GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Right side hitter Sierra Hunt recorded a career-high 24 kills and hit .500 as the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks used a big 8-0 run in the fifth set to avoid a reverse sweep and defeat the visiting CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves in five sets in intense Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball action on Friday night here in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks, who gave 20^th-year Head Coach Dave Fleming his 250^th career RMAC win, won the first sets by comfortable 25-21 and 25-16 margins before losing a 6-point lead in the latter half of the third, which CSU Pueblo pulled out, 27-25.  The ThunderWolves then won the fourth set 25-21 before the Mavericks used their big run to build a 12-5 lead in the decisive fifth, that they won 15-7.
 
The victory allowed the nation's 16^th-ranked Mavericks to improve to 12-3 overall and to 4-1 in RMAC play as they moved into a tie with the Pack (10-5) and Regis for second place in the RMAC standings.  The Mavericks also improved to 7-1 at home this season and knocked off the ThunderWolves for the fifth straight time this decade.
 
National poll No. 2 MSU Denver, which was idle on Friday, leads the RMAC with a 4-0 conference mark.
 
CMU played a 5-set match for the first time this season and has now won four consecutive matches for the first time this season.
 
Maverick senior outside hitter Syndey Leffler also recorded a big night with 20 kills and 12 digs, good for her third straight double-double while Mavericks setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied a season-high 60 assists and a season-high 16 digs for her third consecutive double-double as well.  Leffler also matched her season-high for kills with what was her third 20-kill effort of the campaign.
 
CMU junior Libero Allison Waller also added 26 digs, just one shy of her career-high, as the Mavericks finished with a 74-49 advantage in that category.  They also had a 78-49 advantage in total kills as redshirt sophomore outside hitter Erin Brown put down a career-high 14 while Nicole Martin added ten from the middle.
 
The Mavs also hit at an efficient .325 clip for the match and were at .516 in the first set and .500 in the all-important fifth.
 
That offensive prowess allowed them to overcome a season-high 16 service errors.
 
The Pack's Saide Scoville tallied 11 kills and 12 digs to lead her team in both categories while Kaitlyn Hall and Rayliene Joens both added ten kills in a balanced attack.
 
However, Hunt had 11 kills in the final two sets while Brown had eight of hers in the same stretch.  Leffler also recorded three in the final set as she gave the Mavs a 6-5 fifth-set lead early in what proved to be the decisive run with Waller behind the service line.  Brown also added a solo block and back-to-back kills at the end of that run, pushing the Mavericks in front 12-5.
 
The Mavs' final service error temporarily stopped the run before Hunt and Joens traded kills.
 
Leffler and Martin then recorded the final kills of the night giving the Mavericks their most important RMAC win of the season thus far.
 
CMU, which improved to a perfect 15-0 in the first sets of matches this year, came out firing offensively in the opening set, recording 19 kills, including seven from Hunt and six from Leffler.  VanDeList also had 18 assists in the set, which helped the Mavericks overcome three service errors and two of the ThunderWolves' four total service aces.
 
The Mavericks then cooled to a .185 attack percentage in the second set but held the ThunderWolves to just five total kills as the visitors committed five service errors, helping CMU to a 2-0 overall lead.
 
The Mavs then built a 15-9 lead in the third set and appeared that they were on their way to a 3-set sweep before the ThunderWolves went on a 9-3 spurt to tie the set at 18.
 
The frame was also knotted at 19, 20 and 21 before the ThunderWolves gained a 23-21 lead on a Maverick service error and hitting error.
 
However, Hunt and Brown put down kills to allow the Mavericks to the set once again at 23.
 
The teams then exchanged blows as the Mavericks fought off three set points before another hitting error eventually gave the ThunderWolves the set.
 
In the fourth, the Mavs were able to build another 15-12 lead but watched the ThunderWolves rally once again to take a 22-18 lead on a 10-3 run, capped by two Hall kills.  The Mavs did close to within 22-20 but would get no closer as the Pack forced a fifth set.
 
The ThunderWolves took a 5-4 lead early in that frame on back to -back Maverick hitting errors before the visitors committed one of their 12 overall service errors, triggering the Mavs' big run.
 
The Pack managed just three kills and a .053 attack percentage in the fifth set as Waller recorded six of the Mavs' 14 final-set digs.  VanDeList also added four in that frame.
 
The Mavericks will close out a 3-match home-stand on Saturday afternoon when they host Adams State University at 4 p.m.  The Grizzlies were swept at Westminster in Salt Lake City on Friday evening and will come into Brownson Arena with a 4-12 overall record and a 1-4 conference mark.