ALAMOSA, Colo.— Tye Wedhorn put down ten kills and five blocks while hitting .500 to lead the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks to a 3-set (25-16, 26-24, 25-22) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball sweep on the road over Adams State University on Friday night here in the Grizzlies' Plachy Hall.
Sierra Hunt also had ten kills and three blocks as the Mavericks improved to 7-3 overall and to 2-1 in the RMAC with what was their seventh straight win in the rivalry with the Grizzlies (4-7, 1-2 RMAC).
All seven of the Mavs' victories have come in 3-set sweeps.
CMU matched a season-high with ten blocks and held the Grizzlies to a .076 attack percentage throughout Friday's win.
Libero
Kerstin Layman tallied a match-high 16 digs to lead the back row while
Erin Curl,
Sydney Leffler and
Savannah Spitzer all finished with five kills to support Wedhorn and Hunt's leadership.
Setter
Sabrina VanDeList had 29 assists.
The Mavericks did commit 19 hitting errors of their won but relied on their strong defense to claim the victory.
The first set proved to be the simplest as the Mavericks used a 6-0 and 8-1 runs to open up a commanding 20-9 lead, which proved to be more than enough of a cushion.
The Mavs hit .214 in the opening set and recorded four blocks as the Grizzlies were guilty of 11 total hitting errors while hitting a negative .059.
The second set was much tighter and featured eight ties although the Grizzlies could never get over the hump to take a single lead.
The Mavs had 21-18 and 24-22 leads before a Grizzly service ace and Anna Huggins kill leveled the score at 24 to force extra points.
However, Hunt registered an important kill before a Spitzer block gave the Mavs the set and a 2-0 overall lead.
The Mavs then jumped out to a big 8-2 lead in the early stages of the third set before the Grizzlies rallied to tie the set at 8 only to fall behind again, 12-9.
However, the Grizzlies came roaring back and took a 16-13 lead. CMU then came back to tie the set at 17 on kills by Wedhorn and Hunt followed by a tandem block by Wedhorn and Curl.
The Grizzlies then scored the next three points to take a 20-17 lead before the Mavericks went on a 6-0 run book-ended by Wedhorn and Spitzer kills to reverse the 3-point deficit into a 23-20 lead. The Mavs also took advantage of four successive ASU hitting errors in that span, which nearly sealed the deal.
The Grizzlies did score two points to close to within 23-22 before a Curl kill and Hunt block clinched the Mavs' victory.
CMU will now travel to New Mexico to wrap up their weekend with a Saturday night match at New Mexico Highlands. First serve in Las Vegas is slated for 6 p.m.
The Cowgirls dropped a 5-set home match against Westminster on Friday night to fall to 3-8 overall and to 0-3 in RMAC play.
