GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will look to lock up a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament spot while keeping their hopes alive for at least a share of the regular season title when they make their longest road trip of their conference schedule, heading to Chadron, Nebraska to face Chadron State College on Friday at 7 p.m.
The Mavericks will then continue the trip on Saturday at 5 p.m. facing Regis University in Denver in what will be their final road match of the 2026 regular season.
Sporting a 17-5 overall record and tied for second in the RMAC standings with an 8-2 record, the Mavericks will hope to being upset by the Chadron State Eagles (10-13, 3-8 RMAC), whose post-season hopes are on life support, and Regis Rangers (3-21, 1-10 RMAC), which have been eliminated from RMAC Tournament contention but looking to play the role of spoilers.
Both of the weekend's matches, which are starting at different times than originally published, can be seen with a subscription to the RMAC Network.
Live statistics for both matches can also be seen at the links above.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks split two matches during the RMAC Power Pod played in Golden last week. The Mavs dropped a 3-set match to the host and 25
th-ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers on Thursday but responded for a 4-set win over Westminster in a neutral-site match on Friday.
Ashlee Macias recorded 12 kills and hit .478 in
Thursday's match against Mines.
In the win over Westminster,
Jaycee Windorski and
Henley Madsen both recorded 11 kills while
Addie Ritterbush put down another ten on .714 hitting in a balanced attack.
Series Sweep
Friday's win over Westminster was the Mavs' third of the season and allowed CMU to sweep the season series with the Griffins. The Mavs posted a 3-0 home win during the RMAC Regional Pod week on Sept. 26 and then won by a 3-0 score on Oct. 13 in Salt Lake City in the match that counted towards the conference standings.
The Mavericks are now 26-2 all-time against the Griffins and have won 24 of the last 25 match-ups since 2015.
Friday's win marked the first time the teams had ever met on a neutral floor.
RMAC Standings Look
After last week's Power Pod play,
which did not count towards the RMAC standings, conference teams are now taking a close eye at the table with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
The MSU Denver Roadrunners 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 part of a 3-way tie for second with UCCS and the Colorado School 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 first tie-breaker for conference tournament seeding.
All three teams can lock up a RMAC Tournament spot with one more win or a Western Colorado loss and also have an inside track to a top four seeding, which will
After winning on Tuesday night, South Dakota Mines is just behind and stands fifth in the conference at 8-3 with matches at home to the Colorado School of Mines and away to CMU remaining.
Adams State, which posted a Tuesday night win over CSU Pueblo, is 7-4 and in sixth place ahead of 6-4 Colorado Christian.
Fort Lewis is 5-5 and holding down the eighth and last RMAC Tournament spot.
Western Colorado is 4-6 and in ninth place while CSU Pueblo and Black Hills State are both 4-7 after losing on Tuesday and tied for tenth place.
Chadron State (3-8) and Westminster (2-8) are in 12
th and 13
th, respectively, while New Mexico Highlands (1-9) and Regis (1-10) occupy the last two positions.
High NPI
The Mavericks are ranked fourth in the latest NPI (National Power Index) Rankings, released for the second straight week 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 60.656 rating, which is the 32
nd best score nationally.
Angelo State continues to lead the region at 67.046 while the Colorado School of Mines remained second and now has a 63.396 rating. Dallas Baptist is just ahead of the Mavs at 60.709.
MSU Denver (60.078), UT Tyler (58.286), South Dakota Mines (56.541) and St. Edward's (55.877) are ranked fifth through eighth, respectively.
UCCS (55.797), Oklahoma Christian (54.165) and Colorado Christian (54.125) round out the top ten.
The next set of rankings will be released on Monday (Nov. 2) and will include all matches through Sunday.
To learn more about the NPI rating calculations,
please visit this webpage.
Top-Notch Defense
The Mavericks recorded 72 digs and 12.5 blocks in Friday's in over Westminster. Both of those numbers are the second highest totals that the Mavs have had this season and are the highest of any 4-set match.
CMU's season-high for digs is 83, which came in the 5-set match at UCCS on Sept. 19. The Mavs had 15 blocks a night before at MSU Denver in another 5-set match.
The 12.5 blocks, which includes a rare triple block, are the most the Mavs have had in any 4-set match since 2019.
Top Ten Hitters
The Mavericks now have a season-long team hitting percentage of .283, which ranks ninth in the national statistical rankings.
