GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a strong 3-1 start and moving up five spots in the national poll, the now 18
th-ranked Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will face another challenging weekend of early season tournament play when the Mavs head to Los Angeles for this weekend's Cal State LA Tournament.
The Mavericks will open their portion of the 4-team, round-robin tournament on Friday at 11 a.m. Pacific (Noon Mountain) against No. 19 Cal Poly Pomona and will take on the host Golden Eagles, receiving votes in the national poll, later that night at 6:30 p.m. Pacific (7:30 p.m. Mountain). CMU will then wrap up the weekend on Saturday, playing No. 14 Simon Fraser at 2:30 p.m. Pacific (3:30 p.m. Mountain).
All three opponents were in last year's NCAA Tournament from the West Region as were the Mavs in the South Central Region.
Links for live statistics and a subscription-based FloCollege live streams
can be found on the CMU schedule page.
A look back
The Mavericks opened their 2025 season and the
Austin Albers coaching era last weekend at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational in San Angelo, Texas, going 3-1 throughout the weekend.
The Mavericks recorded 3-set sweeps over Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Nazarene last Friday before recording another 3-0 win over UT Permian Basin on Saturday afternoon. The Mavericks also had 1-0 and 2-1 leads over No. 2 and tournament host Angelo State before succumbing in five sets in their final match of the weekend.
Recaps from both days of the tournament can be found below:
Milestone Reacher
Maverick senior libero
Allison Waller reached the 1,000 career dig milestone in Saturday night's match against Angelo State, becoming just the tenth Maverick to do so during the rally-scoring era (2001-Present). The Loveland, Colorado native finished the opening weekend with 55 digs and now has 1,001 in her career. She had a season-high 19 digs in the match against the Rambelles.
All-Tourney Team
Waller was one of
three Mavericks named to the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational All-Tournament team, joining
Sadie Scoville and
Henley Madsen.
Scoville, a senior outside hitter led the Mavs with 35 kills and nine service aces over the opening weekend. The CSU Pueblo transfer had 11 kills and 12 digs to record her first double-double in a Maverick uniform against Angelo State.
Madsen, a freshman opposite out of Park City, Utah, finished the tournament with 33 kills and hit at a .308 clip. She had 11 kills in the season-opener against Arkansas-Monticello and matched that total against Angelo State.
In addition to her 55 digs, Waller was also perfect on 33 service receptions over the weekend and added 19 assists.
In the Polls
After their solid start, the Mavericks moved up five spots to 18
th in
this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association/TARAFLEX NCAA Division II Poll, released on Monday. The Mavericks had been ranked 23
rd in the preseason edition of the and have now appeared in the nation's top 25 for 43 consecutive polls dating back to the Week. 1 poll in 2022.
Defending national champion Lynn maintained the No. 1 position and received all 47 first place votes in this week's poll. Angelo State remained at No. 2 after a 4-0 start but did fall to unranked Colorado Christian on Tuesday night.
MSU Denver, the only other Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team in the top 25, moved up three spots from the preseason edition to third. West Texas A&M also moved up three spots to fifth giving the South Central Region three representatives in the top five. CMU is the fourth team from the region in the top 25 while the Colorado School of Mines and Dallas Baptist represent the region in the others receiving votes category.
Two of the Mavs' three opponents this week are nationally ranked while the other is receiving votes. Cal Poly Pomona went 1-2 last week and dropped from 11
th to a tie for 19
th in this week's poll while Simon Fraser surged from the receiving votes category to No. 14 while making the biggest jump of any team in the poll. The Red Leafs went 3-0 last week with wins over three teams in the top 11 of the preseason poll.
Cal State LA is still receiving votes.
Getting defensive
The Mavericks held their four opening opponents to 137 kills (9.79/set) and a .112 attack percentage over the opening weekend. The kill per set average is the best defensive average in the RMAC thus far while the .112 attack percentage puts the Mavs second in the conference for opponent hitting percentage and 31
st in the nation. The Mavs also recorded 32 blocks to rank third in the RMAC for blocks per set at 2.29.
Welcome Back Aesha
Maverick redshirt junior
Aesha Alrashed was a big part of the Mavs' blocking presence and recorded a team-high 17 blocks in the Mavs' four matches last weekend. She had six, which was a career-high at the time, against Arkansas-Monticello in the season-opener and then surpassed that mark with seven against Angelo State.
Her 1.21 block per set average currently puts her second in the RMAC statistics. Alrashed is also ninth in the conference for hitting percentage at .353.
Alrashed redshirted in 2024 due to injury after leading the 2023 edition of the Mavericks in blocking with 61 (0.73/set).
California Dreaming & International Debut
The Mavericks will be visiting California for the first time in seven years this weekend after last making a trip to the state in 2018 for the Concordia Irvine Invitational at the start of that season. The Mavs went 2-2 in that tournament and split matches against teams they will face again this weekend in Cal State LA and Cal Poly Pomona, teams they have not faced since then.
