GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a pair of 3-1 non-conference tournament weekends, the now No. 17 Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team will open up Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play as they wrap up a 6-match homestand with Friday and Saturday encounters against long-time Western Slope rivals Western Colorado University and Fort Lewis College.
The Mavericks, 6-2 this season, will host Western Colorado (2-7) on Friday at 6 p.m. and Fort Lewis (2-6) on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Maverick setter
Sabrina VanDeList will enter the weekend on verge of setting a pair of school records.
Both matches will be streamed live on the
RMAC Network and live stat links
can be found here.
Tickets are also on sale at
www.cmumavericks.com/tickets.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks played host to the Holiday Inn Express Maverick Fall Classic last Thursday-Saturday, posting a 3-1 record with 3-set wins over Cal Poly Humboldt, MSU Moorhead and Cal State Dominguez Hills each evening. Their only loss came on Saturday afternoon to now 21
st ranked Angelo State.
Senior outside hitter
Sydney Leffler was named as the tournament's MVP for the second straight year after leading the 6-team tournament in kills (61) and total points (68) while hitting an impressive .419. She had 20 kills and hit .586 in the tournament finale against Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Setter
Sabrina VanDeList was also named to the all-tournament team for the second consecutive year after recording a tournament-high 160 assists (12.31) along with five aces while leading the Mavericks to a combined .294 team attack percentage throughout the weekend.
She also reached a milestone and was named as the RMAC Setter of the Week for the 15
th time in her illustrious career on Monday.
Sierra Hunt (39 kills) and
Nicole Martin (35) also contributed significantly throughout the weekend while
Stormi Tadlock (10 blocks) and
Allison Waller (54 digs) led the defensive charge.
Full match recaps can be seen below.
Record Watch
Maverick setter
Sabrina VanDeList will enter the conference openers on verge of setting a pair of CMU career records. The Severance, Colorado native now has 153 career service aces after recording five last week and 12 over the first eight matches of the season. She is now level with Drew Choules (2004-07) for the all-time CMU record.
Meanwhile, VanDeList now has 4,144 career assists, just 58 away from matching and 59 away from breaking Jordyn Moody's record of 4,202, which has stood since 2014. VanDeList became just the third Maverick to ever eclipse the 4,000 milestone last Thursday in the second set of CMU's 3-set sweep of Cal Poly Humboldt and then moved past Jeanie Sutter (4,138; 1995-98) for second place on the Maverick all-time charts late in Saturday's win over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
VanDeList has already recorded a RMAC-leading 328 assists this season and is averaging 12.15 per set to rank second in the national statistics as of Wednesday morning. At her current 2024 season pace, VanDeList would break the assists record in the Mavs' fifth set of the weekend.
She also ranks seventh in the RMAC for service aces per set (0.44) and is tied for sixth in total aces with a dozen.
Approaching the 1K mark
Sabrina VanDeList could also become just the 13
th Maverick to reach the 1,000 career dig milestone this weekend. She will enter the weekend with 989, after recording 32 last weekend and 69 in the Mavs' first eight matches of the season.
If VanDeList reaches the mark, she will be the first Maverick to ever have both 4,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs.
Top Defense
The Mavericks have held their opponents to just 278 total kills, a 10.30 per set average that leads the RMAC statistics. The Mavs have also conceded just 32 service aces, which also paces the RMAC.
Top Offense
The Mavericks also lead the RMAC in kills, assists and total points per set. They have recorded 410 kills (15.19/set) and rank third in the country with that average. They have recorded 383 assists (14.19/set) as well and are second in the country for that statistic. They also lead the RMAC with their 18.74 points per set average, a statistic that is not tracked on a national scale.
The Mavs also have a .267 team hitting percentage, which ranks the Mavs second in the RMAC and 26
th nationally.
Back-to-back honorees
The setter-hitter connection between
Sabrina VanDeList and
Sydney Leffler has been strong this season, evident as both Maverick veterans have been named to the all-tournament teams at both of CMU's early season tournaments.
Both players also earned all-tournament team honors in the 2023 edition of the Oredigger Volleyball Classic and Maverick Fall Classics. Leffler has been the MVP at three of the four.
Big #'s
Senior
Sydney Leffler leads the RMAC in kills per set (4.41) and is tied for the RMAC lead in total kills with 119. She also leads the RMAC in total points (138.5) and total points per set (5.13) after leading all four categories en route to RMAC Player of the Year and First Team AVCA All-American honors in 2023.
The outside hitter from Eaton, Colorado, also ranks ninth in the national statistics for points per set and 13
th for kills per set so far in 2024.
She has been in double figures for kills in all eight matches this season and has raised her career kills total to 1,228. She moved up two spots to seventh in program history over the weekend, moving ahead of Jeanette Crosbie (1,227; 1999-2002) and Heather Legge (1,206; 1990-91).
She is now just 11 kills shy of moving into sixth place on the Mavs' all time charts. Alisan Tompkins currently holds that spot with 1,239 kills during her 2006-09 career.
In the polls
The Mavericks are now ranked 17
th in the
latest American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll. The Mavs were also ranked 17
th in the preseason poll and moved up to the No. 15 spot last week.
The Mavs were tabbed 16
th in the final edition of the 2023 poll. They reached as high as No. 9 last year after starting the 2023 campaign ranked 21
st.
CMU has now been ranked amongst the nation's top 25 in 30 consecutive polls since early in the 2022 season.
