GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The visiting Westminster University Griffins stunned Colorado Mesa University in what proved to be an historic Tuesday night Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Volleyball match-up in Brownson Arena.
The Griffins recorded 11 service aces and took advantage of nine Maverick service errors while Breegan Huntsman and Josie Gerritsen both recorded double-doubles in the 3-1 (25-22, 13-25, 25-19, 25-22) win, their first road triumph over the Mavs in 14 all-time tries.
The Mavericks finished with a 56-48 edge in total kills and out-hit the Griffins by 88 points (.255-.167) but could not overcome the inspired Griffins, who improved to 12-7 and 5-4 in RMAC play while the Mavs fell to 12-6 and 6-3 in the conference while suffering their second home loss in seven matches this season.
CMU had been hoping to finish a 3-match, 5-day homestand with a 3-0 record while pulling within a half-match of the RMAC lead, but instead fell 1 ½ back of three teams in MSU Denver, CSU Pueblo and UCCS, teams the Mavs have gone a combined 2-1 against this season.
The Mavs had also won a 4-set RMAC Regional Pod home match over the Griffins on Oct. 3, which did not figure into the RMAC standings.
Gerritsen led all players with 13 kills and added 13 digs while falling just one assist shy of a rare triple-double. Huntsman had 11 kills and 10 digs while Mailei Myers recorded ten kills and seven blocks, including three solos. She also hit .471 in the middle and was as a menace to the Maverick efforts throughout the night.
The Mavericks also picked up a double-double from outside hitter
Sadie Scoville, who had 11 kills and a match-high 14 digs.
Freshman
Henley Madsen, named as the RMAC's Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, led the Mavs with 12 kills and hit .273 while recording three of the Mavs' five service aces.
Emma Luce also chipped in ten kills from the outside while
Macy Wood had eight kills on .429 hitting from the middle.
Defensively, middle blocker
Aesha Alrashed finished with seven blocks, just one shy of her season and career-high, while defensive specialist
Marli Clausi added a career-high ten digs.
Westminster's Mary Fonoimoana, served the Griffins to a 4-0 spurt in the middle of the first set and to another late in the set as the Griffins rallied from 21-19 down to win five of the final six points in the opening frame. Fonoimoana had two aces in that stretch.
The Mave then fell 6-4 behind in the second but roared back in a big way with four Madsen kills in a 5-rally stretch to take a 9-7 lead. They then extended the lead to 18-10 on another 3-0 run before cruising to the set win.
CMU hit .353 and held the Griffins to a negative .029 effort.
The Griffins then seized momentum in the third set jumping out to a 6-0 early lead before the Mavs fought back to take a 13-10 lead on one of Madsen's aces.
However, the Griffins turned the tables once again and went on a 7-0 run of their own.
CMU then tied the set at 17 before yet another Griffins landed another 6-0 punch before finishing off the 25-19 set on a Myers kill.
After an initial trading of points and brief 2-0 runs, the Griffins again seized control in the fourth, eventually building 16-11, 19-12 and 24-17 leads.
The Mavericks would go on to fight off five of the Griffins' seven match points and forced Griffin Coach Sue Delaney to call both of her timeouts before Myers put down a kill to finish off the victory, which also snapped CMU's 21-match winning streak in the rivalry, a run that had dated back ten years.
CMU will attempt to bounce back on the road when they travel to Golden to face the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers (14-4, 5-3 RMAC) on Friday at 6 p.m.
