GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Coming off an historic win in Denver last Saturday and now riding an 11-match winning streak, the now nation's 14
th-ranked Colorado Mesa University volleyball team is preparing for their final two home matches of the regular season.
The Mavericks, 19-3 overall and 9-1 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, will play host to New Mexico Highlands University on Sunday at 1 p.m. before taking on Westminster University on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.
Sunday's match was originally scheduled for Saturday but has been pushed back.
The Mavs will still recognize their parents before Sunday's match and will recognize six players during Senior Night recognitions prior to Tuesday's match.
Tickets for both encounters can be purchased at
www.cmumavericks.com/tickets. Both matches
will be streamed on the RMAC Network and
live statistics can be found here.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks recorded a pair or RMAC Power Pod victories last weekend in Denver, defeating Regis in straight sets on Friday before coming back to record a 4-set win over then national poll No. 1 MSU Denver on Saturday. Neither victory counted in the RMAC standings but allowed the Mavericks extend their winning streak to 11 matches.
The Maverick trio of
Sierra Hunt,
Sydney Leffler and
Nicole Martin had 22, 21 and 21 kills, respectively over the weekend as setter
Sabrina VanDeList tallied 75 assists as well as five service aces. Libero
Allison Waller had 31 digs.
In Friday's sweep over Regis, Hunt and Leffler both had a dozen kills while Martin added 11 more on .588 hitting.
On Saturday, VanDeList registered 36 assists and 14 digs while adding three service aces and three blocks. She also had a career-high seven kills and hit .583. Waller added 14 digs.
Click on the links below for a complete recaps of both matches.
Down goes No. 1
The Mavericks' win over MSU Denver on Saturday was the first in program history over a No. 1 ranked team in the AVCA's NCAA Division II Coaches Poll. The Mavericks now have two wins over top five ranked teams this season, having defeated then No. 5 ranked Concordia-St. Paul on the opening day of the season.
MSU Denver dropped to fourth in this week's AVCA Poll. Concordia-St. Paul is currently ranked eighth.
CMU's win over the Roadrunners on Saturday was their first in the last nine matches against the Roadrunners and was their first fall season win over them since the 2018 RMAC Tournament Championship match. CMU also defeated the Roadrunners on Mar. 4, 2021 during the spring campaign.
It was also their first road win over the Roadrunners at the Auraria Event Center since 2015.
Double-Digit Win Streaks
The Mavericks have won 11 straight matches and have now posted six double-figure winning streaks under Head Coach
Dave Fleming and in their Division II history, including one in all five of the Mavs' seasons this decade.
The Mavs also won 11 straight matches in 2023, starting the year 11-0, after posting a 12-match winning streak from Sept. 24-Nov. 1 in 2022.
They also won 10 straight from Oct. 2-Nov. 5 during the 2021 fall season and started the 2021 spring season with a 15-match winning streak before finishing that COVID effected season with a 15-1 record.
The Mavs' longest winning streak in program history is 20 matches, which came in the 2014 season, when CMU went 29-4 while winning the RMAC Tournament and reaching the NCAA South Central Regional Final.
Their current streak is tied for fourth longest in their Division II era history (1992-Present) and with two wins at home, could extend the streak to 13, which would be the third longest in their Division II history.
Rivalry winning streaks
The Mavericks will also be looking to extend two other long winning streaks in their conference rivalries with their upcoming opponents. The Mavs have won 15 straight matches over New Mexico Highlands and are 24-1 at home against the Cowgirls in the Division II history.
NMHU's last win in Grand Junction was in 2000.
The Mavs have also won 18 straight matches against Westminster and have a 20-1 all-time record against the Griffins. The Mavs are 10-0 at home against the Griffins, whose lone win in the rivalry came back in 2015 in Salt Lake City.
The Quest for 20
The Mavericks are now just one win away from reaching the 20-win mark for the fourth straight season and for the ninth time under 20
th year Head Coach
Dave Fleming. The Mavs went 24-5 in 2023, 22-7 in 2022 and 21-7 in 2021.
Setter of the Week now one away
Sabrina VanDeList was named as the RMAC's Setter of the Week for the fourth time this season on Monday after averaging 10.71 assists, 3.00 digs and 0.71 service aces per week. The award was also the 18
th of her illustrious career.
VanDeList, CMU's all-time record holder for career assists (4,765) and service aces (175) also recorded her 49
th career double-double with 36 assists and 14 digs in Saturday's win over MSU Denver. She has registered ten of those double-doubles this year and will need just one more to record the 50
th of her career.
Senior Night
As mentioned earlier, the Mavericks will recognize six players prior to Tuesday's match with Westminster, which could be their final career home match. The list of Maverick honorees includes
Sierra Hunt,
Hahni Johnson,
Sydney Leffler,
Stormi Tadlock,
Sabrina VanDeList and
Jordan Woods.
