GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Coming off their ninth NCAA Division II Tournament appearance, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will begin their 2022 season this weekend playing four matches, including two against nationally-ranked foes, at the Oredigger Classic Presented by Courtyard and Residence Inn by Marriott in Golden.
 
The Colorado School of Mines will host, the 7-team, 14-match tournament on two courts throughout the weekend in Lockridge Arena.
 
All of the Mavericks' matches can be streamed live (no commentary) through the RMAC Network and followed via live statistics.  Links for both can be accessed on the tournament webpage.
 
On Friday, the Mavericks will open up their weekend against the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's Northern State at 2:30 p.m. before taking on No. 19 UT Tyler, the team that ended the Mavs' 2021 season in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional, at 6:30 p.m.
 
The Mavs then continue their season on Saturday morning against No. 22 Southwest Minnesota State at 9:30 a.m. before wrapping up the weekend against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado Christian in a non-conference match-up at 2:30 p.m.
 
Both of Friday's matches will be played on Court Two in Lockridge Arena while the Mavs' will play on Court 1 in both of their Saturday matches.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavericks, who went 21-7 overall and 15-3 in RMAC play last year, were picked second (tie) in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released last Tuesday.  The Mavs received two first place votes in that poll.
 
The Mavericks also received 79 points in the AVCA Division II Top 25 Preseason Coaches' Poll, 31^st most of all teams from around the nation. 
 
Defending RMAC Champion MSU Denver was picked first in the RMAC poll and checks in at the No. 4 spot of the AVCA poll. 
 
The Colorado School of Mines Orediggers were tied with the Mavs in the RMAC poll and were tabbed 11^th in the AVCA poll.
 
Regis was picked fourth in the RMAC poll and joined the Mavs in the "others receiving votes and listed on two more ballots" category of the AVCA poll with 18 points.
 
Northern State is also in that category with 45 points.
 
Returning Stars
 
The Mavericks will enter the 2022 campaign with a host of returning award winners.
 
Seven different Maverick returners have earned previous All-RMAC honors while three have been recognized on the regional or national basis.
 
Now fifth-year senior middle hitter Tye Wedhorn and sophomore outside hitter Sydney Leffler were both named as AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans last season.   They were also AVCA Honorable Mention All-South Central Region honorees and were on the D2CCA Second Team All-Region squad.
 
Now redshirt senior libero Kerstin Layman was a first team pick on the D2CCCA squad and had been named as the RMAC's Defensive Player of the Year while earning Second Team All-RMAC honors.
 
Leffler was also selected as the RMAC Freshman of the Year and was on the First Team All-RMAC unit alongside now 2-time setter selection Sabrina VanDeList, who had been named as the RMAC Freshman of the Year in the 2021 spring season.
 
Layman, Wedhorn and now 2-time All-RMAC middle Savannah Spitzer, all received Second Team All-RMAC honors last year.
 
The Mavericks also receive a big boost as 2021 Spring RMAC Player of the Year Maddi Foutz returns for her final season after sitting out of last fall's campaign due to injury.
 
Another outside hitter in Sierra Hunt also returns for her redshirt sophomore campaign after picking up Honorable Mention All-RMAC plaudits as a true freshman in the spring of 2021.
 
New faces
 
Although 12 of the Mavs' 16-woman roster returns from last year's squad, the Mavericks also welcome four new players, including graduate transfer middle hitter and right side Erin Curl, who played for two seasons at Division I Alabama before spending the past two years at LMU (Loyola Marymount).
 
The Mavs also signed three 2022 Colorado high school graduates in outside hitter Erin Brown from Dolores High School, libero Allison Waller of Berthoud High School and middle hitter Aesha Alrashed of Greeley's University High School.
 
Draper, Utah outside and right side hitter Brooklyn Leggett also expects to see her first match time of her collegiate career after redshirting last year.
 
Third straight fall
 
The Mavericks are beginning their third consecutive fall season in Golden this weekend.  The Mavs went 2-2 in last year's Oredigger Volleyball Classic after getting out to a 3-1 start at the tournament in 2019. 
 
Like most teams, the Mavericks did not play any fall matches in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic ramifications, instead playing in the spring of 2021.  The Mavs won their first 15 matches of that season, going 15-1 overall.
 
Top 10 setter
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore setter Sabrina VanDeList will enter her third collegiate season already ranked ninth for career assists in the rally-scoring era (2001-Present).  She has 1,484 career assists to date and will likely reach the 1,500 milestone on Friday and is also expected to pass former teammate and now assistant coach Ara Norwood for the No. 8 spot on CMU's career charts during the era, sometime early this season.  Norwood recorded 1,636 career assists in her five seasons with the Mavericks.
 
VanDeList was a First Team All-RMAC pick in both the fall and spring of 2021.  She had 1,126 last fall in the normal fall season as the starting setter after recording 358 in the brief spring season, when she was the primary setter in a 6-2 attack.
 
Her fall season total was the Mavs' eighth best in the rally-scoring era and the most for any setter in a single season since Jordyn Moody had 1,343 back in 2014.
 
