GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After extending their winning streak to a season-long five matches with a pair of weekend home wins, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team will head out on the road for their second extended road trip of the season which will see them play three conference matches in a span of five days.
The Mavs went 2-1 in a similar 3-match span from Sept. 27-Oct. 1.
The nation's 17
th-ranked Mavericks, 13-3 overall and tied for second place in the RMAC standings with a 5-1 conference mark, will begin the stretch on Friday at 6 p.m. at UCCS (8-8, 3-3 RMAC) in Colorado Springs. They then head to Denver to face Regis (9-7), which is tied with the Mavericks in the conference standings, just a half-match behind national poll No. 2 MSU Denver, which is 5-0 in conference play.
The Mavericks then wrap up the trip with a Tuesday encounter at Chadron State (4-12, 0-6 RMAC) in Chadron, Nebraska. That match will begin at 6 p.m.
All three matches will be streamed on the
RMAC Network by the various institutions and live statistics links for each match can be found at the links above.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks were at home for both of their matches last weekend and extended their overall winning streak to five and their home-court winning streak to six with triumphs over CSU Pueblo and Adams State.
The Mavericks led over CSU Pueblo 2-0 and had mid-set leads in both the third and the fourth set only to be forced to five by the ThunderWolves. However, the Mavericks used an 8-0 run in the fifth set to win the decisive frame, 15-7 to knock the ThunderWolves out of a first place tie in the RMAC standings.
The Mavericks were then able to defeat Adams State in four sets on Saturday afternoon, taking the first, third and fourth frames while coming from behind in the third and the fourth to close out the victory.
Complete recaps of both matches can be found below.
250… 251 and counting
Maverick Head Coach
Dave Fleming claimed his 250
th career RMAC win on Friday night against CSU Pueblo before winning his 251
st career match against Adams State. Now in his 20
th year in charge of the Maverick program, Fleming is the longest-serving and winningest active head coach in the RMAC, racking up 380 overall career wins and a .677 winning percentage (380-181) in his tenure.
He and his Maverick squads have fared even better in conference play, as Fleming now has an impressive .730 winning percentage (251-93) when coaching conference matches.
He is just one of six RMAC Coaches to have 300 or more overall wins while coaching in the league.
Fleming has been named as the RMAC Coach of the Year four times and has guided the program to four total RMAC regular season and tournament titles and to three other RMAC West Division crowns. They have had winning campaigns in 18 of his 19 previous seasons and have reached 20 wins eight times, including in each of the last three seasons after going 15-1 to win the RMAC title in the spring of 2021, an abbreviated season.
The Mavs also have reached the NCAA Tournament ten times under Fleming, including in each of the last three.
Awards Sweep
The Mavericks
swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Player of the Week awards for the first time this season on Monday as
Sierra Hunt received her first career RMAC Offensive Player of the Week award after racking up a conference-leading 44 combined kills on .389 hitting during the Mavs' 2-0 week. She is also the first Maverick to earn the offensive honor this season.
Meanwhile,
Sabrina VanDeList recorded her third RMAC Setter of the Week award of the season and the 17
th of her career after putting up her most productive weekend of the season to date. She recorded season-highs for both assists (60) and digs (16) in Friday's win over CSU Pueblo and followed that up with 52 assists, 13 digs and five kills in Saturday's victory against Adams State.
CMU junior libero
Allison Waller was also named as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season and the fifth time in her career after recording 45 digs in the Mavs' two wins. She averaged 5.00 per set, tallying a season-high 26 against CSU Pueblo, a mark that was just one shy of career-high, before digging up a match-high 19 Grizzly attacks on Saturday against Adams State.
Back on top
Although she had already led in the per set average categories, Maverick outside hitter
Sydney Leffler has re-taken the RMAC lead for both total kills and total points. Leffler had 35 kills last weekend, recording 20 in Friday's win over CSU Pueblo before adding 15 in the win over Adams State. She now has 233 total kills this season, three more than South Dakota Mines counterpart Alessandra Meoni, who has taken 564 swings this season, 13 more than Leffler.
Leffler also leads the RMAC with 269 ½ total points, 5 ½ more than Meoni.
Both players have now played 57 total sets as Meoni and the Hardrockers had just one match last week.
In the current per set averages, Leffler is averaging 4.09 kills and 4.73 points per set, ahead of Meoni's 4.09 and 4.64 marks.
Leffler also led all four categories in 2023 en route to RMAC Player of the Year and First Team AVCA All-America honors.
200 Combo
The Mavericks are the only team in the RMAC to have two players with 200 or more kills as redshirt junior
Sierra Hunt has been steadily climbing the ladder to become one of the RMAC's top attackers. An AVCA Honorable Mention All-American at the outside hitter position in 2022, Hunt redshirted due to injury last year before being moved to the right side this season.