Hunt, who is eligible to return in 2025 for a sixth year and is listed as a redshirt junior on the roster after missing last year due to injury, Johnson and VanDeList have been with the Mavericks for five seasons, starting as freshman during the 2020-21 academic year, when the season was played during the spring of 2021. They helped the Mavericks go 15-1 and win the RMAC title that season and have been a part of three NCAA Tournament qualifying and 20+ win seasons since with a strong chance at extending those streaks again in 2024.
That group has compiled a 101-23 (.815) record heading into Sunday's match.
Leffler and Woods then joined the program in the fall of 2021 and have a combined 86-22 (.796) mark as Mavericks.
Tadlock came to CMU in January to play on the CMU beach volleyball team after spending 2 ½ years and three indoor seasons at fellow NCAA Division II institution Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. She joined the Maverick indoor team over the summer and leads the Mavericks in blocks with 66.
A look at the standings
The RMAC took a week off from official conference play last weekend as all 15 of the teams instead participated in five 3-team RMAC Power Pods. The make-up of those pods were based on last year's conference standings but the Power Pod matches did not count for the conference standings. The same was the case in early October when the RMAC squads played in Regional Pod matches.
However, conference counting matches resumed this week with one match between Western Colorado and Adams State on Thursday, which Adams State won.
Five more matches are slated for Friday with six more slated for Saturday before the Mavs' re-scheduled match with New Mexico Highlands on Sunday.
As of Friday morning, teams have between two and four conference matches remaining before the RMAC Tournament begins on Tuesday, Nov. 19 with the quarterfinal round, which is hosted by the top four seeds. The Friday, Nov. 22 semifinals and Saturday, Nov. 23 championship match will then be hosted by the highest remaining seed.
MSU Denver, which
leads the standings at 10-0, and the Mavericks (9-1) are the only two teams to have clinched a spot in the 8-team tournament thus far although South Dakota Mines and Regis, who are both 7-3, could clinch this weekend.
Colorado Christian, CSU Pueblo are all currently 6-4 and tied for fifth place in the conference while Western State dropped to seventh at 6-5 after falling in Alamosa on Thursday. Westminster currently occupies the No. 8 seed with a 5-5 record. Fort Lewis is just outside the RMAC Tournament chase at 5-6 while Adams State (5-7), UCCS (4-6) and Colorado School of Mines (4-6) are all within striking distance as well.
New Mexico Highlands, currently 2-8 in the conference standings, is also mathematically alive but must win this weekend to remain so. Black Hills State, which is 1-9, would need to win out and get lots of help to get involved in potential tiebreaker situation.
Chadron State (0-10) has been eliminated from RMAC Tournament contention.
The Mavericks will need just one more RMAC win to clinch the right to host a RMAC Tournament quarterfinal but would need to see MSU Denver drop two conference matches to have a shot at gaining the No. 1 seed.
Four Times 1K + 5K Watch
Maverick setter
Sabrina VanDeList, who is already the program's all-time leader in career assists with 4,765 will likely become the Maverick's first setter to eclipse the 1,000 assist mark in four different seasons during the upcoming homestand. She will enter the New Mexico Highlands match with a RMAC-leading 949 assists this season and is just 51 from the seasonal milestone. VanDeList tallied 1,126 assists as a redshirt freshman in 2021, 1,156 in 2022 and 1,176 in 2023 and is averaging a career-best 12.17 assists per set so far this season, a mark that puts her fourth in the national statistics.
She also recorded 358 assists in the spring of 2021 during an abbreviated and COVID effected season.
Her 4,765 career assists also rank her third amongst all active NCAA Division II players and seventh amongst all active NCAA players in all three divisions.
VanDeList has a strong shot at reaching the 5,000 career milestone after reaching the 4,000 mark early this season. The Mavericks have a minimum of five matches and likley six remaining on their 2024 schedule if they qualify for the NCAA Tournament. VanDeList would need to average 47 assists per match if the Mavs only played those five matches and her needed average would drop to 39.17 if the Mavs make the NCAA Tournament. Any post-season wins in the RMAC or NCAA Tournaments would further lower her needed average. She has averaged 43.14 assists per match so far in 2024.
Ms. Efficient
Maverick sophomore middle hitter
Nicole Martin has a .379 attack percentage this season, climbing to a mark that puts her second in the RMAC behind only Regis' Braiziah Dixon (.384) and 22
nd in the national statistics. Since and including hitting a season-best .636 in an Oct. 18 win over UCCS in her hometown of Colorado Springs, Martin has recorded 74 kills while making just ten hitting errors. She is hitting .500 on 128 swings in that 6-match stretch.
