GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball squad will make a rare home appearance and try to continue rolling when they host Trinidad State Junior College in a Thursday afternoon doubleheader at the CMU Beach Courts.
The doubleheader is a recent addition to the schedule and will feature duals at noon and 2 p.m.
The Mavericks will enter the day with a 4-3 record and have won their last three matches by 5-0 scores.
TSJC has yet to play this spring.
Follow the Mavs
A recap and scores of Thursday's duals will be posted on
www.cmumavericks.com and the CMU Beach Volleyball Instagram Account is a great follow. -
https://www.instagram.com/cmu_beachvolleyball/
Last Time Out
The Mavericks dominated their opposition last weekend, going 3-0 with 5-0 wins over teams representing three different collegiate organizations in Arizona. The Mavericks took out fellow NCAA Division II rival Wayne State College on Saturday morning before winning over South Mountain Community College at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. The Mavericks then knocked off NAIA Park University Gilbert by the same score on Sunday morning at Bell Bank Park in Mesa.
The Mavericks dropped just one set throughout the entire weekend while holding their opponents to single-digit scores in 11 sets.
Complete Recaps of each day of action can be seen at these links:
Saturday, Mar. 11 (vs. Wayne State/South Mountain)
Saturday, Mar. 12 (vs. Park University Gilbert)
Record Watch
Now assistant coach
Ara Norwood, nicknamed "Bob", completed her playing career in 2022 with 36 wins, the most of any Maverick in program history. However, several current Mavericks are rapidly approaching her school-record and could pass her as soon as next week.
Entering Thursday's doubleheader, here is a look at the top-5 winningest Mavericks in program history.
36-
Ara Norwood; 2018-22
33-
Holly Schmidt; 2019-23
31-
Macie Lachemann; 2019-23
29-
Tye Wedhorn; 2021-23
29-
Sabrina VanDeList; 2021-23
Moving On Up
The Mavericks have had a consistent lineup throughout the season to date, with only minimal changes at the No. 5 pair but did make one change for Sunday's dual as
Jada Hall and
Gracyn Spresser moved up a rung on the team ladder, playing in the No. 2 spot against the Park Gilbert Buccaneers after playing in the No. 3 spot of the team lineup for the first six matches.
Meanwhile,
Hahni Johnson and
Savannah Spitzer featured in the No. 3 spot.
Both pairs won in their new spots and are on good winning streaks. Johnson and Spitzer are now 5-2 on the season and have won four straight. Hall and Spresser are 4-3 on the year and have won three straight.
Speaking of Streaks
The Mavericks' No. 1 pair of
Macie Lachemann and
Holly Schmidt have also been faring well and have won four straight matches while raising their record to 5-2 this spring in the top flight. The duo is 6-7 overall after having represented the Mavericks at the AVCA Fall Beach Championships in November.
Leaders
Meanwhile, Maverick No. 4 pair
Sabrina VanDeList and
Tye Wedhorn have won three straight and hold the best record on the team thus far at 6-1. VanDeList and Wedhorn also went 16-5 mark together last season and received an AVCA Top Flight Award after winning 75 percent of their matches in a particular flight. They also received the AVCA/College Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week award after going 6-0 during CMU's run to the NCAA Division II title at the AVCA Small College Championships last year.
The duo has now won 12 of their last 13 and 19 of their last 23 matches since Mar. 11 of 2022.
A perfect ten
Entering Thursday's doubleheader, the Mavericks are a perfect 10-0 at home in their program history. The team was 5-0 at home last year in what was their largest home slate to date. They won over Division I Utah twice and also won two matches with Trinidad State and one over Salt Lake Community College.
The Mavs also defeated Utah twice in 2021 but were not home at all in 2019 or 2020. They defeated Colorado Northwestern Community College and the Colorado College club team at the end of the 2018 season and defeated Colorado Northwestern in their long home dual at the end of the 2017 season.
After Thursday, the Mavericks are slated to play four more times at home hosting Texas A&M-Kingsville and Mesa Community College in a pair of tri-duals on Apr. 7 and 8.
Scouting the Opponent
Trinidad State will begin the beach season with Thursday's doubleheader against the Mavericks. They have 11 players on their roster, including three sophomores. The rest are freshman.
The players hail from all four 4-corners states and three total countries, including the United States. Canada's Anna Jasinsky and Spain's Ana Perez are also on the roster.
Many of the Trojan players also played during the fall indoor volleyball season. Their indoor squad went 7-22. Jada Lawson, one of the crossover players, tallied 153 kills in the fall to rank second on the indoor team.
Series History
The Mavericks and Trojans also faced off twice in 2022. The Mavericks won both duals, 5-0 during a tournament weekend that also featured matches with Utah and Salt Lake Community College.
Up Next
The Mavericks will head off on their annual spring break trip to California and are currently scheduled to play five matches in three days in Long Beach, Northridge and Irvine. The slate begins Tuesday (Mar. 21) when they play Long Beach State,
currently ranked 13th in the AVCA's NCAA Collegiate Beach Coaches Poll. The Mavs will also play Boise State, receiving votes in the poll, in Long Beach that day.
