GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will begin what the Mavericks will hope will be a long NCAA Tournament run this Thursday evening when the Mavericks take on Dallas Baptist University in the first round.  The Mavericks, 24-4 overall, are making their third straight and 11^th overall tournament appearance as the No. 4 seed in the South Central Regional.  DBU is 23-7 overall and is the fifth seed in the regional.
 
Thursday's match is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. CST (6:30 p.m. Mountain) as the last of four regional quarterfinals to be played throughout the day in Canyon, Texas at the West Texas A&M University Fieldhouse, more commonly known as "The Box".
 
Complete tournament information can be found on host WTAMU's Tournament Central microsite, which includes links to purchase tickets, live statistics and a pay-per-view video stream.
 
Tournament Format
 
The South Central Regional will feature eight teams from the Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conferences and is one of eight regionals around the country, all of which begin on Thursday.  The 64-team field will be pared down to eight regional champions, who will converge in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, for next week's final three rounds to be played next week (Dec. 6-8).  Those eight regional champions will be re-seeded for the national championship portion of the tournament.
 
The tournament is single-elimination and a complete bracket can be seen on the NCAA.com website.
 
The LSC (West Texas A&M) and RMAC (Regis) Tournament Champions received automatic bids and ended up being the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the regional.  The other six teams were selected at-large based on the regional rankings.  The LSC received four of those at-large selections while the RMAC had two in MSU Denver and the Mavericks, who are seeded third and fourth, respectively.
 
DBU, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Angelo State and UT Tyler are the No. 5-8 seeds, respectively.
 
Regis and Angelo State will begin the regional at Noon CST (11 a.m. Mountain) on Thursday while MSU Denver will face Texas A&M-Kingsville in the second quarterfinal at 2:30 p.m. CST (1:30 p.m. Mountain).  Those two winners will play in the first regional semifinal at 5 p.m. CST (4 p.m. MST) on Friday.
 
Meanwhile, the host Lady Buffs will play UT Tyler in the third quarterfinal on Thursday at 5 p.m. MST with the winner to face the CMU/DBU winner in the second semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST (6:30 p.m. Mountain).
 
Saturday's regional championship will be played at 5 p.m. CST (4 p.m. Mountain).
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks last played on Nov. 17 in the RMAC Tournament semifinal, falling to eventual tournament champion Regis, a team the Mavs had knocked off in both regular season meetings between the teams.  The loss snapped what had been a 4-match winning streak and marked the first time all season that the Mavericks were swept in straight sets.

The Rangers finished with a 13-1 advantage in team blocks in the 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 win.
 
CMU outside hitter Sydney Leffler finished with a match-high 13 kills while setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied 28 assists and nine digs.  Allison Waller had 13 digs for the Mavs while defensive specialists Hahni Johnson and Jordan Woods added 12 apiece.
 
For a complete match recap, please click here.
 
Another Re-Match
 
Thursday's NCAA Tournament first round against DBU will be a re-match in two ways.  The Mavericks swept DBU early this season on Sept. 9 in the final match off the DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Fall Classic and also ended the Patriots' 2022 season, winning a 5-set match in the opening round of last year's NCAA Tournament in Denver on Nov. 17, 2022.
 
Sydney Leffler led the Mavs with 14 kills in last year's NCAA Tournament win while Sabrina VanDeList had a fine 54-assist, 14-dig double-double.  Four other Mavs, including returner standout Savannah Spitzer, were also in double figures for kills.
 
Jordan Woods, Hahni Johnson and Allison Waller also played in that game, combining for 27 digs.

The also had a balanced attack in the early-season win over DBU this year, with Riley Daugherty putting down 11 kills while Spitzer and Leffler recorded ten each.  VanDeList had 35 assists and eight digs while Woods recorded 13 digs.  Waller also chipped in ten more.
 
Live Stream Information

New for 2023-24 academic year, all rounds of the Division II women's volleyball championship will be streamed on the Hudl platform, but are no longer free. Users will be able to access this content through ncaa.com and an OTT app – "NCAA Championships Pass" – available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Google TV devices.

Fans can purchase the content for $9.95 per contest or $29.95 for all Division II Volleyball Championship matches.

More information about the NCAA program can be found here: https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/11/2/media-center-more-than-200-dii-championship-contests-to-be-streamed-in-2023-24.aspx.

Tourney Time
 
The Mavericks are making their third consecutive and 11^th overall NCAA Tournament appearance, ten of which have now come under 19^th-year Head Coach Dave Fleming.
 
