GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Sporting the conference's only perfect non-conference record and now ranked 12^th in the nation, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with three road matches in a span of just five days, beginning on Friday.
 
The 8-0 Mavericks will begin the stretch at Western Colorado University (2-6) in Gunnison for a 6 p.m. tilt on Friday.  They will then head to Durango to play Fort Lewis College (3-5) at the same time on Saturday.  The Mavs then return home for a brief stint before heading out in an opposite direction, heading to Salt Lake City, Utah for a Tuesday evening (6 p.m.) encounter at Westminster University (2-6), which will also be making the trip to Durango and Gunnison in reverse order this weekend.
 
All three matches will be streamed on the RMAC Network and live statistics for each can be accessed at the links above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks hosted their first early-season home tournament in 11 years last weekend, going 4-0 at the 2023 DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Fall Classic.  The Mavs took down Cal Poly Humboldt in four sets on Thursday evening before defeating Fresno Pacific on Friday afternoon.  The Mavs then swept Sioux Falls and Dallas Baptist on Friday and Saturday evenings, respectively.
 
Winning their second straight weekend tournament, the Mavericks led the 6-team, 12-match event with three all-tournament selections, made by a vote of the coaches.  CMU outside hitter Sydney Leffler was the top vote-getter and was named as the MVP.  She was joined on the all-tournament team by middle hitter Savannah Spitzer and setter Sabrina VanDeList.
 
Hot Start
 
The Mavericks' 8-0 start marks the first time since 1994 that they have won each of their first eight fall season matches.  CMU did begin the 2021 spring season with wins in each of their first 15 matches.
 
In 1994, the Mavericks lost their ninth match falling to Nebraska-Kearney wrapping up a 5-match tournament on the second week of that year's season.
 
The Mavs have not had a 9-0 fall season start in the Division II era, excluding the 2021 spring season, which was delayed and abbreviated due to COVID ramifications.
 
Moving on up
 
The Mavericks moved up two more spots to 12^th in 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 and 14^th after going 4-0 at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic.
 
The No. 12 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 the 16 straight polls.
 
In this week's poll, the Mavericks received 619 points in the voting of 47 AVCA member coaches from around the country, 172 more than they did in last week's poll.
 
CMU is one of three RMAC teams in the top 25 with MSU Denver, now ranked ninth after going 5-3 against other ranked (or receiving votes) competition in two tough early season tournaments.  Regis is ranked 18^th and sports the same record in those two tournaments— Cal State San Bernardino's Yotes Classic Showcase and the Colorado Premier Challenge, that the Roadrunners and Rangers co-hosted in Denver last week.
 
Concordia St.-Paul won that tournament and took over the top spot in the poll over 2022 National Champion West Texas A&M, a team the Golden Bears in the semifinal round of the Gold Bracket on Saturday.  West Texas A&M, now ranked second, took third in that bracket.  CSP also defeated third-ranked Wayne State (Neb.) in Saturday night's tournament final and began Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a 3-set sweep of sixth-ranked St. Cloud State on Tuesday.  They will play at Wayne State in a conference match on Friday.
 
The only unbeaten
 
The Mavericks are the only unbeaten team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after the two non-conference weekends of the schedule.  All other RMAC teams have at least two losses with South Dakota Mines leading the rest with a 6-2 mark.
 
CMU is also one of just 13 teams in Division II with an unblemished record through Tuesday night.  Lubbock Christian, which is 7-0, is the only other undefeated team in the South Central Region.
 
Ms. MVP
 
Sydney Leffler has been named as the M.V.P. of both early-season tournaments thus far in 2023 and leads the RMAC in both kills and points, putting down 129 kills (4.61/set) and racking up 141 total points (5.04/set) thus far.  She led the Mavericks with 55 kills last weekend during the DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Classic.
 
The junior outside hitter out of Eaton, Colorado was also named as both the RMAC Offensive and AVCA/GameChanger NCAA Division II Player of the Week for her efforts at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic, when she recorded 74 kills.
 
Leffler is ranked tenth nationally for kills per set and 12^th for total kills.
 
Player of the Week
 
Meanwhile, Maverick redshirt senior middle hitter Savannah Spitzer was named as the most recent RMAC Offensive Player of the Week, earning that honor on Monday.  Spitzer tallied 52 kills and a team-leading 63 total points while hitting at an impressive .407 clip during the DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Classic.
 
The RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honor is the third of her career.  Her first two came in back-to-back weeks during the 2021 spring season on Mar. 29 and Apr. 5.
 
Spitzer currently ranks 13^th in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .384 and is ranked 13^th for total points, averaging 3.50 per set.  She has 79 kills, nine service aces and 17 blocks, including three solos, in the Mavs' first eight matches and 28 total sets.
 
