LAKEWOOD, Colo.— Four different Colorado Mesa University players recorded double-figure kill totals as the Maverick volleyball team claimed a hard-fought 4-set Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference road win over the Colorado Christian University Cougars on Friday evening here at the CCU Event Center.
The Mavericks hit .309 as a team and improved to 14-4 overall with their fifth straight win, which was also their 12
th in the last 13 matches. CMU also retained a share of the lead in the RMAC standings alongside MSU Denver and UCCS with a 6-1 conference record.
The Cougars, who hit .285, won the first set, 25-22, but dropped to 7-8 overall and to 4-3 in conference play.
The Mavericks finished the night with 56 kills and won the remaining sets by 25-19, 25-21 and 25-23 scorelines.
Freshman outside hitter
Molly Whalen had 13 kills on .357 hitting to pace CMU. Sophomore opposite hitter
Addie Ritterbush, who hit .407, and reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week Ashelee Macias had 12 each.
Henley Madsen also chipped in ten kills and four blocks.
Starting setter
Hallie Hewlett had 23 assists and five digs while counterpart
Ashlyn Tafoya had 21 assists, seven digs and a match-high three service aces, helping CMU to a slight 8-6 edge in that category.
The Mavs also had a 49-44 advantage in digs as
Addison Wright tallied 11 while libero
Maya Grant and Macias had nine each.
Middle blocker
Aesha Alrashed chipped in four kills and four blocks while hitting .429.
CCU's Connelly Kilgore had 15 kills to pace the Cougars while
Sienna Thatcher, who played for CMU last season, chipped in 13.
The Cougars used a late first-set 5-0 run to take a 24-20 lead and went on to win the first set.
However, the Mavs went on an extended 16-5 run in the middle of the second set to build a 20-10 lead before evening the match on a Cougar service error.
Whalen had six of the Mavs' 15 kills of the second set, which saw CMU hit .429.
The Mavs then trailed 16-14 in the third set but went on a 6-1 run featuring back-to-back Ritterbush kills and two consecutive service aces from Wright. The Cougars then came back from 20-17 down to tie the set at 21.
However, a Ritterbush and Macias kills surrounding a block from Alrashed and Madsen along with a hitting error from Thatcher gave the Mavs the 4-point set win.
The Mavs then jumped out to a 11-4 lead in the fourth set before the Cougars rallied back to pull within 15-14 thanks to a 10-4 run of their own.
The set was then later tied at 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 as the teams exchanged blows.
However, Macias then finished off the match with back-to-back kills. She had five in the fourth set, which saw CMU hit .316 as a team.
The Mavericks will look to extend their winning streak on Saturday evening at CSU Pueblo, which swept Westminster on Friday. The ThunderWolves are now 9-9 overall and have a 4-3 RMAC record at the half-way point of the conference slate.