The Mavs have a combined 8-10 record in their previous appearances, reaching the regional final in both 2006 and 2014.
 
The Mavs are 6-4 in the first round, including last year's win over DBU, the only previous NCAA Tournament match-up with the Patriots, who are making their second consecutive and fourth overall NCAA Tournament appearance.  The Mavs are 8-9 in the NCAA Tournament under Fleming and have a 6-3 first round record under his direction.
 
Here is a look at all of the Mavs' previous NCAA Tournament results by year.
 
2004 (0-1): L, Eastern New Mexico (2-3)
2005 (1-1): W, Western New Mexico (3-0) & L, Nebraska-Kearney (0-3)
2006 (2-1): W, Nebraska-Kearney (3-2); W, MSU Denver (3-2) & L, West Texas A&M (2-3)
2007 (0-1): L, Nebraska-Kearney (0-3)
2014 (2-1): W, Angelo State (3-0), W, West Texas A&M (3-1) & L, Arkansas-Fort Smith (1-3)
2015 (1-1): W, Tarleton State (3-2) & L, Arkansas-Fort Smith (2-3)
2016 (0-1): L, MSU Denver (2-3)
2018 (1-1): W, Dixie State (3-0) & L, Texas A&M-Commerce (L, 2-3)
2021 (0-1): L; UT-Tyler (1-3)
2022 (1-1): W, DBU (3-2) & L, MSU Denver (2-3)
 
20+ Club
 
Already having claimed 24 wins, the Mavericks have now won 20 or more matches in three consecutive seasons after going 15-1 during the COVID delayed and abbreviated 2021 spring campaign.
 
The Mavs have now reached 20 wins for the eighth time in 19 total seasons under Head Coach Dave Fleming and have now recorded three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time under his direction.
 
The last time that CMU had such a streak was way back in 1994-96, when the then Mesa State College Mavericks went 31-14 in 1994, 25-11 in 1995 and 26-9 in 1996.
 
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).
 
This year's squad is equal to the 2018 squad for the second most wins in Fleming's long tenure.
 
The 2021 spring season squad went 15-1 to lead the program's 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.
 
Top 25 Streak
 
The Mavericks are ranked 12^th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II poll (Week No. 12), released Nov. 20 after the various conference tournaments.  The Mavericks have now been ranked inside the top 25 for 26 straight polls over the past two seasons.
 
The Mavs were ranked tenth in the Week No. 11 poll on Nov. 13 and had been ranked 11^th for the previous three and five total weeks this season, holding down that spot on Week No. 3 and 4 before their recent run in weeks 8, 9 and 10.
 
The Mavs were ranked a season-best ninth in the week No. 7 poll on Oct. 16 and were tenth in the preceding two polls (Weeks 5 & 6).  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.
 
Major Sweep
 
The Mavericks swept the RMAC's top three individual student-athlete post-season honors, which were released during the RMAC Tournament on Nov. 15.  The Mavs also had four first team and six total All-RMAC selections.
 
CMU junior outside hitter Sydney Leffler led the way and was named as the RMAC's Offensive Player of the Year, becoming just the fourth Maverick to win the prestigious accolade.

Meanwhile, redshirt junior Sabrina VanDeList was named as the RMAC Setter of the Year as the first Maverick to win that honor since 2009 (Tara King) while becoming just the second overall.
 
Sophomore libero Allison Waller was named as the RMAC's Defensive Player of the Year, an award that her former teammate Kerstin Layman had won in each of the past two years.
 
Redshirt senior middle hitter Savannah Spitzer also joined the three aforementioned Mavericks on the 14-player First Team All-RMAC squad.  She is now a 4-time overall and 2-time first team honoree.  Leffler has also earned two first team honors and three overall while Waller was honored for the first time after playing behind Layman last year.
 
CMU graduate student right side Emma Shaddix was named to the Second Team All-RMAC squad while junior outside hitter Riley Daugherty was as honorable mention selection after picking up a pair of Second Team All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association honors at Newman University.
 
Making History
 
Sabrina VanDeList's First Team All-RMAC selection was the fourth in as many seasons and made her the Mavs' first ever 4-time first team all-conference selection, quite a statement considering the long-time success of the program.
 
CMU's previous 3-time First Team All-RMAC selections include Amy Miller (1992-94), Stacey Vogel (2004-06), Drew Choules (2005-07).
 