3K Looming
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList will likely reach the 3,000 career assist milestone on Friday night and will enter the match at Western Colorado with 2,976 career assists, 336 of which have come in just eight matches this season.
 
VanDeList, looking to become just the sixth Maverick in program history to reach the mark, is currently ranked second in the nation with her 12.00-assist per set average, a mark that leads the RMAC by a 1.24 per set.  At her current pace, VanDeList would reach the 3,000 mark at the end of the second set of Friday's match.
 
She has had at least 24 assists, the number she is short of 3,000, in 29 consecutive matches and had 23 in her lowest total of the entire 2022 season.
 
VanDeList is currently ranked third in the rally-scoring era (2001-Present) of CMU's record book for career assists trailing only Jordan Moody (4,202) and Tara King (3,436) the last two Mavericks to reach the 3K milestone.    King did that in 2010 while Moody, the program's all-time assists leader, reached the milestone during the early stages of the record-setting 2014 senior season that saw the Mavericks win the RMAC Regular-season and tournament titles before going on to reach the regional final.
 
Only three other Mavericks have reached the milestone.  The others are Jeanie Sutter (4,138; 1995-98), Erin Fiack (3,385; 1999-2001) and Kelly Beer (3,082; 1986-89).
 
VanDeList has been named to the all-tournament team over the past two weekends and was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week last week, her tenth career honor.  She has picked up First Team All-RMAC honors in each of the past three seasons, including the 2021 spring campaign, and was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American last year.
 
Moving up a spot
 
VanDeList also moved up a spot to second on the CMU's rally-scoring era charts for career assists last weekend.  VanDeList had a pair of aces in Saturday's win over DBU, her sixth and seventh of the season.  She now has 121 career aces, one more than Taylor Woods, who finished her 2015-18 career with 120.
 
Drew Choules is the era and all-time Maverick record holder with 153 career service aces during her 2004-07, a mark that is certainly in VanDeList's grasp of catching, considering her past serving success.
 
VanDeList now ranks ninth in CMU's all-time history and led the RMAC with 53 aces last year, the Mavs' highest single-season total since Choules had 69 in 2005.
 
Top Hitter Returns
 
The Mavericks were able to welcome back Emma Shaddix to the lineup late last week.  The graduate transfer right side from Jupiter, Florida via Florida Southern College, missed the first three matches of last week's tournament with an injury sustained in early portion of the Mavs' final match of the previous weekend against Augustana. 
 
Shaddix, made an immediate impact, recording five kills on 11 swings after coming off the bench in Saturday's win over Dallas Baptist. 
 
She is now hitting a RMAC-best .440 on the season after being named to the all-tournament team at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic to begin the Maverick portion of her career.
 
Top-Ranked Attack
 
Largely thanks to VanDeList, the Mavericks lead the country in assists per set (14.43).  They also rank second behind only poll No. 1 Concordia St.-Paul in kills per set (14.96) through Tuesday night matches.
 
The Mavericks' offense has also been highly efficient, ranking first in the RMAC and ninth nationally for hitting percentage at .284.
 
RMAC leader hits a milestone
 
Now in his 19^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 351 career victories.  He is 351-173 in his time at CMU, good for a .670 winning percentage and reached the 350-career win milestone on Friday night 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 234-90 (.722) in conference play under Fleming.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
With their four victories last weekend, the Mavericks have now won 11 straight home matches dating back to Sept. 24, 2022.
 
The Mavs went 8-1 at home last year and have not lost more than a single home match in each of the previous five seasons, going 44-5 (.898) since the start of 2019.  The Mavs are also 80-13 (.860) at home since the start of 2014.
 
CMU's last home loss came on Sept. 23 of last season to then national No. 2 MSU Denver.  All three sets of that match were 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 home-court success is nothing new as the Mavs 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.
 
Mines was the only team to have come into Brownson Arena to win in the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2021.
  
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 95-22 (.812) since the start of 2012.
 
About Western Colorado (Friday; 6 p.m.)
 
The Mountaineers are off to a 2-6 start under new head coach Jordan Bruere.  They went 2-2 at the Midwestern State Invitational with wins over Eastern New Mexico and West Alabama before going 0-4 at last weekend's Mountain Lion Classic, hosted by UCCS.  They have lost five straight overall after going 4-21 overall and 3-15 in RMAC play last year.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Maggie Olson leads the Mountaineers with 86 total kills (3.19/set) and has been in double-figures in five of their eight matches thus far.  She had a career-high 20 in a 5-set loss to Bemidji State in her and the Mountaineer's last outing this past Saturday.  Olson also tallied a career-high 19 digs.
 
Olive Rolseth (63 kills) and Seyun Park (57) have also provided some offensive firepower.  Park, a South Korea native who was a junior college all-American at Seward County (Kan.) Community College is also hitting at a .397 clip to rank second in the RMAC between CMU's top-ranking Emma Shaddix and third-ranked Savannah Spitzer.
 
