In what has become an unfortunate new norm, the women's rugby trip to Texas was an adventure. After adverse weather conditions delayed flights, backed up airports and more, the women's rugby team made it to Houston late Friday night for DI Nationals. A late night quickly turned into an early morning. The morning brought more rain delays and monsoon weather. Despite all the adversity, the Mavs came out firing on all cylinders.
 
During the first matchup of pool play, CMU took on UC Irvine for the first time in program history. The Mavs set the tone early when merely :30 seconds in Carly Sheck found the gap and sped through to touch down and convert the kick after to give the Mavs the early 7-0 lead. Ryleigh Blatnik was next to join in the fun 2 minutes later with a nice offload and run of her own. She would do it again and Ellen Rickerd would tac on an extra point a minute later to make this matchup 19-0. Blatnik wasn't done yet as a first half hat trick was in the making bringing the Mavs into half with a 24 -0 lead. The scoring continued as Rickerd punched through a gap a minute into the second. Liz Thoma got in on the action 4 minutes in with a hard earned try and Sarah Penick rounded out the first match with a big break through and explosive run of her own. Mavs won big 43-0 with the team moving the ball well.
 
This momentum carried them into their second matchup against a strong Cal Poly team. This would be the second time CMU would see Cal Poly (2023 7s Championship run) the Mavs snuck by with a 5-0 victory. This 2024 matchup would be all CMU however. After a strong defensive battle from Poly, Sarh Penick found a seem and turned on the burners. Scheck added the kick and 3 minutes in Mavs led 7-0. Blatnik was on a different level again as she had a quick restart and caught Cal Poly off guard, quickly adding on another 7 :30 seconds later. Yet again, Blatnik broke through just before half to lead the Mavs into a 19-0 halftime lead. The second half story was the same. With a few substitutions, the finishers brought the tempo as well. Asha Downing entered the scoring fun and went back-to-back out of the half. Scheck rounded out the match to bring this one to 36-0 at time.
 
Match three is where the wheels started to come off the train. After two very impressive morning matches, the afternoon match saw a strong Western Washington team. The match went almost 6 minutes of hard-fought minutes before Western Washington struck first, making it 5-0. With under a minute until halftime, CMU was hoping to only go 5-0 into the break but Western Washington had a different plan. With some nice offloads and speed of their own, they kept the ball alive and broke through for another try in extra minutes, making it a 10-point deficit at halftime. CMU wasn't done yet. With a few substitutions and some fresh legs, plus a WWU yellow card, Blatnik touched down and Scheck converted 2 minutes in, closing the gap to 7-10. WWU answered back at 3 minutes 7-15. Nallely Robles brought the power with an explosive run through the middle to bring CMU within reach again at 6 minutes. WWU put the nail in the coffin with another final play score. Mavs fell 12-22 in the last match of pool play.
 
Day 2 started off early with another match against a Rocky Mountain regular in the CSU Rams in the first semifinal matchup. The Mavs have seen this team numerous times over the year and in the last match established a bad habit of going down early in the matchup. CMU decided to go that route again, allowing CSU to kick at will and score three first half trys making it a 0-17 hole for the Mavs to dig out of. Try as they may, an impressive Blatnik score at 2 minutes and a big dash and additional try by Asha Downing saw the Mavs chasing this match to the buzzer and running out of time late. Mavs drop this semi final matchup 17-10.
 
Insert a massive 6-hour break, an Air BnB bee infestation, and the Mavs heading back to the pitch to take on another Rocky Mountain regular, Air Force Academy, for 3^rd place. The Mavs continued their bad habit of showing up in the second half, allowing the Air Force Academy to score 6 minutes in and then extend the half to score again in extra time making this a 12-point deficit. Mavs came out strong again out of the half. Sarah Penick had a breakaway run and Scheck tacked on the points closing the gap to 5 before AFA finished out the match with another try and conversion at 6 minutes. The Mavs finished out their DI CRAA 7s season in 4^th place in the Nation. Rocky Mountain teams went #2, #3 and #4 in the tournament.
 
Nationals wrapped up another strong CMU season with a disappointing outcome, however, the team will overcome, learn and come back better than ever in the fall. The Ladies bid farewell to a strong senior core, Co-Captain Ryleigh Blatnik, Sarah Penick, Nallely Robles, and Co-Captain Liz Thoma. The heart, hustle, grit, and determination these women brought to the team will be missed. 
 
The Mavs turn their thoughts towards bulking season and preparing for Fall 15s where the team is expected to go back to Division II under the NCR umbrella for the first time. Follow us on social media for the latest @cmuwomensrugby