GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team, now ranked 11^th in the nation, will look to bounce back from just their second loss of 2023 when they take a break from Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play to face a very important regional challenge in an RMAC Power Pod in Denver this weekend.
 
The Mavericks will play No. 12 Regis on Friday at 6 p.m. at MSU Denver's Auraria Events Center before taking on the seventh-ranked and host Roadrunners on Saturday at 4 p.m.  The two Denver schools will open the pod against each other on Thursday at 6 p.m.
 
Although the three teams sit in the top three of the RMAC standings, none of the matches will count towards those standings.  However, the results are bound to have major implications for the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament selection and seeding process.
 
Live coverage of the matches can be seen on the RMAC Network and live statistics for all three matches can be found here.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks saw their 8-match winning streak come to an end on Saturday night as they were upset by Colorado Christian in five sets.  The Mavs dropped the opening two sets 25-23 and 25-19 but rallied back to win the third and fourth by 25-20 and 25-14 scores.  The Mavs then took a 12-6 lead in the decisive fifth set only to see the Cougars go on a 6-0 run to tie the score at 12.
 
The Mavs later had three match points but could not convert as the Cougars eventually won the marathon set, 20-18.
 
For a complete recap, please click here.
 
Milestone night
 
A pair of Mavericks reached milestone statistical marks on Saturday against Colorado Christian while posting big numbers.
 
Junior outside hitter Sydney Leffler recorded a career-high 26 kills, the most of any RMAC player in a single match this season, becoming the first Maverick in five years (MacKenzie Edwards, 2018) to reach the 1,000 career mark.  Leffler entered the match with 978 and finished it with 1,004.  She now ranks seventh in the Mavs' rally-scoring era (2001-Present) for career kills.
 
Meanwhile, Sabrina VanDeList tallied a season-high 58 assists against the Cougars to become just the third Maverick in program-history to tally 3,500 or more career assists.  The redshirt junior now has 3,523, trailing only Jordyn Moody (4,202; 2011-14) and Jeanie Sutter (4,138; 1995-98) on the Mavs' all-time assists chart.
 
VanDeList also added a pair of service aces to move into fifth place on the Mavs' all-time career charts with 135.  She came into the match tied for sixth place with Sutter and went past Phyllis Jennings (134) into the top five.  Drew Choules holds the program record of 153 and is followed by Robin Barnett (148), Pam Glenn (143), Amy Miller (136).
 
VanDeList is second on the Maverick squad with 21 aces this season after leading the RMAC last year with 53.
 
One from 20
 
The Mavericks are still just one win away from 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 CMU.  They still have five regular season matches on the schedule plus any RMAC or NCAA Tournament matches they should qualify for.
 
Their 19-2 record is still the best 21-match start in CMU volleyball history.
 
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.  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).
 
The 2014 team went 18-3 in its first 21 matches and was 29-3 after a 20-match winning streak that took the Mavs into the final of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.  Last year's team was 17-4 through 21 matches.  The 2021 team was also 17-4 as was the 2013 squad.
 
In the polls
 
After their loss on Saturday, the Mavericks dropped just two spots to 11^th in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II poll (Week No. 8), released on Monday.  They had also been ranked 11^th in weeks three and four.
 
The Mavs were ranked a season-best ninth last week and were tenth 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.  They were also ranked in each of the last 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 22 straight polls.
 
Wayne State (Neb.) continues to sit in the top spot at 21-1 ahead of undefeated Tampa (20-0) and Missouri St.-Louis (22-0), who each moved up a spot after Concordia St.-Paul slipped a spot after losing for just the second time season to now ninth-ranked Southwest Minnesota State, which moved up four spots in the poll.
 
Defending national champion West Texas A&M continues to sit fifth while Southwest Minnesota State and MSU Denver flip-flopped in the No. 6 and 7 spots.
 
Meanwhile, Cal State San Bernardino and St. Cloud State made jumps into the top 10 at the No. 8 and 9 spots as former No. 8 Nebraska-Kearney and the Mavs each slipped two spots following losses.  Nebraska-Kearney is now ranked tenth.
 
Regis remained in the No. 12 spot behind the Mavs as the RMAC continues to have three of the top 12 teams in the country, all of whom will converge in Denver.
 
Pod Explainer
 
The RMAC's 15 teams will play in five groups of three teams during this week's RMAC Power Pod weekend.  Within each pod, each team will play each other in a round-robin format over three days, Thursday through Saturday.  The groupings were determined by last year's conference standings with the top three teams being grouped together at one location.  The fourth through sixth place finishers and seventh through ninth place finishers were also grouped and so on for each group of five.
 
CMU finished third in the RMAC standings last year and was thus grouped with MSU Denver, the defending RMAC Champions, and second place Regis.  It is purely incidental that the same three teams are at the top of this year's RMAC standings, separated by just percentage points.
 
The intent of these Power Pods was to help teams of relative strength to play each other, while enhancing the NCAA Tournament selection resumes for the top teams, who are bound to receive a strength of schedule bump this weekend.
 
Earlier in the season, the 15 teams were grouped together geographically for a RMAC Regional pods.  The Mavs hosted Western Colorado and Westminster in their pod.
 
Although the pod matches during both the Regional and Power Pod weekends were against fellow conference schools, they do not count in the conference standings and are in essence the equivalent to a non-conference, yet in-region match-up.
 
