PUEBLO, Colo.— Led by 15 kills from freshman outside hitter
Molly Whalen and a dozen more from sophomore opposite
Henley Madsen, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team extended its winning streak to six by coming from a set down to pull out an 18-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-23 road win over CSU Pueblo on Saturday night here in the ThunderWolves Massari Arena.
The Mavs, who also came from a set down to defeat Colorado Christian on Friday night in Lakewood, put down 61 kills, their second highest total of the season and pulled out tight third and fourth sets to improve to 15-3 overall while retaining a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference lead with a 7-1 conference mark.
The Mavs are still tied with MSU Denver and UCCS and a match ahead of the Colorado School of Mines.
CSU Pueblo fell to 9-10 overall and to 4-4 in RMAC play despite 16 kill efforts from both Lilly Zwart and Brianna Pino.
Second-year CMU Coach
Austin Albers, who guided the ThunderWolves to RMAC Tournament appearances in all six seasons from 2019-24, is now 2-0 against his former team after the Mavs beat the Pack in four sets on Oct. 16 of last year at home.
Two former Pack players who transferred to CMU to continue their careers with Albers, also contributed in the win.
Hallie Hewlett, CSU Pueblo's top setter in 2024, had 23 assists and five digs while
Kaitlyn Hall, the RMAC's Freshman of the Year that season for CSU Pueblo, put down six kills and a pair of blocks while swapping out with Madsen on the right side.
The Mavs also received a big contribution from junior middle blocker
Jaycee Windorski, who had ten kills on .562 hitting.
Meanwhile, setter
Ashlyn Tafoya recorded 25 assists while libero
Maya Grant registered 15 digs.
Ashlee Macias also chipped in 14 digs and nine kills while being peppered with 44 ThunderWolf serves, only one of which that she could not handle.
The hosts controlled much of the first set and out-hit the Mavs by more than 100 points (.304-.182) in that opening frame although the Mavs ended up with a .263-.228 overall attack percentage advantage throughout the match.
CMU responded late in the second set, going on a 4-0 run thanks to two Pack miscues, a Madsen/
Aesha Alrashed block and Whalen kill to take a 21-17 lead after the set had been tied on 15 separate occasions, including at 17.
Madsen then added two more kills while Whalen ended the set with one of her four second-set kills to match Macias' total in that frame.
In the third set, the Mavericks faced an 11-7 deficit but roared back to take a 16-14 lead on a solo block from Alrashed, which forced the ThunderWolves to take a timeout.
The Mavs then later took 21-18 and 22-19 leads on kills from Whalen and Hall but watched the ThunderWolves fight off two set points while using a 4-2 run to tie the set at 24.
However, a Pack service error and a nice Whalen kill that found the hole in the Pack defense gave CMU a 2-1 overall lead.
The Mavs then jumped out to take a 10-6 lead in the fourth set before the ThunderWolves rallied to take a 14-13 lead of their own.
However, back-to-back Whalen kills sparked a 5-0 run that put CMU in front 18-14.
The Pack answered back with a 5-1 run of their own and tied the set at 19 before a Windorski kill and three consecutive ThunderWolf hitting errors, one of which was the result of a Windorski and Hall block, put the Mavs on the verge of the win at 23-19.
CSU Pueblo did not go away and shook off two of three CMU match points to close to within 24-23 before Hall finished off CMU's win in her former home gym.
The Mavericks have now won 13 of their last 14 overall and will close out a 3-match stretch on the road on Tuesday in Salt Lake City, Utah when the Mavs face Westminster (3-13, 2-6 RMAC). First serve in the Griffins' Behnken Field House is slated for 6 p.m.
