GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Ranked ninth in the nation and enjoying their best season in program history to date, the nation's ninth-ranked Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will look to reach the 20-win mark for the third successive season on Saturday evening when the Mavs head to Lakewood for a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference encounter at Colorado Christian University.
 
The Mavericks are coming off a 3-0 home-stand and have won eight straight matches to move to 19-1 overall and to 9-1 in RMAC play.  CCU will enter a Friday night home match with Westminster at 7-11 overall and 3-4 in RMAC play.
 
Saturday's match, which will begin at 5 p.m. in the CCU Fieldhouse, can be seen live on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can also be accessed at the link above.
 
The search for 20
 
The Mavericks' 19-1 record is the best 20-match start in CMU volleyball history and puts CMU within just one win of reaching the 20-win mark for the third straight season and for the eighth time in Head Coach Dave Fleming's 19-year tenure at the helm of the program.
 
Only six other teams throughout the country have reached the 20-win mark through Thursday night, five of whom have played more matches than the Mavericks.  Shaw leading the list with a 24-4 record.  Spring Hill (21-3), Lander (21-2) and Nebraska-Kearney (21-1) all have 21 wins after Tuesday night while Missouri-St. Louis is undefeated at 20-0.  Chaminade (20-22) also has 20 wins in 22 matches played.
 
The Mavs still have six regular season matches on the schedule plus any RMAC or NCAA Tournament matches they should qualify for.
 
The 2021 spring season squad went 15-1 to lead the program's NCAA Division II era (1992-Present) history in terms of winning percentage at .938, a mark this year's Maverick squad is ahead of at .950 thus far.  The overall CMU record for wins in a season is 42, set by the 1986 squad that went 42-9 as members of the NAIA.  Teams regularly played substantially more matches in that era.
 
The Mavs' other 20-win seasons under Fleming  were 2005 (23-7), 2010 (20-9), 2013 (21-8), 2014 (29-4), 2018 (24-7), 2021 (21-7) and 2022 (22-7).
 
Balanced Mavs
 
The Mavs closed out a 3-match home-stand on Tuesday night, sweeping Chadron State after winning 4-set matches over UCCS and then 11^th-ranked Regis on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
 
The Mavs have been very balanced as of late as four different Mavericks were in double-figures for kills in both of the weekend wins.  Savannah Spitzer had 15 kills to lead the Mavs against UCCS while Sydney Leffler tallied 14.  Aesha Alrashed also had a career-high 12.

Against Regis, Leffler recorded 16 while Spitzer had 15.  Riley Daugherty also had a 12-kill, 14-dig double-double while Emma Shaddix chipped in ten for the second straight match.
 
Leffler (16) and Spitzer (14) then combined for 30 of CMU's 45 kills in Tuesday's win over Chadron State.
 
To see full recaps of each home match click on the links below.
 
vs. UCCS (3-1; 25-17, 26-24, 21-25, 25-11)
vs. Regis (3-1; 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 25-18)
vs. Chadron State (3-0; 25-16, 25-12, 25-15)
 
Continuing the climb
 
The Mavericks moved up another spot to ninth in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II poll, released on Monday.  The Mavs had been ranked tenth in the last two polls after sitting 11^th in the preceding two polls.
 
The Mavs had been ranked 21^st in the preseason poll, 14^th in the Week No. 1 poll and 12^th in the Week No. 2 poll.
 
The current ranking is the Mavs' highest in-season ranking for a normal fall season since 2014, when they were ranked seventh on Nov. 17, before finishing eighth in the final poll after a 29-4 season and regional tournament championship match appearance.  The Mavs were also ranked as high as second from a limited number of teams who played during the 2021 spring season, significantly impacted by COVID-related issues.
 
The Mavs were also ranked in all 12 of the regular season's weekly polls in 2022 before finishing 21^st in the final post-season poll.  CMU was not ranked in the 2022 preseason poll but did reach as high as No. 15 in the Week #10 poll on Oct. 31 of last year.  Including the 2022 post-season and 2023 pre-season polls, the Mavs have now been ranked amongst the nation's top 25 for 21 straight polls.
 
In this week's poll, the Mavericks received a season-high 770 points in the polling of 47 AVCA member coaches from around the country.  They and former No. 9 Nebraska-Kearney each moved up a spot while Minnesota-Duluth jumped two spots to tenth after defeating former No. 8 St. Cloud State, who dropped five spots to 13th after also falling to un-ranked Bemidji State on Saturday.
 
The rest of the top-10 was unchanged with Wayne State (Neb.) and Concordia-St. Paul continuing to hold down the top two spots.  Those two teams have one loss each, which came against each other.  Undefeated Tampa and Missouri-St. Louis also stayed third and fourth, respectively, while West Texas A&M, the defending national champions, are still fifth ahead of RMAC-leading MSU Denver, still ranked sixth in the poll.  Southwest Minnesota State stayed seventh in the poll while Regis fell one spot to 12^th after falling to the Mavs.  Cal State San Bernardino moved up two spots to 11^th.
 
