GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Led by 17 kills from one of the stars he brought with him, new Colorado Mesa University volleyball coach Austin Albers picked up his 100^th career coaching victory as the Mavericks took down the nation's fifth-ranked and 4-time defending Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champion MSU Denver Roadrunners on Friday night in the Mavs' home-opener here in Brownson Arena.
 
CMU senior outside hitter Sadie Scoville, who was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American for Albers at CSU Pueblo, where Albers won 93 matches over six seasons from 2019-24, led CMU's effort as she hit .500 without a hitting error in the 19-25, 25-19, 25-9, 25-21 victory.
 
The nation's 24^th-ranked Mavs, who improved to 7-3 overall and to 3-0 in the RMAC, hit an impressive .336 as a team while holding the Roadrunners (8-2, 1-1 RMAC) to a .154 percentage.
 
The Roadrunners' loss was just their second RMAC loss in the past five seasons and snapped what was a 20-match conference winning streak.  Albers and Scoville had inflicted the other while at CSU Pueblo on Oct. 21, 2023, a match in which the then sophomore had 20 kills.
 
CMU had also stunned the then national poll No. 1 Roadrunners on Nov. 2 of last season in Denver although that match was part of the RMAC Power Pod weekend and did not count in the conference standings.
 
Although Scoville stole the show on Friday in her first official home match as a Maverick, the Mavs also relied heavily on their blocking prowess and solid hitting from the opposite hitters.  The Mavs tallied an 11-4 blocking advantage as Aesha Alrashed recorded a career-high eight.  Scoville also chipped in four.
 
Meanwhile, freshman opposite Henley Madsen tallied 11 kills on .321 hitting.  Fellow right side Coco Barnett also put down eight kills on .400 hitting after coming in to replace Kaitlyn Hall, who suffered a late first set injury.
 
Freshman setter Ashlyn Tafoya also recorded 27 assists and a season-high 17 digs to register her third double-double of the season while senior libero Allison Waller chipped in 18 digs.
 
After a tight opening, the Roadrunners were able to come from 13-9 down in the first set to take the early overall lead as they finished it with 21 kills and a .439 attack percentage.
 
However, the Mavs regrouped and went on a 5-1 run with Emma Luce at the service line to build a substantial 15-8 lead as Alrashed had a hand in all four blocks of the second set to help the Mavs level the overall match.
 
The Mavericks then dominated the third set, jumping out to a 10-2 lead while hitting at an impressive .609 clip with 15 kills and just one error throughout the stanza.  Scoville had six on seven swings while Waller tallied six third-set digs to help the Mavs hold the Roadrunners to a negative .038 hitting percentage.
 
CMU also got out to a 14-7 lead in the fourth set and still led by six at 24-18 before a service error temporarily halted the momentum.  However, Luce, who had seven kills and nine digs as well as the Mavs' only service ace, finished the victory off with a kill on what was the Mavs' fourth match point.
 
The Mavs will look to ride the momentum into another tough battle on Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock when CMU will host undefeated UCCS (10-0, 2-0 RMAC).  The Mountain Lions, off to their best start in program, swept Westminster on Friday night in Salt Lake City.