She has been proving to be more and more comfortable in her new position in recent weeks and has led or co-led the Mavericks in kills in each of their last six matches. Hunt recorded a career-high 24 kills on .500 hitting in Friday night's win and added 20 more in the 4-set win over Adams State on Saturday.
She now has 213 kills this season to rank third in the RMAC behind only teammate Syndey Leffler and South Dakota Mines' Allesandra Meoni. Hunt also stands third in the conference with her per set average of 3.74 and is also third in the league with her 4.11 points per set average.
Hunt also ranks ninth in the RMAC with her .329 attack percentage.
Remove the Asterisk
Maverick setter
Sabrina VanDeList set the CMU record for career assists earlier this season against Fort Lewis when she surpassed Jordyn Moody, who recorded 4,202 in her 2011-14 career.
VanDeList, who is using her NCAA COVID waiver to play a fifth season this fall, did have the luxury of playing a partial and disjointed 2021 spring season as a freshman, appearing in 16 matches and 57 sets while helping the Mavericks run a 6-2 attack that year.
VanDeList recorded 358 assists that season and now has 4,516 throughout her career, the third most amongst active NCAA Division II players.
Excluding her true freshman season, VanDeList has recorded 4,158 assists in her 3 ½ full and "normal" seasons, which is just 44 shy Moody's record for a 4-year stint, a mark VanDeList will almost certainly surpass during the upcoming road trip.
Hall of Honor
Jordyn Moody will be enshrined in the CMU Hall of Honor during Homecoming weekend activities and will become the tenth Maverick volleyball player to receive that honor.
The former all-American and record-setting setter still holds the CMU single-season record for assists and led the Mavericks to their best Division II era season as a senior in 2014, when the Mavs won 20 consecutive matches during a 29-4 season that saw the Mavs win the RMAC Regular Season co-title and the RMAC Tournament crown before hosting and advancing to the South Central Regional Tournament final.
More about Moody's accomplishments can be seen here.
The other Maverick volleyball players to be enshrined (year of induction) includes: Kathy Holthus-Daniels (1998), Shane Forrest (2001) and Phyllis Jennings-Johnson (2001), Heather Legge-Nieslanik (2003), Amy Miller-Brammer(2005), Pam Glenn-Hagar (2010), Jeanette Crosby-Dahl (2016), Stacey Vogel (2017) and Nikki Green-Kneuer (2021)
Quick Starters
In addition to continuing their overall and home-court winning streaks last weekend, the Mavericks continued another winning streak of sorts as they have won the first set in all 16 of their matches this season.
CMU has gone on to sweep eight matches this year and have won four other times in four sets. They have lost the second, third and fourth sets after taking the lead in in their three overall losses.
Friday's victory over CSU Pueblo was the Mavs' first 5-set match of the season.
Home Sweet Home
The Mavericks have consistently taken advantage of their home and supportive crowd in Brownson Arena, something that did not change last weekend. With their two home wins over CSU Pueblo and Adams State, the Mavs raised their 2024 home record to 8-1. The Mavs have not lost more than a single home match in each of the previous six seasons, a streak they will try to extend this year.
The Mavs were 13-1 at home last year and went 8-1 in 2022. After last weekend, the Mavericks are now 61-7 (.897) since the start of 2018 at home. The Mavs are also 97-15 (.866) in their last 112 home matches since the start of 2014.
The Mavs also went 9-1 at home in 2021, with their only loss coming to MSU Denver, which has been the only conference team to beat CMU at home in the past three seasons.
The Mavs also 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.
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 13 seasons since and including 2012, going 112-24 (.824) since the start of 2012.
They have three remaining regular season home matches and are currently in position to at least host the first round of the RMAC Tournament.
In the polls
Despite their two wins last week, the Mavericks slipped one spot to 17
th in the latest
American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll, which was released on Monday afternoon.
CMU has now been ranked amongst the nation's top 25 in 34 consecutive polls since early in the 2022 season. They have hovered between No. 15-18 in all seven editions of the poll this season, including the preseason poll.
Tampa (10-0) once again the No. 1 spot in this week's poll and is receiving 41 of the 47 possible first place votes while MSU Denver (14-1) remained second in the poll and is now receiving two first place votes. Undefeated Nebraska-Kearney (19-0) received a first place vote this week and is third in the poll while fellow undefeated and Ferris State (17-0) sits fourth. St. Cloud State also remained steady in the No. 5 spot while Cal Poly Pomona, which received three first place votes, moved up two spots to sixth ahead of Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State (Neb.).
West Texas A&M is ranked ninth while Chaminade rounds out the top 10.
Concordia-St. Paul (14-4), a team the Mavericks defeated on the opening weekend of the season, is now ranked 11
th while Angelo State (15-2), a team that beat the Mavericks a week later is still 14th.
Dallas Baptist is now a fifth NCAA Division II South Central Regional team in the poll as the Patriots moved into the No. 25 spot after receiving votes last week
About the Opponents
UCCS (Friday- 6 p.m.)
