GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will host a pivotal three-match homestand playing Colorado Christian, CSU Pueblo and Westminster in a span of five days, beginning Friday night.
 
The Mavericks, 10-5 overall, have a 4-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record after a weekend road split, and will open up the homestand with their Dig Pink match against the Colorado Christian Cougars (9-7) who they are tied with in the conference standings on Friday at 6 p.m.
 
The Mavs will then take on RMAC-leading CSU Pueblo (12-4, 6-0 RMAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a match that will pit new Maverick Head Coach Austin Albers, Assistant Coach Annemarie Chin and four players against his former team and their teammates.
 
CMU then wraps up the stretch on Tuesday at 6 p.m., hosting Westminster (10-6, 3-3 RMAC) for the second time this month.
 
Tickets for all three matches are available at www.cmumavericks.com/tickets.
 
All three matches can be seen with a subscription to the RMAC Network (more information below).
 
Live statistics for the match can also be found at the links above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks split a pair of road matinees against their western slope rivals, sweeping Western Colorado University in Gunnison last Friday before dropping three tight sets to Fort Lewis College on Saturday in Durango.
 
Sadie Scoville led the Mavericks offensive attack in both matches, recording 13 kills in each.  She was also one of three Mavs to record a double-double in the Fort Lewis match, registering 16 digs against the Skyhawks.
 
Freshman setter Ashlyn Tafoya (19 assists, 15 digs) also had a double-double against Fort Lewis after setting new season-highs for both assists (32) and kills (6) in Friday's win over Western, the Mavs' 25^th straight in the rivalry.
 
Redshirt freshman Addie Swanson (16 assists, 11 digs) also had a double-double against Fort Lewis.
 
Complet match recaps of both matches can be read here: Western Colorado (Friday) | Fort Lewis (Saturday)
 
Against his former squad
 
New Maverick Head Coach Austin Albers picked up his 100^th NCAA win on Sept. 26 when the Mavericks beat then fifth-ranked MSU Denver in four sets and will have the opportunity to coach against his former team this weekend.
 
Albers was hired as the Mavs' head coach in February after spending the previous six years at CSU Pueblo, where he posted a 93-61 (.604) overall record with the ThunderWolves.  At CSU Pueblo, he led the Pack to the RMAC Tournament in all six of his seasons in the Steel City while also guiding them to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022.
 
Including this year's start, Albers now has a 103-66 (.609) career record at the NCAA level and has won 248 collegiate matches in total, with the possibility of claiming his 250^th total win against his former team on Saturday.
 
AnneMarie Chin, in her first year as an assistant coach with the Mavericks, also coached with Albers at CSU Pueblo last year and was the ThunderWolves' interim head coach in the spring after Albers joined CMU.
 
Prior to CSU Pueblo, Albers was the head coach at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he had a 145-57 career record before leaving as the program's all-time win percentage leader (.718).  He was inducted in to LCCC's Athletics Hall of Fame in August alongside his 2017 and 2018 teams and two of his individual players.

Albers is just the third CMU Head Volleyball Coach in the last 43 years and replaces Dave Fleming, who departed for the same role at Division I North Texas in December, 2024 after 20 years in charge of the Maverick program.  Rusty Crick had served as the Mavs' coach for the previous 23 seasons from 1982-2004.
 
Former Teammates

Four Mavericks on the 2025 roster transferred to CMU to continue playing under Albers after starting their collegiate careers at CSU Pueblo.  Saturday's match will give that group a chance to play against and see some of their former teammates.
 
Sadie Scoville, was a 3-time All-RMAC performer and a 2023 Honorable Mention AVCA All-American in her time in Pueblo and leads the Mavericks in kills (168), digs (148) and service aces (15) this season. 

Macy Wood sits second on the Maverick squad in blocks (32) this year after playing at CSU Pueblo for two years.
 
Kaitlyn Hall, injured earlier this season, was the RMAC Freshman of the Year and a Second Team All-RMAC pick for the ThunderWolves last season.
 
Hallie Hewlett is redshirting this season due to injury after leading the ThunderWolves in assists and aces as a freshman in 2024.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks have consistently taken advantage of their home and supportive crowd in Brownson Arena, something they will hope to continue over the coming days. 
 