The RMAC leader
 
Entering his 18^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 321 career victories.  He is 321-166 in his time at CMU, good for a .659 winning percentage. 
 
The Mavs recorded their sixth 20-win season under Fleming in the fall of 2021 after going 15-1 while winning the RMAC's 2021 Spring Season.
 
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 219-87 (.716) in conference play under Fleming.
 
About Northern State
 
The Wolves went 18-11 overall and 13-7 in the very tough Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference last year.  They lost to Wayne State in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament.
 
They have been picked fifth in the NSIC Preseason Poll this year and return 11 players from last year's team, under the direction of head coach Brent Aldridge, who is entering his 12^th year.
 
Three Wolves earned All-NSIC honors last year, including first teamer and NSIC Player to Watch Sally Gaul, a graduate outside hitter from Des Moines, Iowa.  Gaul recorded 396 kills, an average of 3.63 per set last year, franking amongst the NSIC's Top 10 players in total kills, kills per set, points and points per set last year.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Natalia Szybinska also returns after earning Second Team All-NSIC honors last year.
 
About UT Tyler
 
The Patriots enter the 2022 campaign ranked 19^th in the AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll after advancing to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament in their first year of eligibility last fall.
 
The Patriots went 20-4 overall last year and reached as high as No. 13 in the national poll.
 
Head Coach Lyndsay Mashe's team has also been picked third in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll and return the core of their squad, including AVCA Honorable Mention All-American Mikayla Ware and three other All-LSC picks in Savannah Guzman, Hannah Callison and Maiya Pena.
 
The Patriots led the LSC in kills per set (14.59) and were second in the conference for hitting percentage (.244) last season.
 
About Southwest Minnesota State
 
The Mustangs were picked seventh in the annual 16-team NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 21-8 overall and 13-7 in NSIC play last year.  They also saw their season come to an end in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament, falling to St. Cloud State in straight sets, but enter 2022 ranked 22^nd in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll as the fifth of five NSIC teams in the top 25.
 
Senior right side hitter Meg Schmidt, a First Team All-NSIC and AVCA Honorable Mention All-American in 2021, was named as the team's NSIC Player to Watch.  She was second on last year's squad with 334 kills and hit a team-best .340 last year for Head Coach Tyler Boddy's program.
 
The Mustangs return eight letter-winners and welcome seven freshman to this year's squad.
 
About Colorado Christian
 
The Cougars were picked sixth in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll and went 11-16 overall and 8-10 in the RMAC last season.  They will look to avenge their season-ending RMAC Tournament quarterfinal loss to the Mavericks on Saturday.
 
Head Coach Bobby Blanke returns three Honorable Mention All-RMAC selections in Izzy Jones, Madelyn Long and Lilly Woods.  Jones recorded a team-best six double-doubles as a setter during her 2021 freshman season while Woods recorded 147 kills and a team-high 73 blocks a year ago.
 
Long had 434 digs and ranked fourth amongst all RMAC liberos in digs per set last year.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs are 1-1 all-time against Northern State, having last played them on Sept. 7, 2019, in a match that also played in Golden.  The Wolves won that match in three sets.  CMU had won a Sept. 7, 1996 match over the Wolves in four sets in Kearney, Nebraska.
 
Last year's NCAA Division II Tournament match-up with UT Tyler was the first ever meeting between the Mavericks and Patriots.  UT Tyler won that encounter in four sets on Dec. 2 in Denver at MSU Denver's Auraria Events Center.  Tye Wedhorn recorded 12 kills and five blocks in that match while Sabrina Van DeList had 44 assists and three aces.  Kerstin Layman tallied 16 digs.
 
CMU also played Southwest Minnesota State in last year's Oredigger Classic, dropping a 4-set match on Sept. 3.  Sydney Leffler recorded 11 kills for the Mavs in that match while Layman had 15 digs.  The Mustangs have won four of the last five match-ups with the Mavs dating back to 2008 and hold a 4-3 lead in the all-time series.  CMU's last win came in four sets on Sept. 13, 2014 in Denver.
 
The Mavs' history with Colorado Christian is much more extensive, considering the two squads have been fellow conference members since 1996.
 
The Mavs have won each of the last six match-ups and hold a 23-14 series advantage in the program's  NCAA Division II era (1992-Present).  They swept last year's season series winning a regular season RMAC match on Oct. 2 in five sets in Lakewood before ending the Cougars' season in the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Tournament on Nov. 16 in Grand Junction.  The Mavs won that match in four sets.
 
Leffler led the Mavs with 16 kills in that post-season win after being one of three Mavs with 10 kills in the regular-season victory.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming is 14-6 against the Cougars in his time at CMU and is 6-1 against Cougar counterpart Bobby Blanken, in his sixth season at the helm of the CCU program.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will continue tournament play against a challenging schedule next weekend when they head to Florida for three matches at the Tampa Volleyball Classic on Sept. 2-3. 
 
The Mavs open that tournament against Wheeling, receiving 98 points in the AVCA poll, before taking on the hosts and defending NCAA Division II National Champion Spartans.  The Mavs will also play Tusculum before returning home to Colorado to begin RMAC play at No. 4 MSU Denver on Sept. 8.