The Mountain Lions will enter Friday's match with even 8-8 overall and 3-3 RMAC records but have won just one of their last four matches after getting out to a 4-0 and 6-3 start earlier in the season. They split road matches last weekend, winning at Chadron State in five sets on Friday before falling in four sets at Colorado Christian on Saturday.
Third-year Head Coach Tara Hittle relies heavily on freshman outside hitters Payton Tompkins and Emily Pruitt who have combined for more 397 of the team's 794 total kills. Tompkins is 10
th in the RMAC with her 3.30 per set kill average and leads the team with 208 while Pruitt has recorded 194 to average 3.13 per set and rank 13
th in the RMAC.
Sydnee Walker is the only other Mountain Lion in triple digits for kills with 126, good for a 2.10 per set average.
Setters Audrey Dowd and Maylen Mitrovich have combined for 619 assists and both have 15 service aces while Walker leads the team in that category with 19.
Avery Ahlers leads the Mountain Lions with 47 blocks (0.76/set) while Mackenzie Ransom ranks ninth in the RMAC for digs, averaging 4.00 per set. Tompkins is second on the team in that category with 170, a 2.70 per set average.
As one would expect with a .500 record, the Mountain Lions rank near the middle of the pack in nearly every team statistical category. They are fifth in service aces, averaging 1.57 per set.
Regis (Saturday – 3 p.m.)
The Rangers are the hottest team in the RMAC and have won seven consecutive matches after a 2-7 start against tough national-level opposition. They are currently tied with the Mavs for second place in the RMAC standings with a 5-1 conference record and will host Westminster on Friday evening before taking on CMU.
Eighth-year Head Coach Joel List lost much of his perennially-powerful team due to graduation after the 2023 season but has used returners Halle Theis and Amelia Davis to lead this year's team. Theis, a graduate student and outside hitter, has put down 198 kills and is ninth in the RMAC with her 3.41 per set average. Davis, a senior middle blocker, has recorded 158 kills and is the RMAC's top blocker with 82 rejections, a 1.41 per set average that puts her seventh in the national statistics.
Junior Braiziah Dixon is also averaging more than a block per set (1.08) to help the Rangers to the top spot in the RMAC team statistics at 2.84 blocks per set.
Freshman setter Reagan Hickey is third in the RMAC statistics for assists per set (11.05) while Bre Skala ranks third in the conference for digs (4.69/set) and leads the Rangers with 21 service aces (0.36/set) to rank 11
th in the conference.
Chadron State (Tuesday – 6 p.m.)
The Eagles are 4-12 overall but are still looking for their first RMAC win and currently have an 0-6 record in conference play. They lost home matches to UCCS and Regis last weekend but did defeat RMAC foes South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State in RMAC Regional Pod action the previous week.
Alejandra Briseno leads the Eagles with 130 kills (2.57/set) while Kally Kirkwood has put down 107 (2.20/set).
Kendyl Kirkwood has 260 assists while Rylee Ward has registered 158. Avery Lacy has recorded 19 service aces to pace the Eagles in that category.
Aiyana Fujiyama leads the team with 53 blocks and ranks eighth in the RMAC with her 0.95 per set average.
Alondra Hernandez is one of the top liberos in the RMAC, having recorded a league-high 283 digs. She also places the conference with her 4.96 per set average.
Series Histories
The Mavericks hold a 33-8 lead over UCCS in the Division II era series since 1994 and have won seven straight matches over the Mountain Lions. The Mavs have also won four straight meetings in Colorado Springs since 2015.
Maverick Head Coach
Dave Fleming is 16-6 against the Mountain Lions in his tenure and is 2-0 against Mountain Lion counterpart Tara Hittle, in her third year in charge of the UCCS program.
The Mavs are 19-26 against Regis since 1994 as the teams have split the last ten matches evenly. The Mavs, who won two of the three match-ups last year, are just 3-12 against the Rangers in the Regis Fieldhouse and have not defeated the Rangers there since 2012.
Fleming is 14-17 against Regis and 5-6 against Joel List, who took over the Ranger program in 2017 after serving as an assistant for the Rangers for the prior 11 years.
The Mavericks have dominated the series with Chadron State winning each of the last 29 meetings since 1995, when the Eagles last claimed a win in Chadron. Twelve of the Mavs' wins during the streak had come on the road in Chadron.
CMU is 35-3 against the Eagles in the Division II era. Fleming is a perfect 19-0 against them and is 5-0 against his Chadron counterpart Jennifer Stadler. The Mavericks have dropped just six sets to the Eagles under Fleming.
Up Next
After the road trip, the Mavericks will return home for a single match on Saturday, Oct. 26 against Colorado Christian before heading back to Denver to face Regis and MSU Denver in RMAC Power Pod matches in the Auraria Event Center on Nov. 1 and 2.