The Mavs' No. 9 national ranking is the program's highest normal fall-season ranking since reaching as high as No. 7 before finishing in the eighth spot of the 2014 post-season poll.  CMU went 29-4 overall and reached the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship match that year.
 
13-Timer is now third
 
Maverick redshirt junior Sabrina VanDeList was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the 13^th time in her impressive career and for the fourth time this season alone on Monday after recording double-doubles in both of the Mavs' weekend matches.  She registered 48 assists and 14 digs in Friday's win over UCCS before recording a season-high 51 assists while chipping in 12 digs in Saturday's key victory over Regis.  She led the RMAC with 99 assists (12.38/set) and added 26 digs (3.25/set) throughout the weekend.
 
VanDeList then had another 38 assists in Tuesday's win over Chadron State moving past Tara King and into third place on the Mavs' all-time career assists chart.  VanDeList now has 3,465 while King finished her 2006-10 career with 3,436.
 
VanDeList had also moved past Erin Fiack (3,385; 1999-2001) during Saturday's victory over Regis after entering that match ranked fifth CMU history.
 
Only Jordyn Moody (4,202; 2011-14) and Jeanie Sutter (4,138; 1995-98) now stand ahead of VanDeList on the career charts.
 
Creeping up another chart
 
Meanwhile, VanDeList has been creeping up the CMU career service ace charts as well.  She had two aces during the homestand, including one on Tuesday night against Chadron State and now has 133 career aces, tied with Jeannie Suter for sixth most in CMU history.  Drew Choules hold the record of 153 and is followed by Robin Barnett (148), Pam Glenn (143), Amy Miller (136) and Phyllis Jennings (134).  VanDeList could move into a tie with Jennings for fifth with just one more ace and into the top five by herself with two more. 
 
She is second on the Maverick squad with 22 aces this season after leading the RMAC last year with 53.
 
Nearing 1K and over 300
 
Maverick outside hitter Sydney Leffler could reach an important milestone as soon as Saturday.  The junior from Eaton, Colorado has quickly been approaching the 1,000 career milestone and will enter Saturday's match just 22 kills away from that mark after recording 46 kills during the Mavs' homestand.  With several matches still to play, she leads the RMAC with 310 kills this season after recording 340 en-route to RMAC and AVCA South Central Region Freshman of the Year as well as First Team All-RMAC honors in 2021.  She was also named as an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American that year.
 
Leffler then had 328 kills last year while picking up Second Team All-RMAC honors.
 
She also went over the 300 mark for the third successive season in Tuesday night's win over Chadron State, recording a match-high 16 and is now the first Maverick since Alisan Tompkins (2006-08) to have 300 or more kills in three consecutive seasons.
 
Leffler now ranks seventh in the Mavs' rally-scoring era (2001-Present) record book for career kills and would become the seventh Maverick to reach the 1K milestone in that era.  The last player to do so was MacKenzie Edwards, who recorded 1,102 kills in her 2015-18 career.
 
Nikki Kneuer (Green) is the era's record holder with 1,668 career kills while Amy Miller, an RMAC Hall of Famer, holds the program record of 2,228.
 
Speaking of career kills
 
Leffler is not the only Maverick to be posting high career totals for kills.  Redshirt senior middle hitter Savannah Spitzer reached the 750-kill milestone on the dot against Regis and added 14 more in Tuesday night's win over Chadron State to increase her total to 764.
 
Meanwhile, Maverick junior outside hitter Riley Daugherty has 806 career kills in her collegiate career, 178 of which have come this season at CMU.  She had recorded 628 in two seasons at Newman University.
 
Sierra Hunt, redshirting this year after a season-ending injury late in the 2022 season, has 512 career kills.
 
Cougar Killer
 
It is very reasonable to expect CMU outside hitter Sydney Leffler to have a good match on Saturday as she has led or been tied for the team-lead in kills in all five of her previous career matches against Colorado Christian, reaching double figures in each. She tallied 36 kills in three matches against the Cougars, recording 13 twice and ten in the other.
 
In 2021, Leffler led the Mavs and all players with 16 kills in the RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal.  She had also tallied ten in the Oct. 2, 2021 road win at CCU, sharing team-high honors with Holly Schmidt and Haley Hahn on that day.
 
Leffler has also been in double-figures for kills in ten straight matches and 19 of the Mavs' 20 matches this season, recording nine at Fort Lewis (Sept. 16), in the only exception to the rule.
 
Savannah Spitzer has also been consistent as of late, reaching double-figures for kills in five straight and 12 matches this season.  She is second on the team with 209 kills and ranks 11^th in the conference with her 2.99 per set average.
 
Dominating the Eagles
 
The Mavericks' win over Chadron State on Tuesday night was the Mavs' 29^th straight in the rivalry.  The Eagles last win over CMU came way back in 1995.
 
The Mavs also have a long 21-match winning streak against Western Colorado since 2013 and have won 17 straight over Westminster since 2015.
 
At the top
 
Three different Maverick players currently hold the RMAC lead in four of the seven statistical categories. 
 
