GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will look to bounce back from a tough home loss when they complete a home-and-home slate against rival Colorado School of Mines in the first match of this week's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Power Pod in the Orediggers' Lockridge Arena.
 
The Mavericks, who are 16-4 overall, will take on Mines (17-3) on Thursday at 6 p.m. before remaining in Golden  to take on Westminster University (3-15) in a neutral-court match on Friday at 6 p.m.
 
Mines, now ranked 25^th in this week's national poll and Westminster will then complete the pod on Saturday at 5 p.m.
 
All of the matches can be seen with a subscription to the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can also be seen at the link above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks' 7-match overall winning streak and 11-match home-court winning streaks were halted by Mines on Saturday in Brownson Arena as the Orediggers got off to a quick start en route to a 25-14, 25-22,25-20 win.
 
Mines hit .652 in the first set and .343 in the match, which dropped the Mavs out of a share for first place in the RMAC standings and into a 3-way tie for second with Mines and UCCS, which was also swept by Colorado Christian on Saturday.
 
CMU hit .223 in the match as junior outside hitter Ashlee Macias recorded a match-high 12 kills while hitting .478.  Kaitlyn Hall also chipped in seven kills on .400 hitting.
 
Maya Grant led the Mavericks with 12 digs while Macy Wood had three blocks. 
 
Setter Ashlyn Tafoya had 19 assists and five digs.
 
Power Pod Return Trip
 
Thursday's match will wrap up home-and-home series between the Mavericks and Orediggers thanks to a unique scheduling quirk.
 
CMU also played the Westminster Griffins last Tuesday (Oct. 12) in Salt Lake City.
 
This week's matches are part of the RMAC's Power Pod Weekend.  Because they finished in a tie for fourth place in last year's conference standings, the Mavs and Orediggers have been placed in the same pod along with Westminster, which finished sixth in last year's conference standings.  Those three teams will play their 3-team round-robin over three days.  Those matches will not count towards the conference standings but will be counted on the team's overall record and are in essence non-conference yet NCAA Division II South Central Regional match-ups between conference foes.
 
Similar Power Pods will feature the top three teams in last year's standings (MSU Denver, UCCS, CSU Pueblo), the seventh through ninth place finishers, the tenth through 12^th place finishers and the 13^th-15^th place finishers from last year's standings.
 
Bounce Back Winners
 
The Mavericks have been able to bounce back to claim victory after all four of their losses this season, a trend they will look to continue on Thursday against Mines.
 
Heavyweight Bout
 
Thursday's match-up with Mines will once again be a match-up of the RMAC's top two teams in the terms of both overall record and many of the statistical categories.
 
The Mavericks lead the RMAC in attack percentage with a .290 mark while Mines is second at .282.
 
Meanwhile, Mines has the RMAC's top opponent hitting percentage at .156 while CMU ranks second at .171.
 
Blocking could also prove pivotal as Mines leads the RMAC with 2.75 blocks per set while the Mavericks have conceded just 1.64 blocks per set to sit second in the RMAC statistics, just behind Mines' conference leading mark of 1.62.
 
The Mavericks also lead the RMAC in service aces (1.90/set) and are conceding the fewest digs per set (12.46) of any team in the RMAC.
 
RMAC Standings Look
 
Although this week's matches will not count towards the conference standings, it is worth a look at where teams stand with just four conference matches remaining in the regular season.
 
The MSU Denver Roadrunners now lead the standings by themselves with a 9-1 record and have officially clinched a spot in the 8-team RMAC Tournament.  The Mavs are now a part of a 3-way tie for second with UCCS and Mines but would be the No. 4 seed in the RMAC Tournament if the regular season were to end today by virtue of their head-to-head losses to both the Mountain Lions and Orediggers, which is the tie-breaker.
 
South Dakota Mines is a match out of that tie and stands fifth in the conference at 7-3 while Adams State and Colorado Christian are tied for sixth at 6-4.  Fort Lewis would hold down the No. 8 seed in the RMAC Tournament and is 5-5 in RMAC matches.
 
Western Colorado, CSU Pueblo and Black Hills State are all very much in the fight as well and are tied for ninth at 4-6.  Chadron State and Westminster are both 2-8 and will need a lot of help to find their way in to the tournament.  New Mexico Highlands and Regis are both 1-9 and are all but eliminated from playoff contention.
 
Four in & sixth the Top Ten
 
While leading the conference and ranking sixth in the nation with their .290 team attack percentage, the Mavs continue to have four different players in the top ten of the conference's individual statistics.
 
