GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— For the fourth straight fall season, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team, ranked 21^st in the preseason national poll, will begin the season in Golden competing in the Colorado School of Mines' Oredigger Classic presented by Courtyard and Residence Inn.
 
The Mavericks will play four matches against teams from around the country over two days in the 8-team, 16-match tournament played on two courts Friday and Saturday in Lockridge Arena.
 
All of the Mavericks' matches can be streamed live through the new RMAC Network and followed via live statistics.  Links for both can be accessed on the tournament webpage.
 
On Friday, the Mavericks will open up their season taking on Pittsburg State at 1 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. match against San Francisco State.  On Saturday, the Mavs will play Findlay at 11 a.m. before wrapping up the tournament against Augustana at 2 p.m.
 
Mines, Colorado Christian and Fort Hays State will also compete in the tournament but will not face the Mavs.
 
In the Polls
 
The Mavericks will begin the season ranked 21^st in the American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX Division II Preseason Poll, which was released last week.
 
The Mavericks, who are coming off a 22-7 season that saw them reach the semifinals of both the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournaments, received 234 points in the polling of 47 AVCA member coaches from around the nation. 
 
The Mavs were also included in all 12 regular season polls plus the final post-season poll last year, reaching as high as No. 15 and finishing at No. 21.
 
The Mavs are one of four RMAC teams amongst the top 25 of this year's preseason poll.  Defending conference regular season and tournament champion MSU Denver is ranked third while Regis is ranked 18^th.  Mines, this week's tournament hosts, is ranked 22^nd.
 
In the Polls, Part Two
 
The Mavericks were also ranked third in the RMAC's Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released on Aug. 15.  The Mavs received 169 points in that poll, which asked RMAC coaches to rank their opponents 1-14 without voting for their own squad.  The Mavs also received one first place vote.
 
MSU Denver topped the poll with 13 first place votes and 195 total points while Regis was picked second with 181 points, which also receiving a first place vote.  Mines was picked fourth with 158 while CSU Pueblo was fifth with 147.
 
Returning All-Americans
 
The Mavericks have four previous AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans on their 2023 roster.  Redshirt senior middle hitter Savannah Spitzer, redshirt junior setter Sabrina VanDeList and redshirt junior outside hitter Sierra Hunt all received those honors in 2022 while now junior outside hitter Sydney Leffler did in 2021 en-route to AVCA South Central and RMAC Freshman of the Year honors.
 
Spitzer and VanDeList have also been named to the All-RMAC teams in each of the past three seasons while Hunt also earned first team honors last year after being named as an honorable mention selection in the spring of 2021.  VanDeList has been a 3-time First Team All-RMAC pick while Spitzer earned first team honors in the spring of 2021 while earning second team honors in each of the last two falls.
 
Leffler was a First Team All-RMAC pick in the fall of 2021 and a second team selection last year.
 
Transfer Trio
 
The Mavericks have added three transfers from fellow NCAA Division II institutions this season. 
 
Emma Shaddix has joined the Mavs as a graduate transfer from Florida Southern and will be using her sixth year thanks to the COVID-19 blanket eligibility waiver.  The 6-foot right side, expected to start for the Mavs on the right side, originally hails from Jupiter, Florida and tallied 332 kills and 115 blocks in 66 career matches with the Mocs.
 
Riley Daugherty, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, has come to CMU via Newman University in her hometown of Wichita, Kansas, where she was a 2-time Second Team All-MIAA selections.  The six-rotation standout has recorded 628 kills and 744 digs while starting 56 matches for the Jets over the past two years and will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Mavs.
 
Meanwhile, Forney, Texas native Bethany Jones has joined the CMU squad after seeing limited time last year at Atlantic Region semifinalist University of Charleston (W. Va.).  The 5-foot-9 middle and right side, had also earned All-Region V honors at Cicso (Texas) Junior College in 2021, where she set the Wranglers' single-season and career records for total blocks and block solos.  She will also have two years of eligibility with the Mavs.
 
