GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University senior outside hitter Sadie Scoville recorded an 18-kill, 15-dig double-double and hit .361 as she led the Mavericks past her former CSU Pueblo teammates while ending the ThunderWolves' 9-match winning streak in a pivotal Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match on Saturday afternoon in Brownson Arena.
 
The Mavericks' 4-set (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23) win was also the 250^th of Head Coach Austin Albers' collegiate career and came against his former team as CMU moved to 12-5 overall and to 6-2 in RMAC play while handing the RMAC-leading ThunderWolves (13-5, 7-1 RMAC) their first conference loss.
 
Five teams, including both of Saturday' combatants, are now within a match of each other at the top of the RMAC standings.
 
Albers, who brought Scoville and three other players along with him to CMU, after claiming 93 wins in six seasons at the helm of the CSU Pueblo program, had also won 145 matches in five years at Laramie County (Wyo.) Community College, where he was inducted into the Golden Eagles' Hall of Fame in August.
 
Scoville, a 3-time All-RMAC and 2023 Honorable Mention All-American at CSU Pueblo, came out firing and recorded seven first-set kills before adding seven more in the decisive fourth set. 
 
She gave CMU 23-22 and 24-23 leads with two of those kills before a Henley Madsen service ace sealed the victory.
 
The Mavs tripled the ThunderWolves in aces, 9-3, and finished with a slight 54-50 edge in total kills.
 
Madsen put down 11 of those while Aesha Alrashed had nine while claiming five blocks.  Macy Wood, who also transferred from Pueblo to CMU to reunite with Albers, tallied seven while joining Alrashed with five blocks.
 
Maverick freshman setter Ashlyn Tafoya fed five different attackers 20 or more times and finished with 36 assists.  She also had 13 digs to record her third straight double-double and added four kills on eight attempts and an ace.
 
Libero Allison Waller also had 13 digs in the victory.
 
Sienna Thatcher had four aces while suited as the Mavs' second libero.
 
The ThunderWolves' Caelyn Gunn, who ranks second in the RMAC for kills per set, finished with 19 on 56 swings while fellow outside hitter Taylor Cary added 13 in the losing effort.  Golden Finch also had eight blocks while Lilly Zwart was involved in six of the Pack's 11.
 
Setter Elena Stankovic also had 38 assists and 12 digs while CSU Pueblo libero Megan Maddingly registered a team-high 16.
 
The Mavericks never trailed in the opening set and built an 18-9 lead before winning by the same 9-point margin.
 
The second set was tighter and featured seven ties and four early lead changes as CMU went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-9 lead.
 
They led the frame the rest of the way although Cary recorded back-to-back kills around Maverick timeouts to cut the deficit to 24-23.
 
However, Madsen went on to finish off the set with a kill.
 
The third set was just as tight as neither team led by more than three points although both squads had leads that large.
 
One of the ThunderWolves' was at 22-19 before a Madsen kills and two Maverick blocks leveled the scored at 22.
 
The teams then exchanged points  before a Gunn kill and Finch/Cary block handed the ThunderWolves the set.
 
The Mavs went on to build a 15-9 lead in the fourth set before the ThunderWolves roared back, going on an 8-3 run to pull within 18-17 before tying the set at 19 on a Stankovic kill.
 
The Mavs then scored the next two points before the ThunderWolves tied the set once again at 22.
 
Scoville and Finch then traded blows to make the score 23-23 before Scoville's final kill and Madsen's ace on both sides of a Pack timeout finished the match.
 
The Mavs have now won six straight matches in the rivalry and have won nine straight at home over the ThunderWolves.
 
CMU is 5-1 at home this season and will wrap up a 3-match homestand on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Westminster University.