GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After winning four straight and eight of their last nine duals, the Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball squad will host Trinidad State College in four matches during a revised weekend plan on Friday and Saturday at the CMU Beach Courts.
The Mavericks (8-3 overall) will play the National Junior College Athletic Association's Trojans (0-2) twice each day with matches slated for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. and Noon on Saturday.
The series of matches will be CMU's final home encounters of the season.
The rare home weekend was originally slated to include a pair of tri-duals. However, NCAA Division II McKendree University of Lebanon, Illinois will be unable to make the trip due to travel logistical issues relating to the snow storm in the Denver area.
Live Coverage
Weather permitting, the Mavericks will have a live streams both of Friday's duals on the RMAC Network. Each of the three courts will have a separate stream so fans can choose to follow their favorite players or use multiple screens to follow all of the action.
Live results of both of Friday's duals can also be accessed at the link above.
No live coverage is currently planned for Saturday although daily recaps will be posted on
www.cmumavericks.com. For inside content, fans are also encouraged to follow the team on their Instragam account (
@cmu_beachvb).
Last Time Out
The Mavericks dominated a pair of duals against another NJCAA foe in Central Wyoming College last Saturday. Those home duals were hastily arranged and were not a part of the Mavericks' original schedule.
CMU won both duals 5-0 and did not drop a set in the official duals nor in the five "exhibition" matches.
The Mavericks held their opponents to fewer than ten points in 20 of the 30 total sets as the main Maverick lineup continued to fly high while nine other Mavericks were able to see their first action of the spring season at home.
Results of both duals and the "exhibition" matches can be found at the links below.
New Pairs
Maverick Head Coach
David Skaff also mixed up some of his pairs in the Mar. 9 matches with the Central Wyoming Rustlers as
Sabrina VanDeList paired with
Savannah Spitzer to record wins at No. 3 while
Barett Nolan and
Gracyn Spresser joined forces to record a pair of wins in the fourth flight.
Meanwhile,
Savannah Ott had a new partner in
Taylor Scherff, who saw her first action of the spring.
VanDeList had been playing with
Cedar Bellows throughout the opening nine duals of the season, mostly at No. 5. Meanwhile, Spitzer and Spresser had been playing together at No. 3.
Nolan had been playing with
Savannah Ott at No. 5.
Smooth sailing at the top
Although the Mavericks shifted their partnership and lineup for the duals against the Rustlers, they continued to remain stable and successful at the top of the lineup.
The Maverick No. 1 pair of
Hahni Johnson and
Amanda Ollinger improved to 10-1 with their comfortable 21-6, 21-4 and 21-14, 21-8 wins over Central Wyoming's Megan Hardman and Tehana Mo'o.
Meanwhile, CMU No. 2 duo
Riley Daugherty and
Sierra Hunt also ran their winning streak to four while improving to 9-2 on the season with their 21-10, 21-6 and 21-8, 21-7 wins over the Rustlers' Courtney Green and Khloe Hobson on Court 2.
Senior Day
The Mavericks will recognize six seniors during Senior Day festivities in between Saturday's two duals with the Trojans on what will be their final home matches of their respective careers.
The Mavericks' honorees will include
Hahni Johnson,
Savannah Ott,
Savannah Spitzer,
Sabrina VanDeList who have all been the Maverick program for four or five years. Graduate transfers
Cedar Bellows and
Amanda Ollinger will also be recognized after joining the Maverick program this year to attend graduate school after earlier collegiate athletic careers at Regis (indoor volleyball) and Iowa (basketball), respectively.
Perfect at home
The Mavericks raised their all-time program record at home to 16-0 with their wins over Central Wyoming last week.
The Mavs are 4-0 at home against Trinidad State, winning two Mar. 16, 2023 duals by 5-0 scores after winning by the same margin on Mar. 11 and 12, 2022.
The Mavs have also defeated Utah four times and went 4-0 at home last season with a pair of wins over Texas A&M-Kingsville. They have also defeated Colorado Northwestern Community College twice. Their other two home wins came over Salt Lake Community College (2022) and Colorado College's club team (2018).
McKendree was slated to become just the third NCAA opponent to ever visit Grand Junction this weekend.
About the Trojans
The Trojans began their season last Saturday playing in El Paso, Texas against UTEP, which welcomed the Trojans for what was the Miners' first ever home matches. The Miners won every match, dropping just one set in the 5-0 victories
Nikolina Werbick and Amya Speller won the second set of their No. 5 match in the second dual, Trinidad State's lone set win.
Last year's Trojan squad was winless as a team but did compete at the NJCAA National Championships.
They will head to Arizona after playing at CMU.
Up Next
The Mavs will head off to California for their annual spring break trip next week. They are slated to play six matches in a span of four days from Wednesday-Saturday (Mar. 20-23), beginning with a Wednesday doubleheader at CSUN in Northridge.