Freshman Four
 
The Mavs have also added four recent high school graduates to their 2023 roster in libero Marli Clausi of Salt Lake City, Utah, middle hitter Nicole Martin of Colorado Springs, Colorado, outside hitter Kaela Neie of Bushland, Texas and setter Sophie Wendt of Farmington, Utah.
 
Outside hitter Erin Brown, who redshirted last year, is also expected to make her debut early in 2023.
 
Abundance of Riches
 
The Mavericks appear to have an abundance of riches in the outside hitter position with the aforementioned Hunt and Leffler as previous all-Americans.  They will be joined by Riley Daugherty, Erin Brown and freshman Kaela Neie, a standout on the 2-time 6A Texas State Championship Bushland High School squad, who will all contend for significant playing time.
 
Stepping up on D
 
Junior Jordan Woods and sophomore Allison Waller will battle with Clausi for the Mavericks' starting libero spot this year after the graduation of Kerstin Layman, who finished her brilliant career ranked fourth on the Mavs' all-time digs chart with 1,617.  Both appear ready as Woods has recorded 299 digs and 52 aces in 50 career matches as a defensive specialist over the past two seasons while Waller made ten starts in that role while playing in all 29 matches and all but one of the team's 103 sets as the Mavs' most used freshman last year.  She had 137 digs last year, third most on the team, along with 15 aces.
 
Second Middle
 
With fifth-year senior Savannah Spitzer leading the way, returning sophomore Aesha Alrashed and Nicole Martin have had a preseason battle to earn the second starting middle spot in place of former Maverick standout Tye Wedhorn, who graduated.  Alrashed played in eight matches as a reserve last season while Martin, the tallest Maverick at 6-foot-2, was a first team all-conference pick at Cheyenne Mountain High School last season.  Bethany Jones will also provide depth for the Mavericks in both the middle and the right side.
 
All-American Backup
 
The Mavericks are one of few teams that can claim to have two 2022 All-American setters.  As mentioned earlier, 3-year starter Sabrina VanDeList picked up AVCA Honorable Mention honors last fall.  Meanwhile, her backup Hahni Johnson, a redshirt junior from Anchorage, Alaska, is an AVCA Small College Beach Championship All-American having earned those honors while leading the Maverick beach volleyball team to a 2022 NCAA Division I Small College Beach Championship title.
 
Johnson, who has seen some time as a setter in all three previous indoor seasons, is also often called upon as serving and defensive specialist.
 
Solid starts
 
In their last three appearances in the Oredigger Volleyball Classic, the Mavericks have gone a combined 8-4 to open their 2019, 2021 and 2022 seasons.  The Mavs went 3-1 last year and in 2019 and were 2-2 in 2021.  Last year, the Mavs swept 3-set matches over Northern State, receiving votes in the 2022 AVCA Preseason Poll, No. 19 UT-Tyler and RMAC rival Colorado Christian while dropping a 5-set heartbreaker to then No. 22 Southwest Minnesota State, which finished 12th in the final AVCA poll.
 
The RMAC leader
 
Entering his 19^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 343 career victories.  He is 343-173 in his time at CMU, good for a .665 winning percentage. 
 
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 234-90 (.722) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Staff changes
 
However, the Maverick indoor squad will be without a familiar face on the bench in 2023 as David Skaff, a 16-year veteran of the coaching staff, is now concentrating him time solely as the head coach of the national powerhouse Maverick beach volleyball squad.  Skaff had been splitting duties as Fleming's top assistant and the head beach coach since the beach program began in the spring of 2016.
 
In a corresponding change, Bri Strong, an assistant for both programs over the past three years, is now working solely with Fleming as the indoor team's top assistant.  Fleming has also added Mahlia Glass and Keylee Reynolds as student assistant coaches while Ara Norwood is Skaff's assistant for the beach team and no longer coaching the indoor team.

Although not directly involved, Skaff, who still shares an office with Fleming, and Norwood are still bound to be amongst the biggest supporters of the indoor team, just in the crowd this year.
 
