pace to finish seventh in CMU's single-season assist per set chart and would be the highest since Moody averaged 11.78 per set in 2014.
 
VanDeList has averaged 39.08 assists per match this year.
 
20-Win seasons
 
Last Tuesday's win over Westminster 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 won 21 matches (7 losses) last fall and went 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).
 
Cougar Killer
 
CMU outside hitter Sydney Leffler has led or been tied for the team-lead in kills in all four of her previous four career matches against Colorado Christian, reaching double figures in each.  She has recorded a CMU-leading 23 kills in the two previous meetings against the Cougars this year.  The true sophomore tallied 13 in the Aug. 27 neutral-court non-conference match in Golden as the only player in double figures.  She again led the Mavs with 10 kills in the Sept. 24 conference home win in Grand Junction.
 
In 2021, Leffler led the Mavs and all players with 16 kills in the RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal win last year.  She had also tallied ten in the Oct. 2, 2021 road win at CCU, sharing team-high honors with Holly Schmidt and Haley Hahn on that day.
 
Double-Figure Streak
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore outside hitter Sierra Hunt has recorded double-digit kill totals in each of her last seven matches and in the process has moved into the RMAC's top three for kills per set, currently averaging 3.55.  She has put down 298 this year and has been in double figures in 16 of the Mavs' matches this season.  She is the first Maverick this season to have consecutive 20+ kill efforts.
 
Flirting with 400 and the RMAC lead
 
Maverick redshirt junior middle blocker Savannah Spitzer currently holds a .396 attack percentage and is just four points behind RMAC-leader Jazzy Espinoza, who has a .400 mark entering the RMAC Tournament.
 
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 in the RMAC with her .348 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 190 kills and has committed just 41 errors in 376 attempts this season.
 
Aces Wild
 
Despite being held without a service ace in both matches last week after recording 33 in CMU's previous ten, Sabrina VanDeList continues to lead the RMAC in total aces with 49, six more than any other RMAC player this season (CSU Pueblo's Elaine Thibadeau, 43).
 
VanDeList also now ranks 20^th in Division II for aces per set (0.57) and sits in second place on CMU's single-season ace charts during the rally-scoring era (2001-Present).  Only Drew Choules, who also holds the career record, has had more, tallying 69 back in 2005.
 
VanDeList, who had 44 aces last year, now fifth most in the era, also currently ranks third in the rally-scoring era career chart with 110 aces.  Choules had 153 while Taylor Woods recorded 120.
 
VanDeList has accomplished her total in just 69 career matches and still has more than two years of eligibility remaining.
 
Smart Mavs
 
The Mavericks had two first team and ten total selections to the RMAC All-Academic Teams, which were announced on Tuesday.  That list includes Sabrina VanDeList, named as the RMAC Academic Player of the Year, and fellow First Team selection Tye Wedhorn.
 
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 3.50 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.
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 18^th season as the Mavs' head coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 341 career victories.  He is 341-171 in his time at CMU, good for a .666 winning percentage in over 500 matches (512). 
 
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 231-89 (.722) in conference play under Fleming.
 
About Colorado Christian
 
The Cougars finished the regular season with a 15-12 overall record and went 10-8 in RMAC play to earn the No. 6 seed.  However, they will limp into the tournament after having lost their last two and four of their last six matches.
 
Last weekend, they dropped 3-set sweeps on the road at CSU Pueblo and UCCS.
 
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Libby Goodman leads the Cougars and the entire RMAC with 356 kills and her 3.79 per set average.  Goodman is also third in the RMAC with her 4.09 point per set average.
 
Cougar setter Izzy Jones is fourth in the RMAC for assists (923) and assists per set (9.82) and has relied heavily on Goodman along with middle hitters Lilly Woods and Renee Phillips..  Woods, a sophomore middle, ranks sixth in the RMAC with her .313 hitting percentage and is second on the Cougar squad with 211 kills (2.40/set).  Phillips, a freshman, is hitting .298 in the RMAC and has recorded 174 kills (2.05/set) to date.  She did not play in the Cougars' final two matches of the regular season.
 
Defensively, Woods has recorded 77 blocks and ranks ninth in the RMAC with her 0.88 per set average.  Phillips is 12th in the conference with her 0.81 per set average and has 69 total rejections.
 
Jones leads three Cougars with more than 200 digs and has tallied 223 (2.37/set).  Jessa Rose has a slightly higher 2.47 per set average and has 222 total digs to her credit while Madalyn Long ranks tenth in the RMAC with her 3.88 per set average.  However, Long has not played since Oct. 8 and has missed eight straight matches.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have won each of the last eight match-ups with Colorado Christian, including two earlier matches this year, and hold a 25-14 series lead over the Cougars in the NCAA Division II era (1992-Present).
 
The Mavs are 3-1 against the Cougars on neutral courts, posting a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-20 victory over them on Aug. 27 of this year in Golden during the Oredigger Volleyball Classic on the opening weekend of the season.  The Mavs then claimed a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) win over the Cougars at home on Sept. 24 in a match that started the Mavs' 8-match home-court winning streak.
 
The teams also met in the quarterfinal round of last year's RMAC Tournament.  The Mavs won that match, played in Grand Junction, in four sets.
 
CCU's last victory over the Mavs was on Oct. 13, 2017 in Lakewood.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming is 16-6 against the Cougars in his time at CMU and is 8-1 against Cougar counterpart Bobby Blanken, in his sixth season at the helm of the CCU program.
 
Up Next
 
With a win on Thursday, the Mavericks would advance to the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament to play either No. 2 seed Regis or No. 7 seed South Dakota Mines at 5 p.m. on Friday.  The two semifinal winners will then play in Saturday's championship match at 6 p.m.
 
The Mavs won an away match against South Dakota Mines in four sets on Oct. 8 in Rapid City.  They are a perfect 10-0 all-time against the Hardrockers but have never met them in the post-season since South Dakota Mines joined the conference in 2015.
 
As mentioned earlier, the Mavs dropped a 5-set match to Regis to close out the regular season, which snapped the Mavs' 12-match winning streak and a string of three consecutive wins over the Rangers in the series, which the Rangers now lead 24-17 during the NCAA Division II era (1992-Present).
 
CMU's last post-season meeting against Regis was in 2016, when the Rangers won a home RMAC Quarterfinal match in Denver.
 
Regardless of this week's results, the Mavericks look to be in solid position to earn a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.  The field will be announced during a tournament selection show, which will air via NCAA.com on Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. MST, a half-hour later than originally announced.
 
The regional tournament will begin either next Thursday (Nov. 10) or Friday (Nov. 11).