COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's top three Major Awards and had four first team and six total all-conference honorees, according to the conference's post-season awards release, announced by conference officials on Wednesday morning.
 
Junior outside hitter Sydney Leffler was named as the RMAC's Player of the Year while redshirt junior Sabrina VanDeList and sophomore libero picked up RMAC Setter and Defensive Player of the Year honors, respectively.  Redshirt senior middle hitter Savannah Spitzer joined that trio on the First Team All-RMAC unit while graduate transfer right side Emma Shaddix picked up second team honors.  Junior outside hitter Riley Daugherty was also an honorable mention selection.
 
The awards were determined by a vote of the conference's 15 head coaches.
 
The Mavericks are currently 24-3 overall and ranked tenth in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II National Poll.  They reached the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament for the fourth consecutive season thanks to their quarterfinal win over Colorado Christian last night and are third in last week's South Central Regional Rankings, which will be updated and announced later Wednesday in advance of Monday's NCAA Division II Tournament Selection Show.
 
Leffler becomes the fourth Maverick to earn RMAC Player of the Year plaudits and leads the RMAC by wide margins in total kills (420), kills per set (4.42), total points (450) and points per set (4.74).  The Eaton, Colorado native and 2021 Eaton High School graduate has now earned All-RMAC honors in all three seasons as a Maverick.  She was the 2021 RMAC Freshman of the Year and a first team pick and earned second team honors in 2022.
 
Entering the RMAC Tournament semifinals, Leffler already has the most kills in a season for any Maverick in 17 years (Stacey Vogel, 520 in 2006) and has 1,088 career kills to her credit.   She ranks 12^th in the national statistics for kills per set and leads the South Central Region in both kills and kills per set as well.
 
Leffler joins 2-time pick Amy Miler (1993, 1994), Kasie Gilfert (2018) and Maddi Foutz (2021 Spring) as the Mavs' only RMAC Players of the Year.
 
Leffler was named as the RMAC's Offensive Player of the Week a conference-leading three times this season and was tabbed as the AVCA/Gamechanger NCAA Division II National Player of the Week on Sept. 5 after being named as the MVP of the Oredigger Volleyball Classic.  She was also named as the MVP of CMU's Maverick Fall Classic a week later.
 
Leffler could not do what she does if it were not for the play of VanDeList, who becomes CMU's first ever 4-time First Team All-RMAC selection while becoming just the second Maverick (2009, Tara King) to earn RMAC Setter of the Year plaudits.  The Severance, Colorado native and 2020 Fort Collins High School graduate leads the RMAC with 1,123 assists and her 11.82 per set average, that currently ranks her third in NCAA Division II National Statistics.
 
VanDeList has also recorded a RMAC-leading 15 double-doubles this season, including in each of the Mavs' last seven matches, and ranks third in CMU history with 3,763 career assists and fourth for career service aces (140). 
 
She is also second on the team with a career-high 285 digs this season, ranking 15^th in the conference with her 3.00 per set average, a statistical category dominated by liberos and defensive specialists.
 
She was also named as the RMAC Setter of the Week five times this season, an honor in which she has now earned 14 times in her career.
 
VanDeList, who was the RMAC's Freshman of the Year in the spring of 2021, has orchestrated a Maverick attack that leads the RMAC and ranks third nationally for kills per set (14.83).
 
Waller, is third in the RMAC for digs per set (4.49) and continues a string of three consecutive years that the Mavs have claimed the RMAC's Defensive Player of the Year Award.  Her former teammate Kerstin Layman received the honor in 2021 and 2022.  Sarah Francis (2002) and Sunni Rae Baird (2013) are the Mavs' only other award winners.
 
Waller, who took over the reigns as the Mavs' starting libero, was a 3-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Week selection this season and has racked up 413 total digs, reaching double figures in all but one of the 26 matches she has started at the libero position.  She has had 20 or more in three different matches.
 
She also has 15 aces and is second to VanDeList for assists with 104 this season.
 
Spitzer, who hails from Aurora, Colorado, leads the RMAC and the South Central Region with her .395 attack percentage and is on pace to finish second in CMU history for both single-season and career marks in that category.  She has recorded 297 kills (3.13/set) and 57 blocks (0.60/set), the best numbers in her five total seasons with the Mavericks and is 11^th in the RMAC for kills per set and sixth for total points with 354.
 
She has now earned four career All-RMAC honors after earning First Team accolades in the spring of 2021 and this fall.  She was a second team pick in the fall of 2021 and 2022 and has 1,009 career total points and 852 career kills.
 
The fifth-year senior and 2019 Cherokee Trail High School product earned four of her six career RMAC Player of the Week honors this season, claiming the offensive honor three times, including on Monday, as well as the defensive honor on Oct. 30.
 
Shaddix, a graduate transfer from fellow NCAA Division II program Florida Southern College, has put together a solid season as the Mavs' starting right side. 
 
She has recorded 201 kills (2.45/set) and is hitting .333 to rank eighth in the RMAC.  She also has tallied 48 blocks to rank third on the team and was named to the Oredigger Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team alongside Leffler and VanDeList.  The Jupiter, Florida native has been in double-figures for kills 11 times, recording a career-high 17 against Findlay to help her earn the all-tournament honors before recording 16 in her Senior Day match against South Dakota Mines last Saturday (Nov. 11).
 
Daugherty also joined the Maverick program as a NCAA Division II transfer, coming in from Newman University in her hometown of Wichita, Kansas, where she was a 2-time Second Team All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association pick,  As of the Mavs' top multi-threat players, who generally plays all six rotations, Daugherty is third on the team for both kills (241) and digs (178) and tallied three double-doubles this season.
 
She is also the Mavs' top passer, making just 16 reception errors in team-leading 664 attempts, good for an impressive .976 reception percentage this season. 
 
She has 869 kills and 922 digs in her collegiate career.