DENVER— Senior outside hitter Sydney Leffler recorded a match-high 21 kills and her sixth double-double of the season while redshirt junior right side Sierra Hunt put down 16 more to lead the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks to their first win at Regis University in 15 years on Saturday afternoon here in the Regis Fieldhouse.
 
The Mavericks' 4-set (25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 25-15) win was their seventh straight this season and was the first away win over the Rangers since 2009.
 
The nation's 17^th-ranked Mavs, improved to 15-3 overall and also snapped the Rangers' 8-match winning streak while taking sole possession of second place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings at 7-1, just a half-match behind national poll No. 2 MSU Denver, which is 7-0 in RMAC play and 16-1 overall after sweeping South Dakota Mines just miles away in the Auraria Event Center to knock the Hardrockers down to fifth place behind the winner of Saturday night's Colorado Christian/CSU Pueblo match.  The Rangers were tied with CMU coming in to the day but fell to 6-2 in conference play and to 10-8 overall and will be tied for third with the winner of that match.
 
Leffler hit .348 on the afternoon and also recorded ten digs and four blocks while Hunt was nearly as efficient, finishing with a .345 attack percentage as well as five digs and a pair of blocks.  Leffler has now recorded five double-doubles in CMU's last six matches.
 
Meanwhile, Nicole Martin was also in double-figures for kills with 11 recording three blocks.  Fellow middle Stormi Tadlock finished with a season-high six rejections.
 
Meanwhile, Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList dished out 48 assists while recording eight digs and two aces.  CMU libero Allison Waller had 17 digs and four service aces and was perfect on 14 service receptions to lead the back row.  Defensive specialist Hahni Johnson also tallied 11 digs.
 
The Mavericks out-hit the Rangers .215-.074 and finished with a 60-38 advantage in total kills while both teams blocked well, combining for 24.  The Rangers, the top blocking team in the RMAC finished with 13 while CMU kept pace with 11, their second highest total of the season.
 
Ranger junior Braiziah Dixon participated in eight of those while Lindsey Cure recorded six block assists.
 
Halle Theis finished with 11 kills to lead the Rangers in that category, but also hit just .105 as both teams committed 28 attacking errors throughout the afternoon.  Amelia Davis also had ten kills and five blocks for the hosts but was guilty of ten of those errors.
 
Both teams struggled in the opening set as the Mavs moved to 18-0 in the opening set of matches this season despite hitting just .085.  The Rangers were as sloppy committing nine attack errors while hitting .000 in the opening frame, which saw the Mavs come from 21-19 down to win the set on a 6-2 run.
 
Leffler recorded three consecutive kills to trigger that spurt and added another after teaming with Tadlock to block Theis as Marli Clausi served the Mavs to a 24-22.
 
A Theis service ace cut the gap to 24-23.  However, Tadlock recorded one of her five total kills to close out the set.
 
The Mavs rode that momentum to a 5-1 early lead in the second but watches the Rangers go on an 8-0 run of their own to take a 9-5 lead.  The Mavs then battled back from 15-11 to tie the set at 15 and were still within a point at 21-20 on another Leffler kill before the Rangers were able to go on to win the set on a service error.
 
After hitting .225 in a cleaner second set, the Mavs were even more impressive in the third, hitting .467 as Hunt and Martin combined for four kills in a 9-4 extend run that put the Mavs up 20-15.  Freshman Karsen Breeding and Leffler then recorded kills from the outside as the Mavs took advantage of three Ranger hitting errors and a set-clinching Clausi service ace to claim the set.
 
The Mavs then recorded 12 fourth set kills and took advantage of five blocks and five other Ranger hitting errors to close out the match.  CMU led 16-12 but went on a pair of 3-0 runs separated by just one point to build a 22-13 lead before finishing the match on kills by Leffler and Martin followed by one of Waller's four aces.
 
After snapping what was a 9-match road losing streak against the Rangers, the Mavericks will now enjoy a day off in Denver before heading to Chadron, Nebraska on Monday in preparations for Tuesday night's match against the Chadron State College Eagles, who are 4-13 overall and 0-7 in the RMAC heading into a Saturday night road match at Adams State.
 
They Mavs will meet up with the Rangers again in 13 days when the two teams tangle in an RMAC Power Pod encounter at MSU Denver on Friday, Nov. 1.  In between, the Mavs will host Colorado Christian next Saturday (Oct. 26).