Jaycee Windorski ranks third in the league with her .370 percentage while Addie Ritterbush ranks fourth at .358.  Henley Madsen (3.05) and Molly Whalen (.303) are ranked ninth and tenth, respectively. 
 
No other RMAC team (Mines) has more than two players inside the top ten.
 
High NPI
 
The Mavericks debuted as the third South Central Regional team in the initial set of NPI (National Power Index) Rankings, released for the first time on Monday morning.  Those rankings will eventually determine the at-large qualifications and seeding for the regional portion of the NCAA Tournament, which begins in less than a month on Nov. 19.
 
The NPI rankings, which are entirely mathematical, replace the former regional rankings that were compiled on a somewhat subjective basis by a regional advisory committee under the oversight and criteria, established by the national committee.  Eight teams, including the champions of the Lone Star Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournaments, who both earn automatic qualification spots, will be selected.
 
CMU has a 61.475 rating, shy only of Angelo State (66.611) and Mines (62.725) amongst South Central teams in the rankings.  The Mavs' rating is also 22^nd best in the country and largely stems from their
 
Dallas Baptist (59.720), MSU Denver (59.355), UT Tyler (57.530), UCCS (56.952) and South Dakota Mines (56.506) are ranked third through eighth, respectively.
 
To learn more about the NPI rating calculations, please visit this webpage.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
Although they saw their 11-match home-court winning streak that had dated back to 2025 snapped on Saturday, the Mavs have consistently taken advantage of their home and supportive crowd in Brownson Arena.  The Mavs are now 9-1 at home this season with two regular season home matches remaining on the slate.
 
They went 7-2 at home last season and have posted an impressive 81-10 home record and .890 winning percentage since the start of 2018, losing no more than one home match in each of the previous seven seasons between 2018-24.
 
The Mavs won their last ten home matches of 2024 and were 12-1 at home that season.
 
The Mavs were 13-1 at home in 2023 and went 8-1 in 2022. 
 
The Mavs also went 9-1 at home in the fall of 2021.  The Mavs also went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season while winning the RMAC title.  In the fall of 2019, the Mavs went 8-1 after going 9-1 in Brownson Arena during the 2018 campaign.

The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in both 2016 and 2017.  CMU was also an impressive 15-1 in 2014 en route to an RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last 14 seasons since and including 2012, going 132-27 (.830) since the start of that campaign.
 
They are 117-18 (.867) in their last 135 home matches since 2014.
 
In the Poll
 
The Mavericks are continuing to be in the others receiving votes category of this week's (Week No. 8) AVCA-Taraflex Division II poll, as they have been in the eight previous editions, including the preseason poll.
 
The Mavericks have 25 points in this week's poll.
 
The Mavs are 2-0 against other nationally-ranked teams at the time of the match, defeating then seventh-ranked Nebraska-Kearney in the season-opener.
 
MSU Denver, who the Mavs beat on Sept. 18, when the Roadrunners were ranked 19^th, has fallen out of the top 25, but still has ten points in the poll.
 
The Colorado School of Mines moved in to the top 25 of this week's poll.
 
The Colorado School of Mines and UCCS are also representing the RMAC in the others receiving votes category.  Mines has 25 points and is 29^th in total points.  UCCS has nine points.
 
Two other teams the Mavs have played this season are also receiving votes and both have 17 points.  Those are Biola (56) and Dallas Baptist (3).  Both of those teams defeated the Mavs on the opening weekend of the season.
 
About the Coaching staff
 
Austin Albers is in his second season in charge of the Mavericks.  He is just the fifth coach in program history and the third in the last 42 years. 
 
In his first season with CMU (2025), Albers led the Mavericks to a 17-11 campaign and a fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
He is no stranger to the RMAC after having spent the six previous seasons (2019-24) at CSU Pueblo, where he led the ThunderWolves to a 93-61 (.604) record and RMAC Tournament appearances in all six campaigns.  The Pack also went to the NCAA Tournament in both 2021 and 2022.
 
Prior to that, he was the head coach at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he went 145-57 while leaving as the program's all-time win percentage leader (.718).  He was inducted into the LCCC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025 and received the AVCA 30 under 30 award along with NJCAA Region IX and NJCAA District C Coach of the year honors.
 
Including this year's 16-4 start, Albers now has a 126-76 (.624) record at the 4-year level and surpassed the 100-win milestone in 2025.  He also eclipsed the 250 overall collegiate win milestone last year and now has a 271-133 (.671) overall collegiate coaching record.
 
