GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team's 11-0 start was ended by the nation's eighth-ranked MSU Denver Roadrunners, who recorded 14 blocks while taking advantage of regular Maverick miscues to claim a 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 25-20 win in a Friday night tilt of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference heavyweights in front of a boisterous Brownson Arena crowd of nearly 900.
The Mavericks, ranked 11
th in the latest national poll, also saw their nearly year-long 11-match home-court winning streak snapped as the Roadrunners, now 8-3 overall, moved to 3-0 in the RMAC with what was their 43
rd consecutive RMAC win.
The Mavericks, who were the last team to up-end the Roadrunners in conference play, in the spring of 2021, fell to 11-1 overall and to 3-1 in the loop.
CMU finished with high numbers in many statistical categories, both positive and negative.
They had a 57-47 advantage in total kills as
Emma Shaddix led three Mavs in double-figures with 15 on .400 hitting from the right side. Outside hitters
Sydney Leffler (14) and
Riley Daugherty (10) also combined for 24 kills but were regularly blocked by Roadrunner junior Maddy McWilliams, who finished with total 11 blocks and senior middle blocker Mikayla McClinton, who had 10 block assists for the visitors.
Fellow middle Ember Canty also recorded three blocks to become the Roadrunners' rally-scoring era (2001-Present) career leader.
The Mavs finished with five blocks, all of which involved sophomore middle hitter
Aesha Alrashed, who tallied a new career-high in that category.
Sophomore libero
Allison Waller also had a career-high 22 digs from the back row while defensive specialist
Jordan Woods chipped in another 13 to aid the Mavericks' 61-54 advantage in total digs.
CMU setter
Sabrina VanDeList also finished with 44 assists, six digs and five kills while
Savannah Spitzer finished with nine kills on .421 hitting.
However, the Mavericks were guilty of season-high 32 hitting errors and a season-high 10 service errors.
The Roadrunners committed 17 hitting errors and just five service errors while finishing with a .227-.153 advantage in team hitting percentage, largely thanks to Riley Anderson's 19 kills on .317 hitting.
The Mavs led by as many as four in the first set at 12-8 and 13-9 but watched the Roadrunners go on an 8-2 run to take a 17-15 lead. The visitors then led 21-18 before the Mavs clawed back to within 22-21 on a Spitzer kill. However, the Roadrunners used kills by McClinton and Anderson and a hitting error to win the opening set by three.
The Roadrunners also used a big 6-1 run early in the second set to take a 12-7 lead while cruising to a 2-0 overall advantage.
However, the Mavericks responded in the third as Leffler put down six kills without a hitting error roared to a 18-12 lead after the set was tied at nine. Leffler triggered that run with two consecutive kills.
Leading by as many eight at 24-16 before eventually winning the set on a Alrashed/VanDeList block, the Mavs hoped to take the momentum into the fourth.
They Roadrunners had other plans and took a 4-0 lead before the Mavs battled back to take a 12-9 lead in a back-and-forth set.
The visitors then went on an extended 9-3 run to reverse the deficit into a 18-14 lead. The Mavs then came out of a timeout and tied the set at 18 on kills by Shaddix, two by Daugherty and VanDeList. However, the Roadrunners stopped the run and scored four straight points of their own to go up 22-18 before winning the set and the match on kills by Maddie Lindsay and Canty around a service error of their own.
The Mavericks will have little time to dwell on the loss before facing another tough challenge in the Colorado School of Mines, receiving votes in the AVCA/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II poll. The Orediggers (6-5, 1-2 RMAC) will also be looking to bounce back after dropping a 4-set decision at Westminster on Friday night in Salt Lake City.
