GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Now up into the top 10 of the national poll, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will look to continue winning ways as the head out on the road to Southern Colorado for a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matches.
 
The Mavs, 14-1 overall, 4-1 in the conference standings and 6-1 against RMAC foes in general, will play at CSU Pueblo (5-9, 3-1 RMAC) on Friday night at 7 p.m. before heading to Alamosa (4-10, 2-2 RMAC) to face Adams State University on Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock.
 
Both matches can be seen on the RMAC Network and live statistics can also be accessed through the links above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavs swept through last week's RMAC Regional Pod, claiming 3-0 victories over both Western Colorado University and Westminster University.  Neither match counted in the official RMAC standings but allowed the Mavericks to continue their strong play and long winning streaks against both opponents.
 
On Thursday, the Mavericks hit .506 as a team in a comfortable 25-8, 25-17, 25-13 victory over Western.  Sydney Leffler recorded 18 kills without a hitting error, good for a .720 attack percentage in the victory, which was CMU's 21^st straight in the rivalry with their nearest foes.  Setter Sabrina VanDeList also recorded 38 assists and eight days while Aesha Alrashed finished with a career-high nine kills.  She also had four blocks and hit .368.
 
On Saturday, the Mavs swept Westminster 25-17, 25-23, 25-20 as four Mavericks finished in double-figures for digs while CMU went a perfect 59-for-59 on service receptions, holding the Griffins without an ace.
 
Offensively, Leffler tallied 13 kills while Emma Shaddix put down ten while hitting .435.  VanDeList also tallied a double-double with 33 assist and 10 digs while Allison Waller led all players with 19 digs.
 
The Mavs have now won 17 consecutive matches against the Griffins.
 
Complete Recaps of both matches can be found here.
 
Western Colorado 
Westminster 
 
In the top 10
 
After sitting 11^th in the previous two editions of the poll, the Mavericks moved up into the No. 10 spot of this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II poll, released on Monday.  The Mavs had been ranked 21^st in the preseason poll, 14^th in the Week No. 1 poll and 12^th in the No. 3 poll before inching their way up in two of the last three weeks.
 
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 ranked tenth in the 2021 preseason poll and were 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 19 straight polls.
 
In this week's poll, the Mavericks received a season-high 719 points in the polling of 47 AVCA member
coaches from around the country.  In the process, they moved past Minnesota-Duluth, which slipped to 11^th after falling twice last week, including to No. 1 Wayne State (Neb.), the first of five Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams in the top 12.
 
The RMAC is the only other conference with multiple teams in the top 12 as MSU Denver remained in the No. 7 spot while Regis moved up a spot to 12^th.
 
Other than the Mavs/Minnesota-Duluth switch, the rest of the top 10 remained unchanged Wayne State (13-1) and Concordia St.-Paul (14-1) sitting in the top two spots as the only teams to have beaten each other.  Undefeated Tampa (13-0) received the other first place vote while another undefeated squad Missouri-St. Louis (15-0) remained in the No. 4 spot.   Defending national champion West Texas A&M (14-2) is fifth in the poll and the first of four South Central Region teams in the top 12 and the top 25 as a whole although Angelo State and Dallas Baptist are the fourth and fifth highest ranked teams in the "others receiving votes" category.

St. Cloud State and Southwest Minnesota State sandwich MSU Denver while Nebraska-Kearney continues to sit in the No. 9 spot.
 
Make it a dozen
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList was named as the RMAC's Setter of the Week for the 12^th time in her impressive career on Monday.  She has now received the award three times in each of her four seasons, including the 2021 COVID-abbreviated spring campaign.
 
VanDeList recorded a combined 71 assists, 18 digs, five kills and a block in the wins over Western Colorado and Westminster.  She averaged 11.83 assists per set, slightly above her RMAC-leading 11.78 season-long average and tallied her fifth double-double of the season against Westminster.
 
VanDeList, who received earlier RMAC Setter of the Week honors on Sept. 4 and 18 of this season, has now recorded 601 assists this season and 3,241 in her career, fifth most in program history.
 
She currently ranks fourth in this year's NCAA Division II statistics and first in the RMAC by a considerable margin with her assist per set average and is tenth amongst all active Division II seters in terms of career assists.
 
Top Hitters
 
The Mavericks continue to lead the RMAC in team hitting percentage at .275 and also continue to have the top two individual hitters in the conference.  Right side Emma Shaddix leads the RMAC with her .416 figure while Savannah Spitzer is hitting .391.  They rank 11^th and 16^th in the nation, respectively.  The Mavs rank tenth in the country as a team after hitting a combined .300 in last week's wins.
 
Flirting with .400
 
Much like the .400 batting average in major league baseball, the .400 attack percentage is difficult to obtain, and has been accomplished on a season-long basis in CMU history, something that Shaddix and Spitzer both have a chance at this year.
 
Kasie Gilfert set the Mavs' single-single record of .451 in her 2018 regional player of the year season and also holds the .420 career record in her 2-year (2018-19) Maverick career.
 
