GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After getting out to their first 4-0 fall season start since 2014 and winning the unofficial title at last week's Oredigger Volleyball Classic in Golden, the nation's now 14th-ranked Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will play host to an early season tournament for the first time since 2012, beginning Thursday in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks, who also rattled off 15 straight wins to begin the delayed 2020-21 spring season, will play in four of the 12 matches over three days at the 2023 DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Fall Classic, facing Cal Poly Humboldt, Fresno Pacific, Sioux Falls and Dallas Baptist.  Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Adams State will also take part in the 6-team affair but will not face the Mavericks.

Each of the six teams will play four matches throughout the tournament, which includes two matches on Friday evening, five throughout the day on Friday and five more on Saturday.
 
A complete tournament schedule can be found below and on the tournament webpage.
 
All 12 of the matches of the tournament will be streamed the RMAC Network.  Live statistics for all of the matches, can also be accessed through the tournament webpage.
 
Moving Up
 
The Mavericks moved up seven spots to 14^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.
 
The No. 14 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.
 
The only unbeaten
 
The Mavericks are the only unbeaten team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after the opening weekend of regular season play.  Three other RMAC squads including preseason favorites and defending RMAC Champion MSU Denver went 3-1 at various opening-weekend tournaments while Chadron State went 2-1.  Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines joined MSU Denver with 3-1 starts.
 
RMAC Poll
 
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.
 
MSU Denver defeated AVCA Preseason Poll No. 9 Cal State Los Angeles and No. 15 Western Washington but fell to No. 19 Cal State San Bernardino in their final match at the Yotes' Classic Showcase.  Regis was also at that top-level tournament and went 2-2 defeating Western Washington and Cal State LA on Thursday before dropping matches to the Coyotes and Central Washington later in the weekend.
 
Mines went 2-2 at the Oredigger Classic while CSU Pueblo went 0-4 at the Texas A&M-Kingsville Invitational to begin the season.
 
Syd spells M.V.P. & P.O.W.
 
Maverick junior outside hitter Sydney Leffler, commonly known as "Syd", got her 2023 to a rocking start earning MVP honors at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic.  She was then named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Offensive Player of the Week on Monday before earning an even more prestigious AVCA/GameChanger NCAA Division II National Player of the Week on Tuesday.
 
Leffler, a native of Eaton, Colorado, is just the second Maverick to have earned the national player of the week honor, joining Kasie Gilfert (Oct. 30, 2018).
 
Leffler registered a tournament and RMAC-leading 74 kills and 79 total points while hitting an impressive .382 throughout the weekend.  She had 21 kills on .515 hitting in the season-opening 3-set sweep of Pittsburg State before adding 17 more kills on Friday evening in a sweep of San Francisco State.  She then tallied 19 more kills while hitting .412 in Saturday's 5-set win over Findlay before wrapping up the tournament with 17 kills in a 3-set sweep of Augustana.
 
Her 5.29 kill and 5.64 total point per set averages also lead the RMAC and put her third and fifth in the early-season national statistics, through Tuesday evening matches.
 
All-Tourney Trio
 
Leffler led a trio of Mavericks named to the 9-woman Oredigger Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team, which also included redshirt junior setter Sabrina VanDeList and graduate transfer right side Emma Shaddix.
 
VanDeList led the tournament with 170 assists (12.14/set) and also registered 34 digs, three blocks and two service aces throughout the weekend.  She had 41 assists in both of Friday's wins before recording 50 in the 5-set win over Findlay before finishing off the weekend with 38 assists against Augustana.  She also fell just one dig shy of a double-double in each of the last three matches.
 
Meanwhile, Shaddix recorded 36 kills on .466 hitting in 12 sets over the weekend.  She had 10 kills on .450 hitting in the win over Pittsburg State before recording nine on .360 efficiency against San Francisco State.  On Saturday, the Jupiter, Florida native who came to CMU via Florida Southern College, pounded 17 kills with just one error on 28 attempts, good for an impressive .571 attack percentage.
 
Tourney title
 
The Mavericks won the unofficial title at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic as the only of the eight teams in the tournament go 4-0 throughout the weekend.  The efforts allowed the Mavericks to go 4-0 for the first time in 11 appearances since 2008 in what has been a staple of their early-season schedules.
 
Saturday's 5-set win over Findlay came in the de-facto title match as the Oilers and San Francisco State, who the Mavs swept on Friday evening, both went 3-1.  Tournament hosts Mines, Colorado Christian  both went 2-2 while Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State went 1-3.  Augustana, the teams the Mavs finished off the weekend against, was 0-4 throughout the weekend affair.
 
The Mavs had opened each of the three previous fall seasons at the Oredigger Classic, going 3-1 last year and in 2019.  They were 2-2 in 2021.  There was no 2020 tournament due to COVID.
 
RMAC leader & Top 5's
 
As a team, the Mavericks lead the RMAC's early-season statistics in assists per set (14.29), hitting percentage (.326) and kills per set (14.86).  The Mavs also rank amongst the nation's to five in those statistical categories, standing fourth in both assists per set and hitting percentage while ranking fifth in kills per set.
 
Individually, setter Sabrina VanDeList stands third in the nation and atop the RMAC with her 12.14 assist per set average.
 
The RMAC's Top Boss
 
Now in his 19^th season as the Mavs' head Coach, Dave Fleming leads all active RMAC coaches with 347 career victories.  He is 347-173 in his time at CMU, good for a .667 winning percentage and could reach the 350-career win milestone this weekend.
 
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.
 
About Cal Poly Humboldt (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.)
 
