DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks were blocked 14 times and committed a season-high 33 total hitting errors as they fell 25-25, 25-18, 25-16 to the fourth-ranked MSU Denver Roadrunners in a battle of nationally-ranked Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squads on Thursday evening here in the Auraria Events Center.

The 21^st-ranked Mavericks were held to a negative .008 hitting percentage as they fell to 5-3 overall while dropping their RMAC opener.  All three losses have come to teams currently ranked in the nation's top 10.
 
MSU Denver hit .193 and improved to 8-1 overall and to 1-0 in conference play with what was their 23rd consecutive conference win over three seasons since the then No. 4 Mavericks won over the then No. 3 Roadrunners on Mar. 4, 2021 in Grand Junction during the COVID-delayed spring season.
 
On Thursday, Maverick middle blocker Savannah Spitzer put down 12 kills while hitting .409 on 22 total swings but was the lone Maverick hitter that was consistently clicking.
 
Tye Wedhorn, Sydney Leffler and Sierra Hunt all finished with four kills, but were guilty of 17 combined hitting errors.
 
Setter Sabrina VanDeList did manage her third double-double of the season with 23 assists and 14 digs while redshirt senior libero Kerstin Layman also had 14 digs as the Mavs finished with a 54-46 advantage in that category.
 
However, the Mavs were only able to record five blocks and were without a service ace while giving away far too many points throughout the match.
 
MSU Denver All-American Rylee Hladky led her squad with 12 kills while Kelsey Gordon had five blocks.  Hlady, Kaylee Corsentino, Ember Canty and Maddy Williams also were involved in four apiece.

The Mavs had leads in each set, including an early 8-6 lead in the first set thanks to a 6-0 run with Layman behind the service line.  However, they quickly fell behind 13-9 as the Roadrunners rallied with a 7-1 spurt of their own.
 
The teams then later traded 4-0 and 2-0 runs that left the Roadrunners ahead 23-19, before a Gordon kill and Hladky service ace was enough or the home team to win the first set.
 
The second set was equally as tight in the early going and featured ten ties before a 4-0 Roadrunner spurt that featured a Gordon kill, back-to-back unforced hitting errors and a Roadrunner block gave MSUD a 19-15 lead and momentum.
 
The Roadrunners then scored six of the final nine points to take a 2-0 overall lead.
 
In the third set, the Mavericks had a slight 12-11 lead but watched the Roadrunners score eight of next ten points, four of which were the resulting of hitting errors, en-route to the victory.

The Mavericks will have the opportunity to bounce back quickly as they will return home to Grand Junction and Brownson Arena to host Westminster (2-6, 0-0 RMAC) in CMU home-opener. 
 
First serve will be at 6 p.m.