Sydney Leffler leads the RMAC in kills per set (4.43) and points per set (4.78) while setter Sabrina VanDeList paces the league with her 11.79 assist-per-set average.  Another one of her favorite targets in middle hitter Savannah Spitzer is the RMAC leader in attack percentage at .403.
 
The Mavericks also lead the RMAC as a team in both kills per set (14.89) and assists per set (13.99) and have now re-taken the RMAC lead in team hitting percentage at .273.
 
On a national scale, the Mavericks rank third in the country in both kills and assists per set and are ranked ninth nationally for hitting percentage.
 
VanDeList also ranks third in the country for assists per set and is ninth for total assists (825).  Leffler is ranked 13^th nationally for kills per set and 16^th for total kills while Spitzer is ranked 15^th in the country for hitting percentage. 
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 19^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 362 career victories.  Fleming is 362-174 in his time at CMU, good for a .675 winning percentage and reached the 350-career win milestone on Sept. 8 after the Mavs win over Sioux Falls.
 
The Mavs recorded their seventh 20-win season under Fleming last fall, going 22-7, while qualifying for their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.  This came after the Mavs won the 2021 spring season RMAC title while going 15-1 overall during the COVID related delayed and abbreviated schedule.
 
The success is nothing new for Fleming, who has now led the Mavericks to nine 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 243-91 (.728) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
After going 3-0 during the recent home-stand, the Mavs are now 10-1 at home this year.  That Brownson Arena success is nothing new for the Mavs, who have not lost more than a single home match in each of the previous five seasons, going 8-1 last year and 50-6 (.893) since the start of 2018.  The Mavs are also 86-14 (.860) in their last 100 home matches since the start of 2014.
 
CMU's last three home losses have all come against MSU Denver, who defeated the Mavs on Sept. 23 of last season in a tight match that saw all three sets decided by the minimum 2-point margin and again on Sept 22 of this season.  The Mavs also went 9-1 at home in 2021, with their only loss coming to MSU Denver.
 
The Mavs also 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 11 completed seasons since and including 2012, going 101-23 (.815) since the start of 2012.
 
The Mavs have just two regular season home matches remaining on the 2023 schedule and will play Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines on Nov. 10 and 11, respectively.  The Mavs are also in good position to likely host at least a RMAC Tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Nov. 14, a right the top four teams in the final RMAC standings will earn.
 
About Colorado Christian (Saturday, 5 p.m.)
 
The Cougars will enter a Friday night home match against Westminster with a 7-11 overall record and are in the thick of a massive multi-team battle for the final RMAC Tournament qualification spots with a 3-5 conference.  However, the Cougars have dropped their last two and five of their last six matches, defeating UCCS on the road in five sets on Oct. 7 for their only win in the stretch.
 
They dropped 4-set home decisions to Adams State and CSU Pueblo last weekend and are now 2-4 on their home-court this season after sweeping Fort Lewis and Western Colorado to begin the home portion of the season on Sept. 22-23.
 
Five different Cougars have more than 100 kills this season with sophomore Renee Phillips leading the bunch with 145.  Phillips is also hitting a strong .341 from her middle hitter position, ranking eighth in the RMAC for that category.
 
Redshirt junior outside hitter Libby Goodman is second on the team with 132 but is averaging an impressive 3.47 per set after missing the Cougars' first eight matches during two non-conference tournament weekends.  She has registered 18 kills in each of her last three matches.
 
Junior Izzy Jones is one of just four RMAC setters to be averaging more than 10 assists per set and currently has 633 and a 10.05 per set average.  The Cougars also rank sixth in the RMAC with a respectable .233 team attack percentage.
 
Jones also leads the team and ranks third in the conference with 29 service aces (0.46/set).  Outside hitter Abby Breeding also has 21 service aces to her credit and is third on the team in kills (131) and second behind Phillips in total points with 160.
 
Breeding also leads the team in digs with 131 while Phillips (49) and Lilly Woods (46) lead the team in blocking.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs hold a 26-14 lead in the series with Colorado Christian during the program's NCAA Division II history (1992-Present).   The Mavs have won each of the last nine match-ups and will be looking to extend the winning streak to double-figures on Saturday.
 
The Mavs are 9-7 against the Cougars in Lakewood, but have not played there since Oct. 2, 2021, when they claimed a hard-fought 5-set win, taking the fifth set 15-11 to close out a reverse sweep.
 
CMU won all three meetings between the Cougars last year and has ended CCU's season in the quarterfinal of the RMAC Tournament in both of the last two years.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming is 17-6 against the Cougars in his time at CMU and is 9-1 against Cougar counterpart Bobby Blanken, in his seventh season at the helm of the CCU program.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will face their toughest weekend of the season next week when they return to the front Range to play Regis and MSU Denver in a RMAC Power Pod at MSU Denver's Auraria Events Center.  Those matches will not count in the RMAC standings will but will have major implications for the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament selection and seeding process and will feature three of the nation's top programs.
 
CMU will play against 12^th-ranked Regis on Friday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. and then against No. 6 MSU Denver on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m.  The Rangers and Roadrunners will play each other to open the pod on Thursday, Oc. 26.