GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— With two non-conference tournaments now in the rear view window, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will now turn its attention to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, starting that stretch this weekend with a road trip to southern Colorado and northern New Mexico when the Mavs will play at Adams State University and New Mexico Highlands University.
The nation's 23
rd ranked Mavericks, now 4-3 on the season, will play at Adams State (3-6) on Friday night at 6 p.m. in Alamosa and the Grizzlies' Plachy Hall. The Mavs will then travel to Las Vegas, New Mexico to face the 4-4 New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls at 7 p.m. on Saturday night in the John A. Wilson Complex.
Both matches can be seen with a subscription to the RMAC Network. Live stats can be found at the links above.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks, ranked 18
th, were in Los Angeles last week, playing in the Cal State LA Tournament. They went 1-2 falling to No. 19 Cal Poly Pomona and No. 14 Simon Fraser while winning over the host Golden Eagles, receiving votes in the national poll, in their middle match of the 4-team round-robin tournament.
All three matches were decided in four sets.
Freshman opposite
Henley Madsen registered 31 kills (3.44/set) to pace the Maverick attack. She also hit at a .367 clip.
Sadie Scoville added 28 more while
Kaitlyn Hall put down 24.
Aesha Alrashed recorded ten blocks throughout the weekend while freshman
Addison Wright started at libero in the last two matches, recording 29 digs (2.64/set) throughout the weekend. She also had five aces.
Fellow freshman
Ashlyn Tafoya recorded 79 assists and 20 digs.
Recaps of both days of the Friday/Saturday tournament can be found below.
Repeat All-Tourney Team
Maverick senior outside hitter
Sadie Scoville was named to the Cal State LA All-Tournament Team after receiving similar honors at the Mavs' opening tournament of the season as well.
The Pleasant Grove, Utah native and CSU Pueblo transfer has been one of the most consistent Mavericks this season, recording eight or more kills in six of the team's matches. She had a season-high 12 kills in the win over Cal State LA on Friday night and also recorded her second double-double of the campaign with 12 digs against the Golden Eagles.
Young Standouts
Five different Maverick freshman have started matches this season as each are making significant contribution to a new-look Maverick squad.
Henley Madsen has recorded 64 kills to lead the Maverick squad. She has been in double figures four times and set a season-high with 12 kills on .526 hitting in Friday night's win over Cal State LA. She then set another season-high with 13 kills while adding eight digs and hitting .393 against undefeated Simon Fraser.
She is also hitting .333 and ranks ninth in the RMAC for that statistical category.
Meanwhile, true freshman setter
Ashlyn Tafoya leads the Mavericks with 143 assists while redshirt freshman
Addie Swanson have 117 and are together averaging more than 10 assists per set.
Addison Wright made her first two starts at libero and has recorded 38 digs while playing in 17 of the Mavs' 26 sets this season. She had 16 and 11-dig efforts last week.
Local standout
Addie Ritterbush has also made two starts and has recorded 19 kills while hitting .326.
In the Polls
The Mavericks have returned to the No. 23 spot in
this week's (Week No. 2) 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 poll as well and then moved up to 18
th in the Week No. 1 poll after a 3-1 start before sliding back after their 1-2 weekend.
The Mavericks have now appeared in the nation's top 25 for 44 consecutive polls dating back to the Week. 1 poll in 2022.
Defending national champion Lynn maintained the No. 1 position for the third straight poll and is receiving 44 of the possible 47 first place votes. Central Oklahoma picked up two first place votes and is second while Tampa is ranked third.
MSU Denver, which went 3-1 while co-hosting last week's Colorado Premier Challenge, dropped one spot to fourth. Nebraska-Kearney is fifth.
The Mavs have played four matches against teams in or receiving votes in this week's poll and all three of their losses have come to teams ranked inside the top 25 at the time.
Simon Fraser, ranked 14
th last week, moved up six spots to eighth and is receiving the other first place vote. The Mavs have also played No. 13 Angelo State as well as both Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State LA, receiving votes in this week's poll.
RMAC Poll
With the start of the conference play this week,
it's worth looking back to the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, released nearly a month ago on Aug. 19. The Mavericks were picked second out of 15 teams in the poll and received three first place votes by being named amongst the top three teams on all 14 possible ballots of the other head coaches from around the conference, who ranked their opposition 1-14 without voting for their own squad.
Adams State was picked ninth (tie) in the poll while New Mexico Highlands was slotted 14th.
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.
Series Histories
The Mavericks hold a 41-16 advantage in the series history against Adams State since both schools moved in to the NCAA Division II ranks. The Mavericks have won nine straight matches, including the last five match-ups in Alamosa.
The Grizzlies' lone win in the last 14 matches was in 2015 in Alamosa.
The Mavericks have a very similar 46-10 series lead over New Mexico Highlands. They have won the last 16 matches and are 19-9 against the Cowgirls in New Mexico, where they have won eight straight matches since NMHU last won in 2011.
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.
Including this year's start at CMU, Albers now has a 97-64 (.602) career record and could reach the 100-win milestone as soon as next weekend.
In his time at CSU Pueblo, Albers went 6-2 against Adams State and was 6-0 against New Mexico Highlands. Albers is 1-0 against both of his counterparts Garcia Ramser (Adams State) and Meg Grose (New Mexico Highlands).
About the Opponents
Adams State (Friday – 6 p.m.)
The Grizzlies are 3-6 on the season and have played three teams ranked inside the nation's top 10 at the time of the meeting. They went 2-2 at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational to start the season, the same tournament the Mavs opened the season at.
They then dropped a match to then No. 5 and now tenth-ranked West Texas A&M at home last Wednesday before going 1-3 at last weekend's Rosella Meier Classic at Nebraska-Kearney, ranked eighth in last week's poll.
Hadleigh Richardson has been terrorizing opponents this season and has recorded 118 kills (3.93/set). She ranks second in the RMAC for both kills and total points per set (4.37). Olivia Lunt has also recorded 54 kills while eight other Grizzlies are averaging more than a kill per set as second year head coach Garcia Ramser has experimented with lineups during the non-conference play.
Ashlyn Jones, who along with Richardson, is the only Grizzly to have played in all 30 sets so far this season, has 93 digs (3.10/set) to lead Ramser's squad. Katie Bauer has 24 blocks while Rowan Tribelhorn is right behind with 23 and a slightly higher 1.00 per set average to rank seventh in the RMAC statistics. Bauer is ranked eighth.
New Mexico Highlands (Saturday – 7 p.m.)
The Cowgirls are currently 4-4 on the season and will open up RMAC play with a Friday night home match against Westminster. They went 1-3 at last week's Tiger Classic in Hays, Kansas after opening the season with a 3-1 mark at the Mustang Volleyball Invitational in Silver City, New Mexico.
Junior pin hitter Aziza Morris leads the team with 86 kills (2.87/set) while Meg Pfannerstill has 67 while leading the team with 17 service aces to rank fourth in the conference with her 0.57 per average.
Becca Wiersema has tallied 129 digs (4.30/set) from her libero position to rank third in the conference while helping the Cowgirls to a conference lead in the team statistics at 18.67 digs per set. Conversely, the Cowgirls are last in the conference for blocks, averaging less than one (0.97/set).
RMAC Network News
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-per-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 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
After playing their first nine matches and three weeks on the road, the Mavericks will return home for a pair of key RMAC matches next weekend. CMU will take on national poll No. 4 MSU Denver next Friday (Sept. 26) at 5 p.m. in a clash of the top two teams in the RMAC Poll. The Mavs will then take on UCCS, currently undefeated at 8-0, next Saturday (Sept. 27) at 3 p.m.