Thanks to the NCAA's blanket COVID eligibility waiver that delayed and abbreviated VanDeList's 2020-21 freshman season, a waiver that VanDeList plans to take advantage of, she will have a chance to make even more history in 2024 as potential 5-time First Team All-RMAC pick.
 
She would also likely be able to become CMU's all-time record holder for both assists and service aces, categories she already ranks third and fourth in.
 
VanDeList will enter the NCAA Tournament with 3,791 career assists and 140 career service aces.
 
At the Summit… Again
 
Already reaching the summit of the Mavericks' all-conference selection list, VanDeList was also named as the repeat winner of the RMAC Volleyball Summit Award, which she formally received prior to the RMAC Tournament semifinal against Regis.  That award goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the RMAC Championship site.
 
VanDeList, an elementary education major, holds a perfect 4.00 GPA, and also received the same honor in 2022.
 
This latest plaudit is just one of many for VanDeList, who was also named as the RMAC's Academic Player of the Year in 2022.  She is also a 3-time CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-American for the Mavericks' indoor and beach volleyball programs and is a leading candidate to earn another Academic All-America honor this season, considering both her on-court and classroom successes.
 
Smart Mavs
 
VanDeList also helped lead a group of six Mavericks named to the RMAC All-Academic Team and Honor Roll, which the conference announced last week.  She and Sydney Leffler, an exercise science major with a 3.63 GPA, were first team selections while Aesha Alrashed (3.70, Business Administration), Erin Brown (4.00, Civil Engineering), Hahni Johnson (3.78, Kinesiology/K-12 Education) and Jordan Woods (3.72, Counseling Psychology) were all Honor Roll picks.
 
To be eligible for the first team honors, which were selected by a vote of the conference's sports information directors based on a combination of academic and athletic successes, student-athletes must have a 3.500 or higher GPA, have completed a full academic year at the nomination institution and used a season of eligibility.  Honor Roll selections must have a 3.30 or higher GPA and meet the other requirements.
 
RMAC leaders and National Rankings
 
The Mavs continues to have three individuals leading the RMAC in four combined statistical categories.
 
Setter Sabrina VanDeList continues to leads the RMAC by comfortable margins in both total sets and assists per set.  She has 1,151 assists, 95 more than Mines freshman Presley Powell, who finished with 1,056 in 96 sets, two fewer than VanDeList has played thus far.  VanDeList is averaging 11.74 assists in her 98 sets, which ranks her third nationally and well ahead of Powell, who averaged 11.00 per set.  Powell's season is done.
 
VanDeList also ranks 19th nationally in total assists.
 
Meanwhile, Sydney Leffler paces the RMAC by a wide margin with 433 kills and 463 total points.  MSU Denver's Riley Anderson is second with 379 kills and 431 ½ total points.  Leffler also leads the conference with her 4.42 kill and 4.72 point per set averages.  She ranks 12th nationally in kills per set and 16^th in points per set.  She is 19^th in total kills.  The NCAA does not do official statistical rankings for total points.
 
The Mavs' other RMAC statistical leader is Savannah Spitzer, who leads the league by a wide margin with her .381 attack percentage, the 20^th best mark nationally.  Westminster's Mailei Myers is second in the RMAC for attack percentage at .361.
 
Team rankings
 
The Mavs' offensive attack is also ranked highly as a team in the national statistics.  They are ranked third nationally in assists per set (13.00).  They also rank third nationally in kills per set (14.72) and are ranked 17^th in the nation for hitting percentage at .258.
 
The Mavs lead the RMAC in both assists and kills per set.

All-Tourney Pick
 
Sydney Leffler led the Mavericks in kills in both of their RMAC Tournament matches and was named as the Mavs' lone representative on the All-RMAC Tournament team, which was announced on Nov. 18 following Regis' 5-set win over MSU Denver in the final.  Leffler had 15 kills in the quarterfinal win over Colorado Christian and 13 in the semifinal against Regis.
 
The junior outside hitter was also named to the RMAC All-Tournament Team as a freshman in 2021.
 
Leffler now has 433 kills to her credit this season and has been in double-figures in all but two of CMU's 28 matches this season.   Her kill total is now the third highest single-season mark in CMU history during the rally-scoring era (2001-Present) and the highest for any Maverick since Stacey Vogel tallied 581 during the 2006 season.  Nikki Kneuer (Green) had 558 kills in 2004 and 431 in 2003, a mark Leffler went over in the Mavs' last match.
 