More about the hitting
 
The Mavericks hit .506 as a team in last Thursday's win over Western Colorado, recording 48 kills while committing just five errors on 85 total swings.  That .506 mark is the Mavs' second highest in known program history, only shy of the .544 attack percentage (50-7-79) that the Mavs recorded in an Aug. 26, 2022 win over Northern State at the start of last season.
 
Additionally, Maverick outside hitter Sydney Leffler hit .720 with 18 kills and no errors on 25 attempts in Thursday's win.  That mark is the highest single-match mark in program history for players who took 20 or more attempts.
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 19^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 357 career victories.  Fleming is 357-174 in his time at CMU, good for a .672 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 238-91 (.723) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
With their two wins last week, the Mavs raised their home-court record to 7-1 this season.  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 47-6 (.887) since the start of 2018.  The Mavs are also 83-14 (.856) at home 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.  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 98-23 (.810) since the start of 2012.
 
About CSU Pueblo (Friday, 7 p.m.)
 
The ThunderWolves, who have qualified for the last two NCAA Division II Tournaments, will enter Friday's match with a 5-9 overall record but are just a half-match behind the Mavericks with a 3-1 RMAC record.  They struggled to a 1-7 record in two early-season tournaments to begin the year, but rattled off 3-0 wins over New Mexico Highlands, Adams State and Black Hills State to begin their conference slate.  They then dropped a 5-setter at South Dakota Mines (Sept. 23) before going 1-1 at last week's RMAC Regional Pod at Regis, where they swept UCCS before falling in four sets to their nationally-ranked hosts.
 
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Peyton VanVeen leads a balanced Pack attack in kills with 151 (2.96/set) while fellow outside Sadie Scoville (136/2.62/set) and opposite Kendall Harrington (126; 2.68/set) are just behind.  VanVeen is ninth in the conference for kills per set while Harrington, also a sophomore, stands tenth with her .310 attack percentage. Setters Sabrina King (259 assists) and Grace Jansen (258) have nearly identical numbers in the Packs' 6-2 offensive scheme and are second and third on the team behind Scoville in service aces.  Scoville has 24 while Jansen (22) and King (18) have combined for 40 more.  Scoville ranks fourth in the RMAC with her 0.46 ace per set average while Jansen is sixth at 0.42.
 
Scoville also leads the team in digs with 145 (2.79/set) while Golden Finch has registered 41 blocks to rank sixth in the RMAC with her 1.07 per set average.
 
About Adams State (Saturday, 4 p.m.)

The Grizzlies are 4-10 overall and 2-2 in RMAC play heading into a Friday evening home match with Westminster.  They also got off to a rough 1-7 start in early-season tournaments and have gone 1-1 against RMAC foes in each of the past three weeks, including a Regional Pod at New Mexico Highlands last weekend.
 
Two of their four overall wins have come against the Cowgirls, both in straight sets.  The other wins have come in four sets against East Central and at Black Hills State.  They have played just one home match so far, winning against Highlands back on Sept. 16.
 
The Mavs and Grizzlies did not player each other but both saw plenty of each other last month at CMU's DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Fall Classic, which CMU won with a 4-0 record.  The Grizzlies were 0-4 against the same four teams.
 
Cindy Garcia has tallied 108 kills (3.00/set) while Anna Huggins has 101 (2.59/set).  However, both have missed a combined 22 of the Grizzlies' 48 total sets so far.
 
Remi Vargas has recorded 210 assists (4.38/set) while Madeleine Benally has 146 (3.74/set).  Ailee Bugas has 12 of the Grizzlies' total 57 service aces and leads the team with 124 digs (2.58/set).
 
Natalie Gallegos has tallied 40 blocks (0.85/set).
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs hold a 37-15 lead in the Division II era (1992-Present) series against CSU Pueblo and have won three straight and 10 of the last 11 matches between the teams.  However, each of the last two meetings in Pueblo have gone to five sets, with each team winning one.  The Mavs are just 13-9 against the Pack in Pueblo during the Division II era.
 
Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming has a 22-6 record against the ThunderWolves in his time and is 3-1 against his CSU Pueblo counterpart Austin Albers, who was hired in December of 2018.
 
The Mave are similarly successful against Adams State, having gone 39-16 against the Grizzlies in the Division II era.  The Mavs have won the last seven and 11 of the last 12 matches between the teams.  The last four have been 3-0 wins.
 
 ASU's last win in the rivalry was on Oct. 17, 2015 in Alamosa, where the Mavs hold an 18-7 lead in the Division II series.
 
Fleming is 22-7 against the Grizzlies in his 18 previous seasons but has not yet coached against new ASU Coach Julie Allen, who replaced now retired Lindy Mortensen, who had begun her tenure at ASU in 2005, the same year as Fleming started at CMU.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home for their next three matches to play UCCS, No. 12 Regis and up-start Chadron State in a span of just five days from Oct. 13-Oct. 17.  All three of those opponents are currently amongst the top 6 of the RMAC standings and have a combined 9-1 RMAC record thus far.