His two assistants Bri Strong and Annemarie Chin also return in 2026.  Strong is entering her seventh season with the Mavs and her fourth as the program's top assistant.
 
Chin is in her second season with the Mavs and third with Albers after assisting him at CSU Pueblo.  She was then named as the Pack's interim head coach after CMU hired Albers in February, 2025, before re-uniting with Albers for last fall's campaign.
 
About the Orediggers
 
The Orediggers now hold the RMAC's best overall record at 17-3 and are ranked in the top 25 of the AVCA-Taraflex Division II Poll for the first time this season.  They have won ten straight matches, all in straight sets.  Their 30 straight set wins are a program record and the longest active run in Division II.
 
Jenna McLaughlin, who has been named as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week three times this season, was tabbed as the RMAC's Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, after recording 22 kills without an error on 43 attempts last week.
 
The 6-foot-2 junior middle blocker leads the RMAC in both attack percentage (.390) and blocks (1.43/set) and is ninth in the conference for kills, averaging 3.00 per.
 
Right side Cadence McDonald and outside hitter Naomi Romslo are also key pieces to the Oredigger attack.  McDonald has 167 kills (2.61/set) and his hitting .296 while Romslo has 161 kills (2.37/set) to her credit.  She also is third on the team with 19 service aces.
 
Setter Kaiya Gilbert, who leads the RMAC with 693 assists and her 10.04 per set average, also leads the team with 25 aces and is tied for eighth in the RMAC alongside CMU setter Ashlyn Tafoya.
 
Libero Francesca Nuzzo was named as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after recording 25 digs against the Mavs following a 21-dig effort in Friday's win over Westminster.  She has 305 digs this season and is seventh in the RMAC with her 4.42 per set average.  She also has 24 aces, just one behind Gilbert for the team lead.
 
About the Griffins
 
The Griffins are 3-15 overall and have lost four straight and ten of their last 11 matches overall.  They are 2-8 in RMAC play.  Two of their losses in the stretch have come against the Mavs on Sept. 26
 
who will also play at CSU Pueblo and Colorado Christian this weekend before returning home to host the Mavericks are currently 3-11 overall and 2-4 in RMAC play.  They snapped a 6-match losing streak last Saturday with a  5-set home win over Western Colorado and are now 2-1 in their limited home schedule to date.
 
Elsa Gilmore leads the Griffins with 164 kills (2.34/set) while Claire Cook has put down 125 and is averaging 2.87 per set while missing seven matches.
 
Finnish setter Tiia Heikkinen has doled out 302 assists (5.03/set) while Nora Elliot has registered 198 (3.19/set).   Katelyn Eichert has recorded 82 (4.10/set) while playing in just six matches.
 
Ava Livolsi leads the defense with 330 digs (4.65/set) and also has a team-high 26 aces (0.37/set) to rank third in the RMAC for digs and seventh for aces.  Apiline White also has 21 aces while Heikkinen and Elliot have 19 each to help the Griffins rank fourth in the RMAC as a team with a 1.65 per set average.
 
Allie Coleman leads the Griffins in blocking with 43, including 13 solos.  Kyra Mahler has 42 blocks, including 15 solos.  Mahler also ranks sixth in the RMAC for attack percentage at .318 but has just 83 kills.
 
Exploring the Rivalries
 
The rivalry between the Mavs and Colorado School of Mines Orediggers was no more intense than it was in 2025, when the teams split a pair of 5-set matches in Golden.  Additionally, both of the decisive fifth sets were decided in extra points.

Mines won the regular season meeting on Oct. 24 with a reverse sweep and took the fifth set, 16-14.  That victory allowed the Orediggers the right to host the RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal in the 4-5 seeding match-up.
 
The Mavs pulled out that post-season win, taking the fifth set by a 16-14 margin as all five sets were decided by just two points, including the first and third which were decided by 27-25 and 29-27 scorelines.
 
Although they lost on Saturday, the Mavericks still lead the overall series 26-21 during the NCAA Division II era and have won four of the last six matches after the Orediggers had won five of the previous six between 2019-24.
 
The Mavs also hold a 13-11 lead in the series for matches played in Golden and have won two of the last three and three of the last five.
 
The Mavericks have dominated the Westminster Griffins and have already beat them twice this season to extend their lead in the all-time series to 25-2.
 
Friday's match-up will mark the first between the teams on a neutral floor.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return to official RMAC play and make their final road trip of the regular season when they head to Chadron, Nebraska to face Chadron State on Friday, Oct. 30 before playing in Denver at Regis on Halloween (Saturday, Oct. 31).