They were also able to do so in their only other previous homestand of the season,  when they won three out of four matches in a span of eight days.  Although the Mavs saw an 11-match homecourt winning streak snapped on Sept. 27 by UCCS, they have posted an impressive 68-8 home record and .895 winning percentage since the start of 2018, losing no more than one home match in each of the past seven seasons, a trend that is on the line.
 
The Mavs won their last ten home matches of 2024 and were 12-1 at home last season.
 
The Mavs were 13-1 at home in 2023 and went 8-1 in 2022. 
 
The Mavs also went 9-1 at home in the fall of 2021.  The Mavs also went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season while winning the RMAC title.  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 an RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last 14 seasons since and including 2012, going 119-25 (.826) since the start of 2012.
 
They are 104-16 (.867) in their last 120 home matches since 2014.
 
Tight Standings & Key Stretch
 
The RMAC standings are as tight as ever with nine teams currently between 3-3 and 6-0.  Eight of those teams also have winning overall records while six of them, including the Mavericks have overall winning percentages of .667 or higher.
 
With eight spots available in next month's RMAC Tournament and just eight conference matches remaining, the second half of the season is bound to be a true dog-fight. 
 
For the Mavs, much of that fight will come throughout this homestand and over the next two weeks.
 
Each of the Mavericks' next four matches will be against teams currently in the aforementioned group.  After playing two RMAC Power Pod matches that will not count towards the conference standings, their final four RMAC matches will then be against teams that currently have 1-5 or 2-4 RMAC records.
 
Dig Pink
 
Friday's match against Colorado Christian will be a renewal of CMU's efforts at generating awareness and funds for the fight against breast cancer.
 
The promotion, ran by CMU Softball Alumna Kathy Howa's foundation, will be donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for breast cancer research.
 
Howa has nearly 30 years of experience as an educator and teaches Health at West Jordan Middle School while coaching softball at Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City.
 
She was inducted into the Utah Softball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. 
 
In 2019 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Colorado Mesa University, an award she will hold close to her heart forever.
 
In 2002, Howa was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.  Today she is cancer free for more than 20 years.  Her students and Kendra Tomsic helped rally her through this and help start the SWING FOR LIFE Foundation.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks have fared well against all three of their upcoming opponents, especially in recent years and at home.
 
The Mavericks are 28-16 against Colorado Christian in the NCAA Division II era and have an even bigger 15-6 series lead in home matches.  The Mavs have won 11 of the last 13 match-ups with the Cougars, although CCU took down the Mavs in the RMAC Tournament semifinals last year after the Mavs won the regular season home match on Oct. 26.
 
The Mavs have won seven straight home matches over the Cougars since 2015.  CCU's last road win was in the 2013 RMAC Tournament quarterfinals.
 
The Mavs are 39-15 against CSU Pueblo in the Division II era and have a 5-match winning streak over the ThunderWolves.  They also have a big 24-5 series lead in home matches.  CSU Pueblo's only win in the last 12 meetings was in Pueblo in 2019.  The ThunderWolves have not won in Grand Junction since sweeping the regular season series in 2011.
 
The Mavs are even more dominant against Westminster, holding a 23-1 lead in the all-time series, including a perfect 13-0 home record, which includes the 4-set win on Oct. 3 of this season.  The Mavs have won the last 21 meetings since the Griffins' lone win of the series in 2015 in Salt Lake City.
 
About the Opponents
 
Colorado Christian (Friday- 6 p.m.)
 
The Cougars are 9-7 overall and 4-2 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play but have lost their last four matches falling to the Colorado School of Mines twice as well as to MSU Denver and CSU Pueblo over the past two weeks.
 
Connelly Kilgore, Suzanna Conner and Renee Phillips have combined for more than 500 of the Cougars' 774 total kills.
 
Kilgore, a junior right side, leads the group with 196 and ranks fifth in the RMAC with her 3.38 per set average.  Conner has 165 (2.89/set) and ranks 12^th in the conference while Phillips has 154 kills (2.66/set) and ranks second in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .346.
 
Phillips also has 57 blocks (0.98/set) and ranks eighth in the RMAC for that category.
 
Libero Kristina House is sixth in the RMAC for digs per set (4.14) and leads the Cougars with 21 service aces (0.36/set).
 
Setter Krista Traynor, is third in the conference for assists per set (9.28) and has added 17 service aces. 
 
Savannah Majeski ranks third in the RMAC for aces per set (0.38/set) and has 18 in her 47 sets played.
 
