GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Outside hitters
Molly Whalen and
Ashlee Macias combined for 27 kills as the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team claimed its 20
th win of the season in dominant 25-9, 25-20, 25-15 fashion over visiting Black Hills State University on Friday night here in Brownson Arena.
The duo hit a combined .382 as the Mavericks hit .372 as a team while sealing up the right to host a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday.
The Mavs, who lead the RMAC while ranking ninth nationally in hitting percentage, have now won four straight matches and are now 20-5 overall and 11-2 in RMAC play. They are now guaranteed of a top four finish in the conference standings and retained a share of second place alongside national poll No. 20 Colorado School of Mines, which extended its winning streak to 15 matches with a 3-0 sweep of Chadron State College on Friday in Golden.
Meanwhile, MSU Denver, 12-1 in conference play, clinched a share of the RMAC regular season title with a 3-0 road win at Adams State and will look to lock up the outright title on Saturday at New Mexico Highlands, which is in last place of the RMAC standings.
The Mavs are the only team to have beat the Roadrunners in conference play thus far.
UCCS remained in fourth place at 10-3 in the conference with a 3-1 road win at New Mexico Highlands and also clinched a home playoff match on Friday as did Mines.
South Dakota Mines (20-6, 9-4 RMAC), who the Mavs will play on Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season is now in fifth by themselves but will be forced to play on the road for the opening round of the conference tournament, regardless of the outcome.
It is possible that the Mavs and Hardrockers, who won 3-0 on Friday in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, could meet again in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals.
With Friday's win, CMU has now reached the 20-win mark in five of the last six seasons after going 15-1 in a COVID abbreviated 2021 spring campaign.
CMU Head Coach
Austin Albers has now led two different RMAC schools to 20-win campaigns after guiding CSU Pueblo to a 20-9 record in his third of six seasons with the ThunderWolves before coming to Grand Junction in 2025.
On Friday, Whalen came off the bench to record 15 kills and hit .414 in the Mavs' Parent's Night win. Macias got the start and registered 12 kills on .346 hitting while recording seven digs and two blocks. Whalen had five kills in each set while Macias recorded six in the second and five in the third.
Henley Madsen also chipped in seven kills on .375 hitting and added three blocks from her opposite hitter position.
Meanwhile, setters
Hallie Hewlett (19) and
Ashlyn Tafoya (16) combined for 35 assists to help the Mavs post a 45-25 advantage in total kills.
Defensively, the Mavs had a 9-4 edge in blocking and held the Yellow Jackets (9-16, 4-9 RMAC) to a .070 hitting percentage.
Junior middle blocker
Jaycee Windorski was involved in six of those blocks while libero
Maya Grant recorded 11 digs and added seven assists. Hewlett also had seven digs.
Carsyn Mettler recorded ten kills and hit .318 to lead the visitors, who will wrap up their season on Saturday at Westminster.
The Mavs hit a blistering .611 in the opening set while recording four aces and three blocks.
After leading the first set throughout, the Mavs were also able to take an early 4-1 lead in the second before the visitors rallied to take a 12-8 lead thanks to a 5-0 and 9-1 run.
Whalen then recorded back-to-back kills before Madsen and
Aesha Alrashed teamed for a block as the Mavs used a 3-0 to help come back and eventually tie the set at 15.
Macias then registered four straight kills to give the Mavs a 20-16 lead that proved to be enough as Whalen put down two kills in three rallies to clinch the set.
After a neutral start, the third set was more straightforward as the Mavs recorded 17 kills while hitting .378 in the final frame. They used a 6-0 run with Hewlett at the service line to build a 12-6 lead and later had a 4-0 run that featured two Whalen kills and a block assist to go up 23-12 before finishing the match on BHSU serving and hitting errors.
Saturday's match-up with the Hardrockers, who are also gunning for a NCAA Tournament spot will be CMU's final match of the regular season. The Mavs will recognize six players during Senior Day festivities prior to the match at 1 o'clock.