Tampa retained the No. 1 spot in this week's poll while MSU Denver moved up one spot to second after a third place finish at the Colorado Premier Challenge last week.
West Texas A&M, which won that tournament, is now ranked third after sitting ninth last week.
CMU holds a win over now 10
th-ranked Concordia St.-Paul, which went 2-2 at the Colorado Premier Challenge last weekend. The Golden Bears were ranked fifth last week and in the preseason poll.
Angelo State moved into the No. 21 spot of this week's poll as the fifth NCAA Division II South Central regional team in the poll, one spot behind Dallas Baptist, which also moved into the poll in the No. 20 spot.
Regis dropped out of the poll, but is still in the "others receiving votes" category.
Veteran Floor Boss
Maverick Head Coach
Dave Fleming is now in his 20
th season in charge of the Maverick program. Fleming is the longest-serving and winningest active head coach in the RMAC, racking up 373 career wins and a .675 winning percentage (373-180) in his tenure. He has also won 246 RMAC matches and has an impressive .729 winning percentage within the conference and is one of just 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.
The Mavs also have reached the NCAA Tournament ten times under Fleming, including in each of the last three.
Home Sweet Home
Brownson Arena has been a fortress of success for the Mavericks recent years. The Mavs, in the midst of a season-long 6-match homestand, are 3-1 at home thus far in 2024 and have not lost more than a single home match in each of the previous six seasons, a streak they will try to continue in 2024 with two wins this weekend and throughout the season.
The Mavs were 13-1 at home last and went 8-1 in 2022. After last weekend, the Mavericks are now 56-7 (.889) since the start of 2018 at home. The Mavs are also 92-15 (.860) in their last 107 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 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 11 seasons since and including 2012, going 107-24 (.817) since the start of 2012.
About the Opponents
Western Colorado – Friday (6 p.m.)
The Mountaineers went 2-7 in the non-conference portion of the season, picking up two wins over Western New Mexico and Academy of Art last weekend during their home tournament in Gunnison after an 0-5 start.
Senior Setter Nur Turkmenoglu leads the Mountaineers and ranks fourth in the RMAC for assists (9.16/set) and fifth for service aces (0.42/set). Sophomore libero Chinaru Inoue is ranked sixth in the RMAC for digs per set (4.52).
Senior middle blocker Seyun Park leads the Mountaineer offensive attack with 88 total kills while fellow senior middle Kennedy Kelly is second with 75. Sophomore Kyra Kidd has 26 total blocks to lead the Mountaineers.
Jordan Bruere is in her second year as the Mountaineers' Head Coach. Her team was picked 13
th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll after going 5-21 overall and 2-12 in RMAC play.
Fort Lewis – Saturday (4 p.m.)
The Skyhawks will enter a Friday night match at Westminster with a 2-6 overall record having gone 1-3 at both of their early season tournaments. They played at Western Colorado's event last year, claiming a win over Academy of Art while falling to Texas A&M-Kingsville, Washburn and Western New Mexico. Their other win came in the season-opener over Texas Permian Basin in San Angelo, Texas.
Alina Nunez leads the team in kills with 77 (2.85/set) while Alexis Hobie (3.10/set) and Lauren Shea (3.00) have slightly higher per set averages after missing one match so far this year.
Ella Butler also ranks seventh in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .341 after recording 42 kills.
Skyhawk setter Natalia Lambos is seventh in the conference for assists per set (8.36) after recording 234 in 28 sets. She is the only Skyhawk to have started all eight matches this season.
Nunez leads the team in service aces with ten (0.37) while Emery Pomory has 82 digs to her credit this season, a 3.90 per set average that puts her 10
th in the conference statistics. Ivy Schoditsch has 20 blocks to lead the Skyhawks in that category.
Giedre Tarnauskatie is in her fifth season with the Skyhawks and led them to their best season since 2010 last year, going 13-13 overall. They were 6-8 in RMAC play last year and were picked ninth in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Series Histories
The Mavericks have won 21 straight matches against Western Colorado, building a 56-12 lead in the Division II era (1992-Present) series. The Mavs, who have won 33 of the last 34, are also 27-5 against the Mountaineers at home. Western's last win overall was in 2012 in Grand Junction and Maverick Head Coach
Dave Fleming has a 35-2 record against the Mountaineers. He is 2-0 against Mountaineer counterpart Jordan Bruere.
The Mavericks have also won seven straight over Fort Lewis, amassing a 46-12 lead in the overall Division II era series. The Mavs have dropped just one set in those last seven wins after the Skyhawks clipped the Mavericks in a pair of 5-setters during both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Fleming is 24-7 against the Skyhawks and has a 6-0 record against his Skyhawk counterpart Giedre Tarnauskatie. The Mavs are 24-4 against the Skyhawks at home. FLC's last win in Brownson Arena was in 2017, a full decade after their previous road win over the Mavs in 2007.
Up Next
After the Mavericks wrap up their homestand this weekend, they will head on the road to the Denver area for a pair of matches next weekend. They will play at No. 2 MSU Denver in a potential RMAC title showdown match next Friday (Sept. 28) and then head to Golden for a Saturday, Sept. 28 match-up at the Colorado School of Mines. They then play at Westminster in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 1in a RMAC Regional Pod match-up before hosting Western Colorado for the second time in 2024 on Oct. 5 in another RMAC Regional Pod encounter.