The Mavericks are 0-3 all-time against Cal Poly Pomona with all three matches begin played on neutral courts in Southern California, The Mavs are also 0-3 against Cal State LA having played the Golden Eagles at the same early-season tournaments in 2006, 2009 and 2018.
Saturday's match-up with Simon Fraser, which calls Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada home, will mark the first time the Mavs and Red Leafs have squared off. It will also mark the first time that the Mavs will have played a team from a different country in an official match.
New Man in Charge
Austin 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.
Previously, 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 the school'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.
Preseason Honors
Three Mavericks in
Kaitlyn Hall,
Sadie Scoville and
Allison Waller, were named to the Preseason All-RMAC team, announced in conjunction with the RMAC poll. The 14-player team was selected of returning players based on coaches' voting results from last year's All-RMAC selection process.
Waller was an Honorable Mention All-RMAC pick at CMU last year and was a First Team selection in 2023, when she was tabbed as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Scoville was a First Team All-RMAC pick at CSU Pueblo last year while Hall was a second team selection. She was also named as the RMAC Freshman of the Year.
About the Opponents
Cal Poly Pomona (Friday – 11 a.m. Pacific/Noon Mountain)
The Broncos went 1-2 on the opening weekend of the season at the Western Washington Invitational, knocking off the hosts to begin the season in four sets before falling 3-0 to Central Washington and 3-2 to Simon Fraser, who they will play again this week. Sara Ybarra and Charlotte Koerber were both named to the all-tournament team.
Ybarra, who also earned CCCA Offensive Player of the Week honors, had a double-double in all three matches, recording 48 kills, 40 assists and 45 digs to lead the CCAA in both kills per set (4.00) and points per set (4.46) throughout the opening weekend. Koerber had 31 kills and logged a team-leading 54 digs across the Broncos' three matches.
Freshman setter Kacie Cooilio had 46 assists and 12 digs as well as four aces in her collegiate debut on Saturday in the match against Simon Fraser after not playing in their first two matches.
Last year's Bronco squad went 25-4 overall and hosted the NCAA West Regional, where they were downed in the regional final by eventual national runner-up San Francisco State. They also won the CCAA regular season title with a 17-1 conference record, two matches ahead of San Francisco State.
The Broncos started the year ranked 11
th in the AVCA Preseason Poll but slipped into a tie for 19
th in this week's (Week No. 1 poll) after reaching as high as third during the 2024 season. They also received 11 of the 12 possible first place votes in the CCCA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Cal State LA (Friday – 6:30 p.m. Pacific/7:30 p.m. Mountain)
The Golden Eagles started off the season with a strong 3-1 effort at last week's Hawai'i Challenge where they went 2-1 against the three Hawaiian schools in NCAA Division II while picking up a 3-2 win over St. Mary's (Texas) as well. They also won in five sets at Chaminade last Thursday before falling at Hawai'i Pacific in five sets later that day. They ended the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Hawai'i Hilo on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles' Ayjah Landers was named as the tournament's MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Samarah DaCoud.
Landers, who last appeared in an indoor match in 2022, recorded 67 kills throughout the opening weekend, registering 28 against Hawaii Pacific and 13 in each of the other three matches.
DaCoud, a Second Team All-CCAA pick last year, was just behind with 60 kills. She had 19 against Chaminade and was in double figures in all four matches.
Senior setter Arielle Chandler started all four matches and recorded 137 assists (7.61/set) on the opening weekend.
The Golden Eagles were picked fourth in the CCAA Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 18-11 last season.
Simon Fraser (Saturday – 2:30 p.m. Pacific/3:30 p.m. Mountain)
The Red Leafs got off to a wonderful 3-0 start at last week's Western Washington Invitational and knocked off three of the top 11 teams in the national preseason poll in No. 3 St. Cloud State, No. 4 San Francisco State and No. 11 Cal Poly Pomona.
The last two wins came in five sets. They defeated San Francisco State, 15-0 in the fifth set of that match last Friday.
Natalie Lemoine-Sells led the Red Leafs with 44 kills (3.38/set) while Megan Hawkins was right behind with 38 (2.92/set). Eva Person started all three matches at setter and recorded 92 assists (7.08/set).
Macyn Unger had 60 digs and seven service aces while Logan Remington tallied a GNAC record 18 blocks in the San Francisco State match. She had 33 throughout the weekend and leads all of Division II thus far in 2025.
Last year's Red Leaf squad went 17-9 overall and reached the NCAA Tournament.
Up Next
The Mavericks will begin the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference portion of their season next week heading on a road trip to Adams State (Sept. 19) and New Mexico Highlands (Sept. 20).
