INDIANAPOLIS— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team was selected to compete in a fifth straight NCAA Tournament, receiving the eighth and final seed in the South Central Regional, it was announced during Monday night's tournament selection show, which aired on NCAA.com.
 
The Mavericks, who are 17-10 this season, will take on tournament host and top-seeded MSU Denver (26-3) for the fourth time this season in the opening round on Thursday, Dec. 4.  The Mavs, who have won five of their last six matches, handed the Roadrunners one of their three losses back on Sept. 26 at home in Grand Junction but have since fallen twice to the Roadrunners, who knocked the Mavs out of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament in the semifinal round last Friday.
 
The Roadrunners are currently ranked tenth in Monday's AVCA/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll and were ranked fifth when the Mavs beat them in RMAC play.   The Roadrunners were ranked 12^th and ninth at the time of the last two meets on Oct. 30 and No. 27.
 
The Mavs and Roadrunners were two of the five RMAC teams selected for the regional.  They are joined on the top half of the bracket by CSU Pueblo, which claimed the No. 5 seed.  The Thunderwolves will take on No. 4 seed West Texas A&M in the opening round.
 
UCCS headlines the other half of the bracket and will be the No. 2 seed after reaching the RMAC Tournament final to play MSU Denver, which has won 17 straight matches.  The Mountain Lions will face the seventh-seeded Colorado School of Mines in the opening round, a team the Mavs defeated in the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Tournament.
 
No. 3 seed Angelo State, which won a share of the Lone Star Conference regular season title before winning the conference tournament will take on No. 6 seed Lubbock Christian in the other quarterfinal which will be an all-LSC affair.  Lubbock Christian shared the conference's regular season title with the Rambelles.
 
The Mavs will be making their 13^th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance.  They are in their first season under the direction of Head Coach Austin Albers, who guided CSU Pueblo to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances (2021, 2022) in his six seasons with the ThunderWolves, a team the Mavs could face in the second round on Friday, Dec. 5 if both teams are able to pull seeding upsets.
 
Albers' Pack squads also played the Roadrunners in Denver in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in both of those years.
 
The eight regional winners will then convene in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the remainder of the NCAA Tournament to be played from Dec. 11-13.
 
Stay tuned to www.cmumavericks.com for more information about specific match times, tickets and live statistical and live streaming options.