GOLDEN, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team recorded its third 3-set sweep of the weekend taking down Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado Christian University, 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 in a non-conference match on Saturday afternoon  as the Mavs quickly bounced back from a heart-breaking 5-set loss to the nation's 22^nd-ranked Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs in the morning session to complete their Oredigger Volleyball Classic efforts with a 3-1 record here at the Colorado School of Mines' Lockridge Arena.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Sydney Leffler led the Mavericks with 28 kills throughout the day, recording a match-high 13 in the afternoon sweep of the Cougars after tallying 15 against the Mustangs.
 
Graduate transfer Erin Curl finished the morning match with 19 kills while Sierra Hunt finished with 16 before tallying nine in the afternoon victory.
 
Southwest Minnesota State Match Recap
 
After claiming a pair of 3-0 victories on Friday, including one over No. 19 UT Tyler, the Mavericks came out firing on Saturday morning hitting .682 in a dominant 25-12 opening-set win.  The Mavericks also hit above .300 in both the second and third sets over the Mustangs going to take a 2-1 overall lead.
 
The Mavs also held 7-4, 9-7 and 11-10 leads in the fifth and decisive set before the Mustangs rallied to go ahead 13-11 with a 6-2 spurt. 

Savanah Spitzer and Leffler then put down kills to keep the Mavericks alive at 13-12 and 14-13 before SMSU's Saari Kuehl put down her 15^th kill of the morning to seal the Mustangs' comeback, which resulted in a 12-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 15-13 line score.
 
The Mavericks out-hit the Mustangs .309 to .276 in the match and had a slight 9-8 blocking and 52-48 digging advantage but could now slow down the Mustangs quite enough as Minnesotans had a 10-8 advantage in fifth-set kills and a 67-66 edge in that category throughout the match.
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList finished with 56 assists and two of CMU's five service aces while libero Kerstin Layman tallied a season-high 24 digs to lead the defensive effort.
 
Tye Wedhorn finished with five blocks while Curl had three.
 
Hunt also added eight digs and hit an impressive .440 from he outside while Spitzer had seven kills without an error to finish with a .467 hitting percentage.
 
Colorado Christian Match Recap
 
The Mavericks needed just one hour and 16 minute to claim their seventh consecutive win over the Cougars, who went 1-3 on the weekend, since 2018.
 
Leffler was the only player in double figures for kills although Hunt (9), Wedhorn (8) and Spitzer (7) were not far behind.
 
The Mavs hit .227 in the victory, finishing with 45 kills as a team.
 
VanDeList finished with 37 assists, three blocks and two service aces while Layman had seven digs to lead a balanced Maverick back-brow.  Spitzer, who hit .636 in the match and a team-best .533 throughout the weekend, also had three blocks.
 
The Mavericks were strong in the second half of the opening set, breaking out to a 19-12 lead after trailing 11-10 a few minutes earlier.
 
The Cougars would claw to within 23-20 on a Renee Phillips block, one of their ten during the match, before a Hunt kill and a later service error handed the Mavs the early advantage.
 
The Mavs then rolled to an early 3-0 lead in the second set.  The led the middle frame throughout hitting .458 with just three hitting errors.  Leffler and Hunt combined for nine kills in the second set as the Mavs gradually extended their lead throughout.
 
The third set was the tightest of the afternoon as both teams struggled to go on runs.
 
However, the Mavericks were eventually able to cross the finish line scoring the final three points after leading 22-20 late in the frame.
 
The Mavs were able to put down 16 kills in the final set as Maddi Foutz, Wedhorn and Leffler all had four.  However, they were also guilty of 12 hitting errors, allowing the Cougars to keep the final set close.

Up Next

The Mavs continue their season next weekend in Tampa, Florida at the Tampa Volleyball Classic.  They will face the host Spartans, who are the defending NCAA Division II National Champions and current No. 1 team in the country, in their second of three matches on Saturday (Sept. 3).  The Mavs will also face 2021 NCAA Tournament qualifiers Wheeling (W. Va.) and Tusculum (Tenn.) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.