GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team, now ranked 21^st nationally, will continue and conclude a 4-match homestand when they take on long-time rivals Fort Lewis College and Western Colorado University in weekend matches in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks, 9-4 overall and tied for sixth place in the RMAC standings, at 4-2, will host Fort Lewis (4-8, 2-4 RMAC) at 6 p.m. on Friday evening before taking on the Western Mountaineers in a 3 p.m. Saturday matinee.
 
A live stream for both of this week's and all of the Mavs' conference matches can be found on the RMAC Network.
 
Live statistics for this weekend's matches can be found at the link above.
 
Tickets are also available at www.cmumavericks.com/tickets.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks played six tight sets last weekend, losing all three to national No. 2 MSU Denver on Friday before bouncing back to sweep visiting Colorado Christian on Saturday.  Four of the six sets were decided by just two points, including two in "overtime", while the other two were decided by just 3-point margins.
 
On Friday, the Mavericks dropped a 25-23, 27-25, 26-24 decision to the Roadrunners.  They then bounced back quickly to defeat the Cougars, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.
 
Erin Curl led the Maverick attack with 23 kills, eight blocks and 27 ½ total points over the weekend.  She finished Friday's match with 15 kills and five blocks while hitting .519.  She then recorded eight more kills and three more blocks in Saturday's win and finished the weekend hitting .422.
 
Sydney Leffler was in double-figures for kills in Saturday's match, recording ten in that victory.  Sierra Hunt also finished the weekend with 17 kills while Tye Wedhorn had eight blocks.  Hunt and Savannah Spitzer also added seven apiece.
 
Kerstin Layman had a match-high 15 digs in Friday's match before recording 13 more in the win over CCU.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavericks were included in the AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll for the fifth consecutive week, sitting 21^st in this week's poll, released on Monday.  The Mavs had been ranked 20^th last week and have now been 21^st in three of the last four polls.
 
In this week's poll, the Mavs have 258 total points, 17 more than a week ago.  They are one of four RMAC teams in the poll.
 
MSU Denver remained in the No. 2 spot while Regis moved up two spots to 17^th.  The Colorado School of Mines is now ranked 23^rd after sitting 21^st last week.  CSU Pueblo continues to be listed in the "others receiving votes" category.
 
The top five remained unchanged with Wayne State receiving all 47 first place votes to top the poll.   Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rivals Concordia-St. Paul and St. Cloud State are third and fourth behind MSU Denver while Tampa is still ranked fifth. 
 
All four of CMU's losses (Southwest Minnesota State, Tampa, MSU Denver x 2) have come against teams ranked in the top seven as Southwest Minnesota State moved up one more to seventh in this week's poll.  Nebraska-Kearney is ranked sixth.
 
Swing for Life on Saturday
 
Saturday's match against Western Colorado will be a renewal of CMU's annual Swing for Life match promotion.  Due to COVID related issues, the last time the Maverick program held the promotion was in 2019. 
 
The promotion, ran by CMU Softball Alumna Kathy Howa's foundation, will be donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for breast cancer research.  To date, through her efforts, Swing for Life has raised over $1.1 million dollars, including over $40,000 specifically from the CMU Community over the years.
 
Howa has nearly 30 years of experience as an educator and teaches Health at West Jordan Middle School while coaching softball at Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City.
 
She was inducted into the Utah Softball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. 
 
In 2019 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Colorado Mesa University, an award she will hold close to her heart forever.
 
In 2002, Howa was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.  Today she is cancer free for 20 years.  Her students and Kendra Tomsic helped rally her through this and help start the SWING FOR LIFE Foundation.
 
500 in the books
 
Saturday's match against Colorado Christian was the 500^th in 18^th-year Head Coach Dave Fleming's career with the Mavericks.
 
The win over the Cougars was his 330^th and raised his all-time record to 330-170 in his time at CMU, good for a .660 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 223-89 (.715) in conference play under Fleming.
 
At the Net
 
The Mavericks enjoyed two of their best blocking efforts of the season last weekend, recording ten blocks in both matches.  Those efforts matched the Mavs' season-high and marked the third and fourth time this season that CMU has reached double figures.
 
The Mavs out-blocked MSU Denver, ranked first in the country coming into the weekend, 10-7. 
 
Both CMU and Colorado Christian finished Saturday's match with ten blocks.
 
Erin Curl and Tye Wedhorn both recorded eight blocks over the weekend while Savannah Spitzer and Sierra Hunt were both involved on seven.
 
Averaging 3.33 per set as a team last weekend, the Mavericks now rank fourth in the RMAC with their season-long mark of 2.17 per set.

Wedhorn ranks ninth individually with her team-leading 43 blocks, an average of 1.00 per set.  Curl is 14^th with her 0.80 per set average.
 
On the other side of the net
 
Maverick redshirt senior middle Tye Wedhorn will have a chance to play against her former squad on Friday when the Mavs take on Fort Lewis.
 
A native of Glenwood Springs, Wedhorn spent her first two collegiate years in Durango playing for the Skyhawks.  She earned Second Team All-RMAC honors as a freshman and led the team in blocks during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
 
Since transferring to CMU for the 2020-21 academic year, Wedhorn has racked up 309 kills and 105 blocks in 43 career matches at CMU.  She was an Honorable Mention All-American last fall and helped the Mavs to a pair of victories over her former squad last year.
 
She has shined against the Skyhawks recording 19 kills and nine blocks in a pair of 3-set sweeps in 2021.  She had 12 kills and hit .611 in the home match on Oct. 30 and had seven kills and a season-high matching six blocks in the away match in Durango on Oct. 8.
 