The Mavs also have three of the top ten hitters in the RMAC statistics, a group led by
Addie Ritterbush, who sits second at .374 after her impressive .714 effort on Friday.
Jaycee Windorski ranks fourth at .363 while
Henley Madsen is ninth at .306.
Coming up Aces
The Mavericks continue to lead the RMAC in service aces with 142, good for a 1.87 per set average that also leads the RMAC.
They also pace the league in serving defense, allowing their opponents just 81 service aces this season, an average of 1.07 per set.
The Mavs had nine aces against Westminster after being held to just two in both of the back-to-back matches against Mines.
Twenty four of the Mavs aces have come in the three matches against Westminster, which is last in the RMAC for service aces allowed at 1.78 per set.
Home Sweet Home
Although they saw their 11-match home-court winning streak that had dated back to 2025 snapped back on Oct. 17, 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. 9) AVCA-Taraflex Division II poll, as they have been in the nine previous editions, including the preseason poll.
The Mavericks have 22 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 17 points in the poll.
The Colorado School of Mines moved up three spots to 22
nd in this week's poll.
Two other teams the Mavs have played this season are also receiving votes . Those are Biola (22) and Dallas Baptist (17). 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.
The Mavs have matched that win total this year and are now 34-16 in 50 matches with Albers at the helm.
Albers 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 17-5 start, Albers now has a 127-77 (.623) 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 272-134 (.670) 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 Eagles
The Eagles are 10-13 overall and have a 3-8 RMAC record. They won in five sets on Tuesday night at Regis and have gone 1-1 in each of the last two weeks after losing five straight previously.
They are now 2-5 in seven 5-set matches in a season filled with close calls that started with promise and a 5-3 non-conference record.
Their ten wins are the program's most since 2023 and have allowed the Eagles to reach double figures for just the fourth time in the past 21 seasons.
Junior outside hitter Mataya Ward leads the team with 282 kills (3.24/set) and 324 total points (3.72/set) to rank fifth in the RMAC for both categories. She also has 26 service aces (0.30/set) to lead the team in that category.
Seniors Gibson Beckler and Kally Kirkwood have also put up significant numbers for coach Jennifer Stadler's squad. Beckler has 224 kills (2.57/set) while Kirkwood has put down 201 (2.28/set).
Sophomore setter Jillian Donovan has 544 assists (6.33/set) while senior libero Avery Lacy has 399 digs (4.43/set) to rank seventh in the RMAC.
Meanwhile, Sarah Meservey has recorded a RMAC-leading 123 blocks, an average of 1.37 per set to rank second in the RMAC and seventh nationally.
About the Rangers
The Rangers are 3-21 overall and are last in the RMAC standings with a 1-10 RMAC record heading into a Friday home match against Westminster. All three of their wins have come in 5-set matches. Two of those have come against New Mexico Highlands.
Kailyn Polzin leads the team with 189 kills (2.36/set) as one of five different Rangers with more than 100 kills but is hitting just .118 for a team that is ranked 14
th in the RMAC with a .136 team attack percentage.
Setter Maddie Lynett has 376 assists (4.48/set) while Nicole Shaver is right behind with 356 (4.40/set).
Cady Knight leads the team with 22 service aces (0.26/set) while Shaver and Lynett are right behind with 19 and 18, respectively.
Knight also places the team with 396 digs (4.66/set) and is second in the RMAC for digs per set.
Kendal Allaire has 52 blocks (0.61/set) to lead the Rangers in that category.
Exploring the Rivalries
The Mavericks have won 31 straight matches against Chadron State, a streak that dates back the same number of years to 1995. The Mavs also hold a 37-3 lead in the series with the Eagles during the NCAA Division II era (1992-Present). CMU is 12-1 against the Eagles in Chadron during that time.
The Eagles' last win was on Oct. 6, 1995 in Chadron after the Mavs had won a 4-set home match earlier that season.
Regis leads the Division II series against CMU by a 26-22 margin although the Mavericks have won the last three and five of the last six match-ups. The Mavs are just 4-12 against the Rangers on the road but did win in four sets on Oct. 19, 2024 in what was their last trip into the Regis Field House.
Up Next
The Mavericks will return home to close out the regular season against Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines on Nov. 6 and 7, respectively.