Setter Nur Turkmenoglu is averaging 7.93 assists per set and also leads the team with nine service aces.
 
Defensively, Rolseth is the team leader with 13 blocks (0.45/set) and is third on the team in digs behind libero Elizabeth Rupprecht (99; 3.41/set) and Olson (67; 2.48/set).

About Fort Lewis (Saturday; 6 p.m.)
 
The Skyhawks have started the year with a 3-5 record and went 2-2 in their home tournament last weekend.  Their three wins have come over St. Edward's, Texas A&M International and East Central.
 
Junior outside hitter Alexis Hobie leads fourth-year head coach Giedre Tarnauskatie's squad with 73 kills (3.32/set) and 77 total points (3.50/set) after earning Second Team All-RMAC honors while leading the 2022 edition of the Skyhawks with 270 kills and a similar average of 3.25 per set.  She is seventh in the conference for kills per set thus far in 2023.
 
Fellow outside JJ Curry has 57 kills while middle blocker Jordyn Romano has 40 kills and a .314 attack percentage.

Junior setter Natalia Lambos has recorded 258 assists (9.21/set) while middle blocker Ella Butler has already amassed 14 service aces to lead the RMAC with her 0.88 per set average.

Defensively, Logan Spragg has 20 blocks while Sarah Wilkey has recorded 104 digs to rank seventh in the RMAC for digs per set at 3.47.
 
About Westminster (Tuesday, 6 p.m.)
 
The Griffins are currently 2-6 overall and have gone 1-3 on each of the first two weekends at the start of veteran junior college head coach Sue Dulaney's tenure in charge of the program.  They swept Minnesota State Moorhead to close out last weekend in Kenosha, Wisconsin, ending what was a 6-match slide since defeating Texas Woman's at home on Aug. 31, the opening day of the season.
 
Olivia Curtis is leading a balanced offensive attack with 79 kills (2.63) although Regan Jackson (59), Claire Cook (560 and Mailei Mayers (50) all have 50 or more kills as well.  Emma Reardon is right behind that group with 45.
 
Myers is also hitting .358 to rank fifth in the conference for attack percentage while she, Reardon and Leila Cornejo all have nine service aces to jointly lead the team.  Myers also leads the team with 24 blocks and is ranked 14^th in the conference with a 0.80 per set average.
 
Cornejo and Josie Gerritsen have split time at the setter position combining for 238 assists while Reardon has a team-high 74 digs.  Fellow libero Alanna Lee is right behind with 70.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks have won 19 straight matches against Western Colorado, building a 54-12 lead in the Division II era (1992-Present) series.  The Mavs, who have won 31 of the last 32, are also 25-5 against the Mountaineers in that time in Gunnison and have won 15 straight there since the Mountaineers' last home-court rivalry in the series back in 2006.  Western's last win overall was in 2012 in Grand Junction and Maverick Head Coach Dave Fleming has a 33-2 record against the Mountaineers.
 
The Mavericks have also won six straight over Fort Lewis, amassing a 45-12 lead in the overall Division II era series.  The Mavs have dropped just one set in those last six wins after the Skyhawks clipped the Mavericks in a pair of 5-setters during both the 2017 and 2018 seasons.  Fleming is 23-7 against the Skyhawks and has a 5-0 record against his Skyhawk counterpart Giedre Tarnauskatie.  The Mavs are 20-8 against the Skyhawks in Durango, winning their last two meetings in 2021 and 2022.
 
Fleming and the Mavs have been even more dominant against Westminster, winning 17 of the 18 previous meetings, including 15 straight.  The Griffins' lone win came on Sept. 22, 2015 in Salt Lake City, where the Mavs are 8-1.
 
Tuesday's encounter will be the first competitive coaching match-up between Fleming and Dulaney although the teams did play a scrimmage against each other before the start of the campaign in Salt Lake City.
 
The Mavericks will host both Western Colorado and Westminster during a RMAC "regional" pod later this month although those matches will not count towards the conference standings.  Saturday's match-up with Fort Lewis will be the only one of the regular season between the Western Colorado rivals.
 
Up Next
 
After this road stretch, the Mavericks will return home to Brownson Arena for their next four matches, including two of their most important regular season matches of the entire season.  That stretch begins next Friday (Sept. 22) at 6 p.m. against defending RMAC Champion and current national No. 9 MSU Denver.  The Colorado School of Mines, which also qualified for last year's RMAC Tournament semifinals and NCAA regional tournament, will be in Brownson Arena the following afternoon at 4 p.m.
 
Mines is receiving votes in the AVCA poll after starting the year ranked 22^nd.
 
The Roadrunners and Orediggers are both currently 5-3 overall.