KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Colorado Mesa beach volleyball team is set to open their seventh all-time season this weekend, making their way to Kingsville, Texas for the Texas A&M-Kingsville Invitational.

The two-day tournament will take place at the Javelina Beach Volleyball Courts, with the Mavericks playing four matches. On opening day, the Mavericks will take on Division I Stephen F. Austin and a true Division II matchup against hosts Texas A&M Kingsville. Day two will feature contests against NAIA member Missouri Baptist and Division III member University of Mary Hardin Baylor. 

A Look Back at 2021
Playing in their first season back since the pandemic, in their sixth season the Mavericks finished the 2021 campaign, 5-13. Two of the wins came on their home courts, taking down PAC-12 member Utah twice.

At the AVCA Small College Beach Championships in Tavares, Florida, CMU would finish tied for fifth. Claiming two wins on opening day, they would make their way into the gold bracket before dropping games to Palm Beach Atlantic, Texas A&M Kingsville and eventual champion Tampa.
In the pair challenge portion, the duo of Savannah Ott and Hailey Peters battled their way into the championship match claiming a 2^nd-place finish.

Growing the Game
What started as program that transitioned players from the indoor team out into the sand, has turned to half of the 2022 roster being beach focused student-athletes. Four of those players are newcomers, Taylor Scherff, Jada Hall, Izzy Burns and Lizzy Hood.

Amongst the newcomers is transfer Jessa Meganhardt who completed her indoor volleyball career in the fall at RMAC foe MSU Denver.
They build on a strong group of veterans in Macie Lachemann, Paige Gwaltney, Hailey Peters, Rianne Brown and Savannah Ott.

Hardwood to the Beach
The remainder of the roster consists of players who also compete on the Mavericks indoor squad.
A standout freshman season on the hardwood, Eaton, Colo. native Sydney Leffler will make her transition out to the sand, alongside fellow classmate Brooklyn Leggett.

Sabrina VanDelist, Tye Wedhorn, Sierra Hunt and Hahni Johnson all return for their second season in the sand.  
Savannah Spitzer getting her third season underway.

Following a successful indoor career, Holly Schmidt embarks on her fourth season with the beach program moving up the ranks.
In their fifth year with the program, redshirt seniors Ashton Reese and Ara Norwood are looking to build on the programs success and leave their mark on the game. Last season Reece partnered with Vandelist claiming 7 matches between the 4/5 flights. Against No. 8 Pepperdine they pair took the Waves No. 4 pair to three sets.

Norwood is the current Mavs all-time winningest beach player with 20 under her belt thus far. She accomplished that feat last season with partner Wedhorn in a three-set thriller over Missouri State in the Arizona Invitational, claiming her 20^th against UC Davis in the same fashion in the following match.

Schedule Breakdown
With a total of 19 matches scheduled throughout the spring, the team will also make its third appearance at the AVCA Small College Championships in Tavares, Florida hosted at Hickory Point Beach on April 14-16.

Following their weekend in Texas, they will turn their attention to the Cactus Classic at the University of Arizona. There they take on Division I foes Arizona State, Hawaii, Santa Clara and hosts Univ. of Arizona. The 2-day stretch will also include an exhibition sets session on Friday Mar. 4.
After spending time on the road, the team will enjoy their turn at being the hosts, welcoming Utah, Trinidad State Junior College and Salt Lake Community College to the CMU Beach Courts on March 11 and 12.

Spring Break will take the Mavs west to California for matchups against Concordia Irvine and Cal State LA on March 26.
The first weekend of April will send the team up to Boise, Idaho where they will take on University of Oregon, University of Washington and Boise State in the Boise State Beach Classic, April 1-2.

Scouting the Opponents
Univ. of Mary Hardin Baylor (Feb. 26 | 10:45 a.m.)
In their first season of competition, the Cru are new to the beach volleyball scene adding the program in the 2020 with their first recruiting class being introduced last fall.
The first Division III program in Texas, the young team sports majority freshman with one sophomore and a junior on the 11-woman squad.

Missouri Baptist (Feb. 26 | 7 a.m.)
Friday will mark the first meeting with the Spartan who enter their sixth season in existence. During the 2020 season they finished with an 8-3 record, riding a 3-game win streak before the pandemic cancelled the remainder of the season.
They will open their 2022 campaign this weekend, their roster being well represented internationally with players from Poland, Brazil, Serbia, Argentina and the Netherlands.

Texas A&M Kingsville (Feb. 25 | 5 p.m.)
The only other Division II team in the field, Saturday will mark the 3^rd meeting between the two teams. Last season the Javelinas blanked the Mavericks during the run in the Gold Bracket of the AVCA Small College Championships. They also came out victorious in 2019 by a 3-2 decision.
Christina Gragsin and Shelby Tate defeated Savannah Ott and Hailey Peters in the pairs challenge portion for the top-spot. Olivia Nicholson who transferred in after time at Colorado State also returns, playing all 28 matches in the No. 1 flights with teammate Roxanne Morris.

Stephen F. Austin (Feb. 25 | 1:15 p.m.)
The fifth and final match will be against the Ladyjacks of Stephen F. Austin. In their third season, they wrapped up their first complete season in 2021 with a 10-14 record.
When the two met back in 2020, it was the Ladyjacks who sparked a late comeback to win the dual 3-2 in Tucson. Lachemann and her partner won at the No. 2 flight, followed by a 3-set win from Norwood and Reece at the No. 4 position gave the Mavs an 2-0 advantage early in that dual.