Martin also hit .480 and .444 in wins over Western Colorado (Oct. 5) and CSU Pueblo (Oct. 11) prior to this recent stretch and has put down ten or more kills in nine straight matches.
Battle for the RMAC Lead
Maverick senior outside hitter
Sydney Leffler has recorded 320 kills this season and leads the RMAC in kills per set with a 4.10 per average. However, she now trails South Dakota Mines counterpart Alessandra Meoni in total kills. Meoni has 332 in 82 sets played, four more than Leffler and the Mavs have played. Meoni is second in the per set average at 4.05 (4.048) while Adams State's Cindy Garcia is third in that category with a 4.05 (4.046) per set average.
Leffler also leads the RMAC in total points per set at 4.75, ahead of Meoni (4.59) and Garcia (4.38). Meoni has 376 ½, six more than Leffler's total of 370 ½.
Leffler also led the RMAC in kills, kills per set, total points and points per set in 2023 and will have the opportunity to go head-to-head against Meoni's Hardrockers in the regular season finale next Saturday (Nov. 16).
The Veteran Court boss
Now in his 20
th year in charge of the Maverick program, Head Coach
Dave Fleming is the longest-serving and winningest active head coach in the RMAC, racking up 386 overall career wins and a .681 winning percentage (386-181) in his tenure.
He and his Maverick squads have fared even better in conference play, as Fleming now has an impressive .732 winning percentage (254-93) when coaching conference matches.
Fleming recently claimed his 250
th career RMAC win at home against CSU Pueblo.
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.
Mav-Tober
The Mavericks finished the month of October with a perfect 9-0 record, a feat they also were able to accomplish in 2022. They also went 6-2 in that month last season and were 9-1 in the month during the 2021 campaign.
The Mavs have posted a 32-3 record in the month of October this decade.
Quick Starters
In addition to continuing their overall winning streak last weekend, the Mavericks continued another winning streak of sorts as they have won the first set in all 22 of their matches this season.
CMU has gone on to sweep 11 matches this year and have won seven other times in four sets. They have lost the second, third and fourth sets after taking the lead in in their three overall losses and lost the third and the fourth sets before pulling out a 5-set win over CSU Pueblo on Oct. 11.
Home Sweet Home
The Mavericks have consistently taken advantage of their home and supportive crowd in Brownson Arena, something they hope to continue in their upcoming home matches. The Mavs have won seven straight home matches and are 9-1 at home this season. 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' upcoming matches will be their last home affairs of the regular season, although the Mavericks currently in position to at least host the first round of the RMAC Tournament.
The Mavs were 13-1 at home last year and went 8-1 in 2022. After last weekend, the Mavericks are now 62-7 (.899) since the start of 2018 at home. The Mavs are also 98-15 (.867) in their last 113 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 113-24 (.825) since the start of 2012.
In the polls
After their historic win over MSU Denver, the Mavericks moved up two spots to a season-best 14
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 37 consecutive polls since the first regular season poll of the 2022 campaign. They had hovered between No. 15-18 in the first nine editions of the poll this season, including the preseason poll, prior to this week.
Ferris State (24-0) is the new No. 1 team in the poll for the first time since 2015 and is receiving 40 of the 47 first place votes. St. Cloud State also moved up a spot to second and is garnering three first place votes. Cal Poly Pomona is now third and has two first place votes. MSU Denver dropped three spots after falling to the Mavs but is still picking up the remaining two first place votes.
Nebraska-Kearney, West Texas A&M and Chaminade all remained in the No. 5-7 spots while Concordia St.-Paul flip-flopped with Tampa, which was ranked No. 1 for six straight weeks, into the No. 8 spot. Wayne State (Neb.) rounds out the top 10.
Notably, Angelo State, which defeated the Mavs on Sept. 14, also moved up one spot to 13
th while Point Loma Nazarene, the only other undefeated team in the country (Ferris State) is still ranked 15
th.
Dallas Baptist is a fifth South Central Regional team in the poll at the No. 22 spot but dropped a Wednesday night match.
Regional "Rankings"
Unsurprisingly, considering their impressive record, he Mavericks also learned that they are one of the ten teams in the first edition of the
NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings, which were announced on Wednesday.
Those rankings were released in alphabetical order. The rankings will be numerically ordered into the next two weekly editions leading into the NCAA Division II Tournament Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 25. Eight teams from the region, made up of the 15 RMAC squads and 16 eligible Lone Star Conference squads, will ultimately be selected for the regional portion of the NCAA Tournament, which will be played Dec. 5-7 or Dec. 6-8.
The winners of the LSC and RMAC Tournaments will receive automatic bids. Six other teams will be selected based on the final regional rankings, which factor in eight categories listed below.