Leffler also has 1,101 career kills to her credit, just one shy of moving into the top five of the rally-scoring era.  MacKenzie Edwards, the last Maverick to surpass the 1,000 milestone before Leffler did earlier this year, had 1,102 in her 2015-18 career.
 
Kneuer holds the era record of 1,668 while Amy Miller holds the all-time record of 2,228 career kills.
 
The RMAC's top boss
 
Now in his 19^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 367 career victories.  Fleming is 367-177 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 have now recorded 20 or more wins eight times under Fleming, who guided the Mavs to a 22-7 record while qualifying for their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance last year.  They had gone 21-7 in the fall of 2021 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 ten 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 246-92 (.728) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
With their RMAC Tournament quarterfinal win over Colorado Christian, the Mavericks finished the home portion of their schedule with an impressive 13-1 mark.
 
The Brownson Arena success is nothing new for the Mavs, who have not lost more than a single home match in each of the last six seasons, going 8-1 last year and 53-6 (.899) since the start of 2018.  The Mavs are also 89-14 (.864) in their last 103 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 104-23 (.819) since the start of 2012.
 
About DBU
 
The Patriots are currently 23-7 and won a share of the Lone Star Conference's Regular Season title with a 12-2 conference record.  They were awarded the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the LSC Tournament by virtue of a head-to-head conference regular season win over West Texas A&M, but failed to fully take advantage of that falling in four sets to Texas A&M-Kingsville in the semifinal round, which was their only home loss in 11 home matches this season.
 
The Patriots were 6-4 in road matches and are currently 7-2 in neutral-court affairs entering the NCAA Tournament.
 
They had two First Team All-Lone Star Conference selections in senior outside hitter Delaney Fuller and junior middle blocker Shaylee Shore.  Fuller was also named as the LSC Player and Offensive Player of the Year while Jordan Fish was named as the LSC Coach of the Year.
 
Daylee Doggett, Lindsey Otero and Karly Wells were also named as honorable mention all-conference picks while Wells was named to the 7-member LSC All-Freshman team.

Fuller leads the LSC and the South Central region as a whole with 462 kills and 529 total points.  Shore ranks second in the LSC with her .357 attack percentage and put down 216 kills and 122 blocks, ranking fifth in the LSC for the latter with her 1.14 per set average.  Fuller also leads the LSC with 47 service aces and is third in the conference with her 0.44 per set average.
 
Doggett recorded 475 digs to lead the team from her libero spot while Otero is second behind Shore on the DBU squad for blocks with 96 (0.90/set).  Wells added 271 kills (2.85/set) to rank second behind Fuller on the team in that category.
 
Fuller is also second behind Doggett with 271 digs
 
Setters Aryn Walton and Lexi Lambert have very comparable numbers having recorded 577 and 562 assists, respectively.  Walton also has 38 service aces and 195 digs while Lambert has registered 29 aces and 162 digs.  She has been the official starter in 27 of the Patriots' 30 sets but both regularly play in Fish's 6-2 scheme.
 
As a team, the Patriots lead the LSC with 218 service aces (2.04/set) and points per set (17.64).  They rank fourth in the LSC for hitting percentage at .231 and are third in their conference for blocking, averaging 2.33 per set.
 
They also have the LSC's second best overall defense, holding opponents to a .154 attack percentage, while limiting their foes to 10.65 kills per set to lead the LSC in that category.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks are a perfect 9-0 all-time against DBU, including this year's regular season and last year's NCAA Tournament victories.  The Mavs are 8-0 against the Patriots on neutral courts and are 3-0 against them in the state of Texas, having defeated them in San Angelo during early season tournaments in both 2005 and 2013 under Fleming after winning an early-season match-up against them at Texas Woman's University in Denton on Sept. 1, 2000 under former Maverick legendary coach Rusty Crick.
 
The first seven of the all-time match-ups came in early-season tournaments before the aforementioned recent match-ups in a budding rivalry of high-quality programs.
 
Fleming is 8-0 against the Patriots and is 2-0 in the coaching battle with DBU Head Coach Jordan Fish, who has posted a combined 62-22 record (.738) in her three seasons with the Patriots.
 
Up Next
 
If the Mavs win on Thursday, they would advance to the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament for the second straight year and seventh time in program history.  They would then face either top-seeded and host West Texas A&M, ranked fifth in the latest AVCA poll, or No. 8 seed UT-Tyler, the team the Mavs faced in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, in Friday's regional semifinal round.
 
A Thursday victory would also allow the Mavs to reach the 25-win mark for just the second time under Fleming.
 
A loss would end the Mavs' season.