Clean Sweeps & Quick Starts
 
All nine of the Maverick' victories have come in straight set sweeps this year.  The Mavericks also won two sets in two of their four losses and have a 31-12 set record thus far in 2022.
 
The Mavericks have also been impressive in the opening set of matches this year, winning 11 of the 13 first sets they have played.  The Mavs are also 11-2 in the third set of matches and are 9-4 in the second set.
 
However, the Mavs have yet to win a fourth or fifth set, dropping both in the matches against Southwest Minnesota State and Tampa having 1-0 and 2-1 leads.
 
Closer to milestones
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore setter Sabrina VanDeList moved even closer to pair of career milestones and will likely reach both this weekend.  She now has 1,959 career assists and is just 41 shy of 2,000.  She also has 489 career digs, just 11 away from 500.
 
VanDeList has played in 57 matches and 205 assists thus far as a Maverick and recorded her fifth double-double of the season and the 21^st of her career on Friday against MSU Denver, tallying 25 assists and 11 digs.
 
Already a 2-time First Team All-RMAC selection, she has tallied 475 assists in 43 sets this year, good for a career-best 11.05 per set average.  She ranks second in the RMAC and ninth in all of Division II with that average.
 
She is second on this year's squad behind only reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Kerstin Layman in digs.  VanDeList has 108 so far this year.
 
The only one
 
Maverick redshirt junior middle hitter Savannah Spitzer is now the only player in the RMAC (who meets the minimum of 3.00 attacks/set), who has a .400 or higher hitting percentage.  Spitzer leads the conference with her .406 attack percentage and ranks 14^th nationally with that mark as of Tuesday morning.
 
She has recorded 89 kills in 180 swings and has committed just 16 hitting errors.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks will look to continue making their home fans happy this weekend and have been historically strong at home.
 
With their 2-1 home record this year, the Mavs are now 70-13 (.843) at home since the start of 2014 and have not lost more than one home match in each of the previous four-plus seasons, going 34-5 (.872) since the start of 2019.
 
They went 9-1 at home last year with their only loss coming to MSU Denver.
 
The home-court success is nothing new as the Mavs went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season.  In the fall of 2019, the Mavs went 8-1 after going 9-1 in Brownson Arena during the 2018 campaign.
  
The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in both 2016 and 2017.  CMU was also an impressive 15-1 in 2014 en-route to a RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last ten completed seasons since and including 2012, going 85-22 (.794) since the start of 2012.
 
About Fort Lewis
 
The Skyhawks are currently 4-8 overall and have a 2-4 RMAC record.  They have lost three straight and four out of their last five but have played three nationally ranked squads in that stretch and won sets over both then No. 4 MSU Denver and then No. 20 Regis.  They took Regis to five sets and also lost in five sets at Chadron State last Friday.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Alexis Hobie leads the Skyhawks with 137 kills (3.11/set) and is second on the team in hitting percentage at .219.  She also ranks 11^th in the RMAC for both kills and total points (3.56/set).
 
Lauren Shea is second on the team in kills with 93.
 
Rylee Johnson and Ella Butler co-lead the team with 29 blocks with Kamryn Lopez leads the squad with 117 digs (3.77/set).  Shea is second with 103 (2.15).
 
Setter Natalia Lambos has 320 assists (7.62/set) while Jade Martinez moved into the starting lineup last week, recording 57 of her 97 assists in 18 sets played.
 
Butler leads the team with 17 service aces and ranks ninth in the conference with her 0.40 per set average.
 
About Western Colorado
 
The Mountaineers will enter a Friday night match at Westminster with a 2-11 overall record.  They are currently 1-5 in RMAC play and have lost five straight since edging South Dakota Mines in five sets at home on Sept. 9.
 
Their other win was also in five sets at Cal State Dominguez Hill in non-conference play on Sept. 2.
 
Emily Mangone leads the team with 116 kills (2.70/set) and service aces with 19 (0.44/set), ranking fourth in the latter.  However, she has also been guilty of 48 service and 64 hitting errors.
 
Jaeda Davis-Golliher, one of two Mountaineers to start all 13 matches, is second on the team with 93 kills and is hitting an impressive .322, fifth best in the conference, from her middle blocker position.  She also has 37 blocks while Randi Wellhoefer is right behind with 32.
 
Lexi Wilmoth and Hailee Martinez have split starts at the setter position and have combined for 414 assists.
 
Elizabeth Rupprecht leads the team with 137 digs (3.04/set) while Mangone is second with 99.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks lead the Division II era (1992-Present) series against Fort Lewis by a wide 43-12 margin.  They are 23-4 at home against the Skyhawks in that span and have won four straight overall.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming is 21-7 against the Skyhawks and is 3-0 against Skyhawk Head Coach Giedre Tarnauskaite, in her third season at FLC.
 
The Mavs have been even more dominant against Western in recent memory, winning 17 straight matches to extend their Division II era series lead to 52-12 over the Mountaineers.  The Mavs have won 29 of the last 30 matches in the series.
 
CMU is 25-5 at home against the Mountaineers in the era.
 
However, Western's last win in the series did come in Grand Junction, when they took a 5-set decision over the Mavs on Oct. 26, 2012.
 
Fleming is 31-2 against the Mountaineers and will go head-to-head with new Mountaineer Coach Eric Ballelos for the first time on Saturday.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will make their longest bus trip of the season next weekend travelling to South Dakota to face Black Hills State next Friday (Oct. 7) in Spearfish before making the short jaunt to Rapid City to face South Dakota Mines next Saturday (Oct. 8).
 
They then return home for home matches against UCCS and CSU Pueblo on Oct. 14 and 15, respectively.