About Pittsburg State
 
The Gorillas, who hail from Pittsburg, Kansas, were picked sixth in the MIAA Preseason Poll after going 17-14 overall and 10-11 in the MIAA last year.  Head Coach Jen Gomez, in her eighth season at Pitt State after five years as the head coach at CSU Pueblo and the preceding five at NAIA Oklahoma City, returns nine letterwinners, including six players who started ten or more matches last year.
 
Senior outside hitter Janae Thurston highlights the group, earning Second Team All-MIAA honors in 2022, when she recorded 306 kills (2.94/set)  and hitting .195.  She also recorded 267 digs (2.57/set) and 47 blocks (0.45/set).
 
About San Francisco State
 
The Gators were also picked sixth in their conference's (California Collegiate Athletic Association) poll after going 14-11 overall and 10-8 in conference play last year, just missing out on a spot for a CCAA Tournament spot.
 
Eighth-year head coach Matt Hoffman and the Gators do return their entire starting lineup last year, including 2022 CCAA Freshman of the Year Tamiya Wilson and CCAA Setter of the Year Kimberly DeBoer.
 
Wilson recorded 371 kills last season, an average of more than 4.0 per set (4.03), and was set 975 times last year, mostly be DeBoer, who averaged 10.93 assists per set last year. 
 
Meanwhile, her twin sister Brianna DeBoer led the Gators with 379 digs (4.12/set) last season for her starting libero spot.
 
About Findlay
 
The Oilers went 18-14 overall last year, including a 14-4 record in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference but were bounced out of the G-MAC Tournament in the quarterfinal round by sixth-seeded Walsh.

They were predicted to finish second amongst seven teams in the G-MAC's North Division Poll, released on Tuesday.
 
Sophomore middle hitter Alana Pohlman will be expected to lead the Oiler in 2023 after earning Second Team All-Midwest Region honors a year ago.  She recorded 293 kills and 88 blocks while hitting at a .336 clip a year ago.  Setter Emma White also returns after earning First Team All G-MAC accolades last season while recording 1,257 assists, but will have to do without 2022 G-MAC Player of the Year Journey Blevins, who transferred out of the program, led by 26^th year head coach Wick Colchagoff, who has recorded 505 career victories.
 
About Augustana
 
The Vikings, who hail from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, return 13 players from last year and have been picked seventh in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll.  They went 20-10 last year, posting a winning 11-9 mark in the notoriously tough NSIC, before reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament.
 
Fifth-year libero Erika Bute headlines the list of returners for seventh-year coach Jennifer Jacobs after earning 2022 NSIC Libero of the Year and Second Team D2CCA All-Central Region honors last year.  She led the NSIC with 557 digs (5.06/set) a year ago.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs have previously met all four of their opponents this week, although the last such meeting came in 2015.
 
The Mavs are 1-1 against Pitt State, having won a 1994 National Invitational Tournament match in before dropping a 2007 early-season decision to the Gorillas at West Texas A&M Lady Buff Classic.
 
The Mavs are 2-1 all-time against San Francisco State, having last played and defeating the Gators in 2015 at the UC San Diego's Seaside Invitational.  All three previous matches with the Gators have been on neutral courts in the state of California.
 
The Mavs' only previous match against Findlay came at the 2011 Oredigger Classic, a match that the Oilers won in five sets.
 
The Mavs are 1-1 against Augustana, having last played and defeating the Vikings at the 2010 Oredigger Classic in straight sets.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will continue the non-conference portion of the schedule when they host the 2023 DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Fall Classic, which will be held next Thursday-Saturday (Sept. 7-9) in Brownson Arena.  The home tournament will the first early-season tournament the Mavs have hosted in 11 years and will welcome in five teams, including NCAA Tournament qualifier Dallas Baptist University.
 
The Mavs then begin RMAC play on Friday, Sept. 15 at Western Colorado in Gunnison.