COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— While her schoolmates have been preparing for Saturday's Colorado Mesa University Homecoming festivities on Saturday in Grand Junction, Maverick sophomore Nicole Martin had a tremendous outing in her home-coming as well on Friday night, helping lead the Mavs to a hard-fought 4-set volleyball win over the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Mountain Lions here in the Gallogly Events Center.
 
Martin, a native of Colorado Springs and a 2023 Cheyenne Mountain High School graduate, recorded 15 kills and committed  just one attack error while hitting a season-best .636 to help push the Mavericks to what was their sixth straight victory of the 2024 season and their eighth straight over her hometown team.
 
Friday's match was the first of Martin's collegiate career in Colorado Springs and was her first action against the Mountain Lions.
 
Her steady play in the middle was huge for the Mavs, who won the first and third sets by 25-22 margins before squeaking out the fourth, 26-24 to close out the match.  UCCS took the second set by a 25-22 score as well.
 
The Mavs also received some big production from senior outside hitter Sydney Leffler, who registered 18 kills and 14 digs, and Sierra Hunt, who finished with 11 kills.  However, those pin hitters were also guilty of 17 of CMU's 26 hitting errors, which the Mavericks were able to overcome in the end.
 
With Friday's victory, the nation's 17^th-ranked Mavericks improved to 14-3 overall and to 6-1 in the RMAC.  UCCS fell to 8-9 overall and to 3-4 in the conference as freshman outside hitters Emily Pruitt and Payton Tompkins combined for 32 kills in the losing effort.  Pruitt had 18 and hit .325 while Tompkins had 14 on .244 hitting.
 
The Mavs finished with a slight 61-55 advantage in total kills but were out-hit .252 to .230.  CMU also finished with a defensive advantage of 58-51 in digs and 8-6 in blocks as Martin recorded a block solo and four block assists to lead the Mavs in that category as well.
 
Leffler and Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList both tallied 14 digs.
 
VanDeList also recorded 50 assists and finished with her fifth straight double-double and eighth of the season.  She also had fourth straight 50-plus night and set a career record of sorts. 
 
The reigning and now 17-time RMAC Setter of the Week has now recorded 4,566 career assists, including 4,208 in the last four seasons, a total that surpasses Jordyn Moody's former CMU record of 4,202. 
 
Moody was inducted into the CMU Athletics Hall of Honor on Friday night in Grand Junction.
 
VanDeList tallied 358 assists as a true freshman during the COVID-modified 2021 partial spring season and is now using a fifth season of eligibility, only possible because of the NCAA's blanket COVID eligibility waiver.
 
In Friday's win, the Mavs split the opening two sets after hitting an identical .189 in both.
 
They then trailed by an early 4-0 margin in the third before eventually coming back to take a 22-19 lead thanks to a 6-1 run that featured third Hunt kills, another from Leffler and an Allison Waller service ace, one of the Mavs' five.
 
The Mountain Lions then clawed back within 23-22 before Martin recorded a block and tandem block with VanDeList to close out the set.
 
Martin had five kills on just seven swings and recorded three blocks in that set alone and cooled slightly in the fourth, recording three kills.
 
However, freshman outside hitter Karsen Breeding helped provide yet another spark, tallying five of her six kills in the final frame, including the eventual match-clincher.
 
The Mavs faced an early 12-8 deficit in the fourth set but used n 8-1 run that featured a pair of Hahni Johnson service aces and two of Breeding's kills to take a 16-13 lead.
 
The Mavs later took a 21-17 lead on consecutive kills by Leffler and a VanDeList ace but saw the Mountains rally to tie the match at 23 on a successful video replace challenge.
 
The Mountain Lions then took a 24-23 set lead when Hunt was blocked.
 
However, Hunt fought off the UCCS set point with a kill before another UCCS challenge was unsuccessful, resulting in a Pruitt hitting error and a CMU match point at 25-24.
 
VanDeList then set Breeding for the final point of the night.
 
The Mavs will continue their 3-match road-trip with a high stakes Saturday afternoon encounter in Denver with the Regis University Rangers, the hottest team in the RMAC.  The Rangers (10-7) have won eight straight matches overall and are tied with the Mavs for second place in the RMAC standings at 6-1.  Both trail MSU Denver (6-0 RMAC) by just a half-match entering Saturday, which will also see fourth place South Dakota Mines (5-1 RMAC) play just miles away at MSU Denver's Auraria Event Center.
 
First serve for the Mavs' match in the Regis Fieldhouse is slated for 3 p.m.