RAPID CITY, S.D.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team's 14-match winning streak was stopped by the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers in five sets on Saturday afternoon here in the King Center.
 
The Mavericks won the first set and dominated the fourth but were not able to complete the comeback as the Hardrockers won the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead before pulling out a 15-13 win in the decisive fifth set in what was the regular season finale for both teams.
 
The victory 21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 13-25, 15-13 was South Dakota Mines' first ever win over the Mavericks in 12 all-time meetings and moved them to 18-8 overall and to 11-3 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
The nation's 14^th-ranked Mavericks fell to 22-4 overall and to 12-2 in the conference play but will still be the No. 2 seed for next week's RMAC Tournament.  The 'Rockers will be the third seed. 
 
Both will be at home for their respective quarterfinal round match-ups on Tuesday night but could meet again in the semifinal round next Friday if they were both to win their respective tournament openers.
 
Although the Mavericks were unable to overcome 31 attacking errors throughout the afternoon, their were some bright spots.
 
Maverick setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied 42 assists and a season-high 17 digs to record the 50^th double-double of her illustrious career.  She also added two service aces and six kills.
 
CMU Libero Allison Waller also had a season-high 26 digs while Sydney Leffler put down a match-high 17 kills, out-dueling Hardrocker opposite hitter Alessandra Meoni, who had 16.  Those two lead the conference in kills per set and total kills with Leffler holding a slight lead in the average category at 4.08.
 
Maverick right side Sierra Hunt also added 10 kills and a career-high eight blocks while freshman outside hitter Karsen Breeding also put down ten kills to match her season-high while Nicole Martin and Stormi Tadlock had nine apiece from the middle.
 
Fifth-year senior defensive specialist Hahni Johnson also recorded a season-high 14 digs.
 
Meanwhile, the Hardrockers also received 13 kills and nine digs from Jenna Curtis while setter Kiley Metzger had 37 assists and 15 digs.  Libero Hannah Benis also tallied 28 digs to pad her RMAC lead.

The Mavericks were playing catch-up for much of the afternoon and fell behind 8-1 in the opening set before rallying to go ahead 17-15 on a VanDeList ace after Waller served five straight points earlier in the set to pull the Mavs back into it.
 
The set would then be tied at 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 before kills by Breeding and Leffler followed by a Jordan Woods service ace and VanDeList block gave the Mavericks the opening frame.
 
The Mavs also trailed 8-2 early in the second set and partially recovered to pull within 10-7 and 11-8 before a 4-0 Hardrocker run helped the hosts gain some breathing room before going on to win the set.

The Mavs were guilty of seven hitting errors in each of the first two sets and were guilty of 11 in the third as an 8-0 South Dakota Mines run broke open what was a 13-13 tie.
 
However, the Mavericks cleaned up their game in the fourth set, hitting .417 in the frame as Leffler recorded seven kills on .636 hitting.
 
She had three of those on consecutive points as the Mavericks went on a 6-1 run to build a 14-9 lead.
 
They then led 16-12 before going on a 9-1 run at the end of the set as Waller and Johnson served the Mavs to the lead while Martin and Leffler combined for five kills in that stretch.
 
The fifth set was close throughout as neither team led by more than two points in a back-and-forth affair that featured 11 ties and five lead changes.
 
The Mavericks had a slight 11-10 lead on a Hunt block before a Meoni kill and Metzger push kill into the corner gave the Hardrockers a 12-11 lead.
 
The teams then traded points before a Martin kill tied the set at 13.  However, the Hardrockers won the final two points to close out the match.
 
The Mavericks will play Westminster University for the second straight Tuesday in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals after the Griffins (11-14) closed out the regular season with a Saturday win at Black Hills State to move to 7-7 in conference play and earn the No. 7 seed.
 
CMU swept last week's match and won in four sets earlier in the season over the Griffins in Salt Lake City on Oct. 1 in a RMAC Regional Pod match-up that was not counted in the conference standings.
 
More information about the RMAC Tournament can be found on the championship webpage.