GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Setter Sabrina VanDeList became Colorado Mesa University's all-time service ace leader on the second point of the match as the nation's 17^th-ranked Maverick volleyball team rolled to easy first and second wins before being able to rally from behind in the third to close out a 25-11, 25-15, 26-24 3-set Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference sweep over visiting Western Colorado University on Friday night in Brownson Arena.
 
VanDeList, a fifth year senior from Severance, Colorado, finished the night with 37 assists, nine digs and a pair of service aces, the 154^th and 155^th of her career as she moved ahead of Drew Choules, who had 153 in her 2004-07 career in to the top spot of Maverick lore.  The reigning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Setter of the Year and Setter of the Week, also orchestrated a balanced Maverick offensive attack that was clipping above .400 for much of the night before finishing with a high .324 team attack percentage.
 
VanDeList also moved to within 21 assists of the CMU all-time career record of 4,202, a mark that she will likely break against Fort Lewis on Saturday afternoon when the Maverick host the Skyhawks at 4 p.m.  Jordyn Moody currently holds the standard.
 
VanDeList's nine Friday night digs also allowed her to move within two of becoming the first Maverick to ever record both 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs and to become just the 13^th Maverick to ever reach the 1,000 dig milestone.
 
Friday's win in the RMAC opener for both squads moved the Mavericks to 7-2 overall.  Western fell to 2-8.
 
Sydney Leffler once again led the Maverick attack, putting down 13 kills while hitting .357 from the outside hitter position.  She also added a career-high six blocks.  Right side Sierra Hunt had 11 kills on .350 hitting and added two block assists while sophomore middle Nicole Martin tallied 10 kills on .450 hitting while adding three blocks and three of CMU's nine total service aces.
 
CMU libero Allison Waller led the back row with 18 digs while Stormi Tadlock added four more blocks in the middle.
 
Seyun Park and Kennedy Kelly led the visiting Mountaineers with seven kills a piece although they were held to a combined .121 attack percentage as the Mountaineers hit just .135 as a team.
 
Leffler terminated the first point of the match before VanDeList's ensuing serve found the middle of the floor as she was recognized over the public address system with her historic ace.
 
The Mavs then built a 5-2 and 9-6 leads before a Martin kill triggered a monster 8-0 Maverick run with Jordan Woods at the service line.  Woods had two aces in that stretch as the Mavericks went up by a commanding 17-6 margin before later using another 4-0 run that featured Leffler and Tadlock kills to help the Mavericks win the opening set by 14 points.
 
CMU hit .429 as a team in that set and then put down 18 more kills while hitting .395 in a nearly as dominant second set.  Woods and fellow defensive specialist Hahni Johnson both served in an 8-1 Maverick run that put the Mavs up 14-6 in that set.
 
The Mavs were than able to extend the lead to 20-8 as Hunt put down two kills surrounding a Leffler/Tadlock block and Mountaineer timeout.
 
The Mountaineers later trailed 22-10 and did score the next four points to close the gap slightly to 22-14 before the Mavs won two of the final three to close out the frame.
 
The Mountaineers did ride the late set momentum into the third and took a 6-1 lead before the Mavericks clawed back to eventually tie the set at 11 as Martin had a kill and two service aces in a 4-0 run.
 
The Mountaineers then went ahead once again, leading by as many as three points at 18-15.
 
However, the Mavericks later used a 3-0 run and another 4-1 spurt that included a block, Leffler kill and VanDeList's second ace of the night to go ahead 23-21.

The Mountaineers would then rally to tie the score at 24 while fighting off one match point but committed a costly service error as CMU freshman outside hitter Karsen Breeding closed out the match with her fifth kill of the night.
 
The Mavs finished with a 45-29 advantage in total kills and tripled the Mountaineers in blocking, 9-3.  They also had the big 9-2 advantage in service aces and finished with a 45-40 digging edge.
 
The Mavs have now won 22 straight matches between the teams, since Western's last win in 2012.
 
They will meet again in 15 days when the Mountaineers will travel to Brownson Arena for a RMAC Regional Pod match-up that will not count in the conference standings.