- Division II in-region winning percentage
- Division II winning percentage
- Division II strength of schedule (opponents' average winning percentage and opponents' opponents' average winning percentage)
- Division II head-to-head competition
- Results versus Division II common opponents.
- In-region Rating Percentage Index (RPI)
- Kevin Pauga Index (KPI)
Late-season performance (last 10 matches)
According to Inkblot Sports, which follows the ranking process very closely and accurately, the Mavericks have the region's third best Division II record (19-3, .864), the fourth best in-region record (15-2, .882), the eighth best strength of schedule (.547) and the fourth best RPI (.619) through Thursday matches.
They also rank fourth best KPI (.379), which is the 24
th best mark nationally.
CMU is one of four RMAC teams in the top ten of the rankings alongside Colorado Christian, MSU Denver and Regis. The Mavs are 4-1 against those teams.
The LSC has six regionally-ranked teams in Angelo State, Dallas Baptist, St. Mary's, Texas Woman's and UT Tyler. The Mavs only match against an LSC team this season was against Angelo State, which they lost.
About the Opponents
New Mexico Highlands (Saturday – 4 p.m.)
The Cowgirls are currently 5-17 overall and 2-8 in RMAC play heading into their match at Westminster that has been moved back to Saturday. They ended a 6-match losing streak with a 5-set neutral-court win over Black Hills State in Gunnison last Friday (Nov. 1) during that RMAC Power Pod at Western Colorado.
Rookie head coach Meg Grose has already made strides with the program, which won just three matches last year. She has just two seniors and three juniors on the youthful roster than includes nine sophomores and five freshman.
Outside hitters Jaylee Gonzales and Angelina Burton lead the Cowgirl attack. Gonzales, one of the sophomores, has put down 190 kills (2.41/set) while Burton, a senior, is right behind with 178 kills (2.31/set). They are two of just six Cowgirls to have played in every math this season and have made 39 combined starts.
Freshman outside hitter Meg Pfannerstill is third on the team with 141 kills (1.74/set) and leads the team in digs (2.44/set).
Setter Abby Carlsen is second behind Pfannerstill with 185 digs (2.31/set) and has recorded 506 assists (6.33/set). She also paces the team with 14 service aces (0.18/set), one more than Pfannerstill and two more than Gonzales.
Senior middle blockers Jada Lawson has recorded 68 blocks (0.84/set) to lead the Cowgirls and is 13
th in the RMAC with that average.
Westminster (Tuesday – 6 p.m.)
The Griffins are 9-12 overall and 5-5 in RMAC play but have fallen into a rough patch, dropping five of their last six matches and into a dog fight for the final RMAC Tournament spots. They started the season with a 6-3 record.
Sophomore outside hitter Claire Cook leads Coach Sue Delaney's squad with 240 kills (3.00/set) and has been in double figures during seven of the Griffins' last nine matches, while her five best kill totals of her career in that stretch. She is also hitting a solid .267 and hit. 438 with nine kills in the first match against the Mavericks this season.
CMU beat Westminster in four sets back on Oct. 1 in Salt Lake City.
Junior Breegan Huntsman, who had a double-double with a team-leading 11 kills (10 digs) in the Oct. 1 loss to CMU, is second with 217 kills (2.68/set) while junior middle hitter Mailei Myers is third on the team with 157 kills (1.94/set) while hitting .337. She also has a team-leading 30 service aces (0.37/set) and is seventh in the RMAC for both attack percentage and aces. She is also 14
th in the league for blocking, recording 68 (0.84/set).
Myers had seven kills, four blocks and two aces against the Mavericks last month.
Leila Cornejo, who has 407 assists (5.09/set) and Josie Gerritsen, who has 356 (4.45/set) split time in the setting position.
Libero Alanna Lee has tallied 340 digs (4.20/set) to rank seventh in the conference. She led the Mavericks with 14 digs in the earlier match against the Mavericks.
Series Histories
As mentioned earlier, the Mavericks have dominated the rivalry with their two upcoming opponents. The Mavs are 45-10 against New Mexico Highlands in the Division II era (1992-Present) and have won 15 straight, 22 of the last 23 and 27 of the last 29 matches against the Cowgirls. The last four victories and seven of the last ten have come in straight sets, with the other three in that stretch decided in four.
Maverick Head Coach
Dave Fleming is 25-2 against the Cowgirls, who have dropped 17 straight matches to the Mavericks in Brownson Arena.
Fleming and the Mavs are 20-1 against Westminster and have a 10-0 home court record against the Griffins. Fleming is 5-0 against third-year Griffin Coach Sue Delaney.
Up Next
The Mavericks will make a trip to South Dakota to close out the regular season playing at Black Hills State in Spearfish next Friday (Nov. 15) at 2 p.m. before taking on South Dakota Mines at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 16.
The Mavs will then play a RMAC Tournament quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
