GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The streaking Colorado School of Mines Orediggers came out on fire and recorded a 25-14, 25-22, 25-20 sweep over the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks in a key Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match-up on Saturday evening in Brownson Arena.
The Orediggers hit an errorless .652 in the first set and finished the match with a .343 team attack percentage as they improved to 17-3 overall and to 8-2 in RMAC play with what was their program record-extending tenth straight 3-0 win.
The Mavericks, who came into the match as part of a 3-way tie for the conference lead, were given a break from Colorado Christian, which swept UCCS in Lakewood, but could not take advantage and saw their 7-match overall and 11-match home-court winning streaks snapped.
The Mavs are now 16-4 overall and tied with Mines and UCCS at 8-2 in the conference standings. MSU Denver, which played later Saturday night at CSU Pueblo, now tops the conference table at 8-1.
CMU junior outside hitter
Ashlee Macias recorded a match-high 12 kills on .478 hitting to lead the Maverick effort while
Kaitlyn Hall chipped in seven kills on .400 hitting.
However, the rest of the Mavericks were held to 19 kills and a .108 combined hitting percentage as CMU hit just .223 as a team, their lowest mark since Sept. 18.
The Mavs were also guilty of ten service errors and were never fully able to get any momentum rolling.
Mines middle blocker Jenna McLaughlin had 11 kills and three blocks while hitting .524 without an error while left-handed Cadence McDonald also recorded 11 kills and three blocks on .333 from the right side.
Italian libero Francesca Nuzzo also had a big night with 25 digs while setter Kaiya Gilbert tallied 37 assists, seven digs, three kills and two blocks.
Maverick libero
Maya Grant had 12 digs to lead the CMU defense while setter
Ashlyn Tafoya had 19 assists and five digs.
The Orediggers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set as McLaughlin recorded four kills and a block in the quick start.
The visitors managed 15 kills and three blocks in that opening frame.
The Mavs did get off to a good 5-2 start in the second and had a 12-10 lead before committing a service error that triggered a 6-2 run that put Mines ahead, 15-14.
The set was then tied at 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 before a 3-0 Oredigger run gave the visitors a 22-19 lead, which proved to be enough.
The third set was also tight and was tied on nine separate occasions before the Orediggers went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-16 lead before cruising to the sweep, which stopped the Mavs' home-court winning streak that had dated back 361 days to Oct. 21, 2025.
The Mavs will look to avenge Saturday's loss when they take on Mines again on Thursday (Oct. 22) in Golden. That match is the start of an RMAC Power Pod but will not count in the conference standings. The Mavs will also take on Westminster (Oct. 23) in a neutral-site encounter on Friday in Golden before resuming RMAC play on Oct. 30 at Chadron State.
