GOLDEN, Colo.— A balanced attack and defensive effort allowed the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team to complete a series sweep of Westminster University in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Power Pod match-up at the Colorado School of Mines' Lockridge Arena on Friday evening.
Offensively,
Jaycee Windorski and
Henley Madsen both recorded 11 kills while
Addie Ritterbush put down ten on .714 hitting.
Defensively, the Mavericks recorded 12 blocks and recorded 72 digs in the 4-set (25-16, 21-25, 25-10, 25-22) win over the Griffins to improve to 17-5 overall while ending a their 2-match slide of the season.
CMU has now beaten the Griffins (3-18) three times this season.
CMU freshman libero
Maya Grant had 21 digs to lead the back row while outside hitter
Ashlee Macias tallied 17 digs while putting down eight kills as well.
Setter
Ashlyn Tafoya recorded 29 assists while fellow setter
Hallie Hewlett doled out 21 while recorded nine digs.
Meanwhile,
Macy Wood and Madsen both recorded seven block assists, which are new season-highs. Windorski also added five. Wood also had four service aces and five kills while hitting .455 in the middle.
The Mavericks hit .297 as a team throughout the match as Windorski hit .500 on 16 swings while Madsen hit .308.
The Mavs, who also tallied nine service aces, committed just one hitting error in the opening set and hit .457 as a team in the opening stanza.
They came from 11-5 down to tie the set at 14. After an exchange of points, the Mavs then went on a 7-0 run as Wood had back-to-back aces around a Griffin timeout to take a 22-15 lead before winning the opening set on a blocking error that gave
Molly Whalen a kill.
The Mavs also fell behind by a 13-7 margin early in the second set but were again able to roar back with another 7-0 run to take an 18-17 lead. Madsen had three kills in that run with Macias behind the service line.
However, the Griffins steadied the ship and won the final four rallies behind two Jocelyn Grieser kills, a block and Maverick hitting error to level the match at a set apiece.
The Griffins' momentum would be short-lived as Wood recorded two aces in a 6-0 run to start the third set. The Mavs then extended their lead to 14-4 on kills by Windorski and Macias with
Marli Clausi at the service line.
Later, Macias had back-to-back aces in another 5-0 run as the Mavs took a 21-7 lead before finishing the set with another 3-0 spurt that featured kills by settler
Hallie Hewlett and Ritterbush and a block by Windorski and Ritterbush.
Ritterbush then took over in the fourth set recorded four consecutive kills during a 7-0 run that put the Mavs up 13-6.
The Mavs then extended the lead to 18-9 with another 4-2 run but watched the Griffins claw back to within two at 19-17 thanks to a 7-0 run of their own.
However, the Mavericks went to withstand the comeback as a Madsen/Windorski block and Ritterbush kill doubled the Mavs advantage back to 21-17 which proved to be enough as the Mavs closed out the win minutes later on a Macias kill.
The Mavericks will resume official RMAC play next weekend playing on the road at Chadron State and Regis next Friday (Oct. 30) and Saturday (Oct. 31), respectively.