The Jacks got off to a 2-2 start last weekend at the Seawolf Volleyball Invitational hosted by Alaska Anchorage.  They won matches against Alaska Fairbanks and Florida Tech on Friday in between losses to Upper Iowa and the host Seawolves on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.  With their two wins, they matched their 2022 win total, when they went 2-19.
 
The Jacks were picked 10^th out of 12 teams in this year's California Collegiate Athletic Association poll and have 11 new faces along with eight returns on the 2023 roster, guided by second year Angela Spoja.
 
American River College transfer Awelina Fakalata led the Jacks with 54 kills (3.86/set)  at last week's tournament while Lindsey McLaughlin put down another 45 (3.21/set) after leading the team with 187 kills (2.46/set) last year.
 
McLaughlin also registered an impressive 11 service aces (0.79/set) last week.  The two outside hitters were also second and third on the team for digs last weekend with 33 and 31, respectively.  Mina Barajas recorded 47 (3.36/team). 
 
Fakalata also recorded ten blocks (0.71/set) while Aurora Meneghetti recorded 14 (1.17/set) last weekend.
 
About Fresno Pacific (Friday, Noon)
 
The Sunbirds went 1-3 on the opening weekend of the season, sweeping Western New Mexico while dropping matches to West Region foes Chico State, Western Oregon and Stanislaus State at Stanislaus' tournament in Turlock, California last week.
 
Coming off a 16-9 season and second place finish in the Pacific West Conference with a 15-5 league mark in 2022, the Sunbirds were tabbed third in the PacWest's preseason coaches' poll and lay claim to PacWest Preseason Setter of the Year Catie Speas, who split setting starts with Cambria Waites last weekend. 
 
Second year coach Mike MacNeill's squad was also balanced in kills with Corinne Acota (33), Makenna Ogas (32) and Mia Gilcrest (30) all averaging more than two kills per set last weekend.  Geneva Elliott led the regular swingers with a .324 attack percentage and put down 15 kills.  Acosta and Rachel Plantinga also co-led the team with seven service aces.
 
Elliott also had 12 blocks (0.92/set) last weekend.
 
Acosta was a first team all-conference pick last year and eclipsed the 1,000 career kill milestone while Ogas earned second team honors.
 
About Sioux Falls (Friday, 7:30 p.m.)
 
The Cougars will enter the weekend with a 1-3 record after playing a tough slate at last weekend's Kansas City Klassic, hosted by Rockhurst.  The Cougars fell to the Hawks and Emporia State in four sets before beating William Jewell in a straight-set sweep.  They then ended the tournament with a 5-set loss to No. 13 Northwest Missouri State.
 
The Cougars had a solid 18-10 overall and 14-6 mark in the brutally tough Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference last season and were picked sixth in the NSIC Preseason Poll.
 
Returning second-team all-conference middle blocker Jordan Kuper was picked as the USF Player to the Watch, part of that poll.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Sadie Voss recorded a team-leading 58 kills (3.63/set) last weekend while Courtney Holsteen finished with 47.  Kuper added another 35 and hit .362 on the opening weekend.
 
Elise Gillen (117) and Davis Guetterman (69) combined for 186 assists in the opening four matches while Holsteen had 11 blocks (0.69/set).  Caitlin Kellner also led coach Dan Mathews' team with 56 digs (3.50/set) from the back row.
 
About Dallas Baptist (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.)
 
The Mavericks and Patriots, who met in the opening round of last year's NCAA Division II Tournament, will close out this weekend's tournament.
 
DBU, receiving votes in both the preseason and this week's AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II poll, went 3-1 to begin the season, sweeping Fort Lewis, Union and Montevallo before being swept by Harding in their final match of the UT-Tyler Patriot Classic last weekend.
 
The Patriots went 25-7 a year ago, finishing 14-2 in Lone Star Conference play.  They were picked fourth in this year's LSC Preseason Poll.
 
Delaney Fuller, an Honorable Mention All-Lone Star Conference pick last year, recorded 56 kills (4.67/set) and nine aces (0.75/set) last weekend to lead third-year Head Coach Jordan Fish's squad.
 
Lexi Lambert (74) and Aryn Walton (57) combined for 131 assists as setters while Daylee Doggett recorded 45 digs (3.75/set).
 
Shaylee Shore also recorded an impressive 16 blocks (1.33/set) last week as the Patriots recorded 30 blocks (2.50/set) as a team in Texas last weekend.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs have not played Cal Poly Humboldt since 1997 and are 1-1 against the Jacks.  They won a 4-set home match on Sept. 3, 1994 before falling in three sets in a neutral-site encounter in Chico, California on Oct. 24, 1997.
 
The Mavs' only previous match against Fresno Pacific was on Sept. 6, 2019, when the Mavs swept the Sunbirds at that year's Oredigger Volleyball Classic in Golden.
 
The Mavs are also 1-0 all-time against Sioux Falls, having swept a Sept. 3, 2021 encounter at that year's Oredigger Volleyball Classic.
 
The Mavs are 8-0 all-time against DBU, with all eight previous matches coming on neutral courts.  The last of those was in the opening round of last year's NCAA Division II Tournament in Denver and was decided in five sets.  The Mavs have also recorded four 3-1 wins and three 3-set sweeps over the Patriots, having first played them in 2000.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will open up Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play next weekend and will play their first three RMAC matches away from home in a span of just five days.  They will be in Gunnison to face Western Colorado next Friday (Sept. 15) at 6 p.m. before heading to Durango to face Fort Lewis just 24 days later.  The Mavs then head to Salt Lake City for a Sept. 19 encounter at Westminster, which also begins at 6 p.m.
 
The Mavs will then return home to face sixth-ranked MSU Denver on Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.