CSU Pueblo (Saturday – 3 p.m.)
 
The senior-laden ThunderWolves have won eight straight matches and lead the RMAC with a 6-0 conference mark.  They are 12-4 overall under Coach Jordan Bruere, who returned to her alma mater in March after CMU hired Austin Albers away in February.  Bruere, who had been the head coach at Western Colorado, picked up a major impact player through the transfer portal in senior outside hitter Caelyn Gunn, a 3-time all-conference pick at Arkansas-Fort Smith.  Gunn ranks second in the RMAC with 223 kills (4.29/set) and total points 239 (4.60/set) and has put up 20 or more kills three times this season. 
 
Fellow senior outside hitter Taylor Cary, who played for Albers for three years, has also added 139 kills (2.48/set).
 
Senior middle blocker Golden Finch, who Albers coached in 2023 and 2024, leads the team with 56 blocks and paces the RMAC with her 1.12 per set average while Western Nebraska Community College transfer and German native Finja Schul is right behind with 53 (1.02/set) to rank sixth in the RMAC as the ThunderWolves lead the conference with a 2.35 per set average.  Finch also ranks ninth in the RMAC for hitting percentage at .315.
 
Fifth-year senior Megan Mattingly, another one of Albers' standouts, leads the Pack with 222 digs (3.96/set) while Gunn is second with 206 (3.68/set).  Mattingly also has 21 service aces (0.38/set) to lead the team and rank fifth in the RMAC for that category.
 
Setter Elena Stankovic, a Serbian native and Barton County (Kan.) Community College transfer, has 475 assists (9.50/set) and is second in the conference.  She also has five double-doubles to her credit.

Westminster (Tuesday - 6 p.m.)
 
The Griffins will enter their home weekend with matches against CSU Pueblo and Colorado Christian with a 10-6 overall record.  They are 3-3 in RMAC play.
 
Strangely, they are 0-3 in home matches but sport a 6-1 away record with their away loss coming to CMU back on Oct. 3.  They also went 4-2 on neutral courts during early season tournament play.
 
Senior outside hitter Breegan Huntsman had 18 kills against the Mavericks in the earlier meeting and ranks second on the squad overall with 139, behind freshman outside Saide Parrish, who the Mavericks held to just two.  Parrish has 152.
 
Senior middle blocker Mailei Myers has also chipped in 125 kills and leads the Griffins in blocking (63) and service aces (17) as well.
 
Fellow middle Hailey Killett has also registered 114 kills and leads the RMAC with her .388 attack percentage to rank 13^th in the national statistics.  She had just one kill on four total attempts against the Mavericks.
 
Freshman libero Ava Livolsi has 249 digs (4.15/set) to rank fourth in the RMAC.
 
Setters Leila Cornejo, who has 321 assists, and Atley Mitchell, who has 236, run the show in the Griffins' 6-2 offensive scheme.
 
As a team, the Griffins are strong defensively and rank fifth in the RMAC for blocking (2.03/set) and fourth for digging (16.31/set).
 
RMAC Network News
 
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-pre-view model for the upcoming 2025-26 season.  This season, all RMAC athletic events broadcast by its 15 full-member institutions and associate members will only be available for purchase via a single-game pass or a monthly or annual subscription. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their programs.
 
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them with access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours.
 
Additionally, a discounted annual subscription price will be available to students, faculty, and staff of each member institution throughout the year. Purchasing options and pricing for individual RMAC Championships will be announced closer to each event.
 
Colorado Mesa turns 100
 
The CMU Century Celebration stands as the cornerstone of Colorado Mesa University's year-long centennial celebration. This ambitious initiative unites our community in honoring a rich heritage while boldly envisioning the next hundred years of academic excellence.

Led by the Steering Committee and six specialized sub-committees, we're orchestrating a transformative experience that will resonate through generations. Each committee brings unique expertise to create an unforgettable commemoration of our past, present and future.
 
To learn more about Colorado Mesa's 100-year celebration, visit cmucentury.com.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will have one road match next weekend, playing at the Colorado School of Mines on Friday, Oct. 24 in Golden.  The Orediggers are currently 12-4 overall and 3-3 in RMAC play and split road matches at CSU Pueblo and Colorado Christian last weekend.  They are on the road at Fort Lewis and Western Colorado this weekend.