The conference standings are based on a true round-robin with each team playing the other 14 one time.  In previous seasons, teams played an unbalanced 18-match conference schedule.  The four pod matches over the two weekends are in place of these extra four conference matches.
 
RMAC leader
 
Sydney Leffler continues to increase her RMAC kills and total points lead.  After her 26-kill effort against Colorado Christian, Leffler now has 336 kills this season to lead the RMAC by 79 over MSU Denver's Riley Anderson (257).  Leffler also has 361 ½ total points, 77 more than Anderson.
 
Leffler also ranks ninth in the NCAA Division II statistics for kills per set (4.48) and is 17^th in the nation for total kills.  She also ranks 16^th in points per set (4.82).
 
Not the only one
 
Leffler is not the Mavs' only RMAC clear statistical leader.
 
Setter Sabrina VanDeList continues to pace the RMAC in both total assists (883) and assists per set (11.77), leading the Colorado School of Mines' Presley Powell, who has 800 and a 10.96 per set average by considerable margins.
 
Meanwhile, Savannah Spitzer continues to lead the RMAC with her .400 hitting percentage, 27 points higher than MSU Denver's Ember Canty (.373).
 
The Mavericks also lead the RMAC as a team in both kills per set (14.89) and assists per set (14.01) and have now taken a slight lead in points per set (17.95)
 
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 at .274.
 
VanDeList also ranks third in the country for assists per set and is 11th for total assists.  Spitzer is ranked 14^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 362-175 in his time at CMU, good for a .674 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 243-92 (.725) 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 Regis (Friday- 6 p.m.)
 
The Rangers have won 12 of their last 13 matches and will enter the pod with a 15-4 overall record.  Their only loss in the stretch came against the CMU less than two weeks ago on Oct. 14.
 
The Rangers are 8-1 in RMAC play and tied for the conference standings lead with MSU Denver, percentage points ahead of the 9-2 Mavs.
 
Klaudia Sowizral leads the Ranger attack with 201 kills (3.05/set) and is third in the RMAC with her .369 hitting percentage.  Nadine Burbrink is right behind at .366 and is second on the Ranger squad with 167 kills (2.53/set).  Halle Theis (156), Amelia Davis (139) and Hannah Kepler (133) are also key contributors, who are averaging more than two kills per set.
 
Setter Mara LeGrand orchestrates the Ranger attack, which is hitting .291 to lead the RMAC and rank eighth nationally.  She has 690 assists and ranks third in the RMAC with her 10.45 per set average.
 
Haley Kennedy has 253 digs (3.83/set) to lead the back row while Davis (67) and Burbrink (66) are two of the RMAC's top blockers.  They rank first and third in the conference with their 1.26 and 1.17 per ser averages, respectively.
 
The Rangers also have a slight lead in the RMAC statistics for blocking as a team, averaging 2.58 per set, which has also helped the Rangers lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage at .152.
 
About MSU Denver (Saturday – 4 p.m.)
 
The Roadrunners will also enter the weekend with a 15-4 overall record as well but saw their 48-match conference match winning streak that dated back to the spring of 2021, snapped in their last outing by CSU Pueblo, which claimed a 4-set win over the Roadrunners on Saturday.  They are now 9-1 in conference play.
 
Riley Anderson continues to lead the Roadrunner attack with 257 kills (3.95/set) and 284.5 total points (4.38/set).  Maddy Williams second on the team with 134 kills while Rylee Hladky has 114, having missed 26 of the Roadrunners' 68 total sets thus far.
 
Meanwhile, Ember Canty has recorded a RMAC-leading 85 blocks and ranks second in the conference for attack percentage at .373.  Mikayla McClinton (63) and Williams (60) also provide a big blocking presence.
 
Abbie McCrimmon has 258 total digs (3.79/set) to rank eighth in the RMAC while setters Amela Quershia and Delaney Eckhardt have combined to average for than ten assists per set.  Quershia also leads the team with 28 service aces (0.42/set) and ranks seventh in the RMAC for that category.
 
Series Histories
 
Regis has a 25-18 lead in the Division II series with the Mavs, with CMU winning each of the last four and eight of the last ten matches in Grand Junction, while Regis has won the last ten in Denver, including a "neutral" site encounter in the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament last year.  That match was played at MSU Denver's Auraria Events Center, where Friday's will be played as well.
 
The Rangers have been nationally-ranked when playing the Mavericks nine straight times since 2017.
 
Fleming is 13-16 all-time against Regis and is 4-5 against Regis' Joel List since List took over the helm of the Ranger program in 2017 after an 11-year stint as the Rangers' assistant coach under coaching legend Frank Lavrisha.  However, Fleming is 4-1 against List at home and 0-4 against him in Denver.
 
The Mavs have struggled in the all-time series with MSU Denver.  The Roadrunners lead that series 36-11 and have won each of the last six meetings.
 
The Mavs are just 3-20 on the Roadrunners' home court last defeating them there in 2015.
 
Jenny Glenn is 13-3 against the Mavs and Dave Fleming in her coaching tenure at MSU Denver.  Fleming is 10-25 against the Roadrunners in his time with the Mavs.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will continue their time on the road, playing a single match next Friday (Nov. 3) at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  That match will be at 6 p.m.  The Cowgirls are currently 3-19 overall and 1-9 in RMAC play.