GOLDEN, Colo.— The No. 17 Colorado Mesa University Mavericks split their two Saturday matches, finishing the Oredigger Volleyball Classic and the first weekend of the season with a 3-1  record.  The Mavericks had swept Gannon and defeated No. 5 Concordia St.-Paul in four sets on Friday before committing 33 hitting errors in a 4-set defeat at the hands of Michigan Tech in their first of two matches on Saturday.

However, the Mavericks came back and dominated Concord (W. Va.) in their final match of the tournament on Saturday evening, sweeping the Mountain Lions (0-4), 25-21, 25-17, 25-16.
Sophomore middle blocker Nicole Martin recorded a career-high 20 kills and hit .581 in the match against Michigan Tech, which finished the weekend as the only 4-0 team in the 8-team classic style tournament.

However, the Mavericks were blocked 13 times and committed 20 other unforced hitting errors, which proved to be too much to overcome.  Despite finishing with a 58-42 advantage in total kills, the Mavericks hit .176 while the Huskies hit at a .250 clip.

Sydney Leffler, named to the all-tournament team alongside setter Sabrina VanDeList recorded 14 kills while Sierra Hunt added 12.  VanDeList tallied 44 assists and 10 digs to record her second double-double of the young season.

Leffler, the 2023 tournament MVP, and VanDeList were also on last year's all-tournament team when the Mavs went 4-0 as part of their 11-0 season start.

Michigan Tech outside hitter Meg Raabe, later named as the tournament MVP, finished with 13 kills and hit .344 in the victory.

CMU took the opening set 25-20 over the Huskies and hit .289 after putting down 19 kills in that set.

However, the Huskies roared back taking the second set, 25-21 and dominating the third 25-15 as the Mavericks were held to a .065 hitting percentage.  They were then able to close out the match with a 25-23 fourth-set win.

The Mavs also had a 50-38 advantage in digs against the Huskies as Allison Waller led all players with 17 digs while Jordan Woods chipped in 10.  Martin also had five block assists in what was certainly her best match of her collegiate career.

Down 2-1 overall, the Mavericks fell behind 9-1 in the fourth set but were able to overcome the large deficit to eventually tie the set at 18.

The Mavs then went on to take a 23-21 lead but committed a service error and back-to-back hitting errors as the Huskies took a 24-23 lead before closing out the match on a Jacqueline Yancy kill.

Concord Recap

The Mavericks quickly put the loss out of mind and dominated the Mountain Lions as Sierra Hunt finished with 16 kills on .462 hitting.  Leffler also added 11 kills while VanDeList doled out 39 assists while leading all Mavericks with eight digs.

CMU hit .295 as a team throughout the match and were sizzling in the third set, recording a .556 team hitting percentage after committing just two errors.

The Mavs had  48-28 advantage in total kills and Martin and fellow middle Stormi Tadlock supported their pin hitters with eight kills apiece.  Tadlock also had just one hitting errors, good for a .583 hitting percentage.

Concord did have an 8-4 advantage in total blocks as Kyndra Pilant finished with seven blocks and six kills while hitting .500.  Chloe Thompson also had 11 kills and a .375 hitting percentage for the Mountain Lions.

The Mavericks had a small 21-20 lead late in the opening set but received two Hunt kills and another from Leffler before Hunt and Martin blogged Meg Williams to finish the set off.

The Mavs then went on a 7-0 run with Leffler at the service line to take a commanding 9-2 second-set lead while cruising to the 25-17 win.

CMU also took an 8-3 lead in the third set and were able to finish the match off as Hunt and Tadlock combined for 11 kills without a hitting error in the final frame.

Up Next

The Mavericks will now return home to host the Holiday Inn Express Maverick Fall Classic, which will begin Thursday evening in Brownson Arena.  The Mavs will play in the second of 12 total matches in that tournament at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night, facing Cal Poly Humboldt.

They will also take on MSU Moorhead on Friday evening before finishing the weekend with Saturday matches against Angelo State and Cal State Dominguez Hills.