GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Coming off a program-best 21-win season, the Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball team will open the 2026 season this weekend playing four matches in Grand Canyon University's Canyon Classic.
The Mavs will face two teams ranked inside the top 20 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Collegiate Beach Preseason Poll, which was announced this week.
The weekend begins against the host and 13
th-ranked Lopes on Friday morning at 9 a.m. The Mavs will also face No. 11 Arizona State on Saturday at the same time. In between on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., the Mavs will take on Arizona, receiving votes in the poll.
They wrap up the weekend on Saturday at 2 p.m. against UC Davis.
Follow the Mavs
Live statistics for each of the Mavs' four match-ups can be accessed through this link.
The match against GCU is slated to be streamed on B1G+ while the other matches will be streamed on the Sporfie app.
Daily recaps will also be posted on
www.cmumavericks.com.
For inside content, fans are also encouraged to follow the team on their Instragam account (
@cmu_beachvb).
A look back
The Mavericks enjoyed a solid 2025 season, posting a 21-11 team record while surpassing the former program record of 19 dual wins from two years prior.
The Mavs also advanced to the Gold Bracket of the AVCA Small College Beach Championships for the sixth straight year, where they were downed by eventual champions Tampa in the quarterfinal round.
Throughout the season, the Mavs defeated five NCAA Division I institutions while going 7-3 against fellow Division II institutions.
Individually, the No. 2 (
Riley Daugherty/
Lizzy Hood) and No. 3 (
Barett Nolan/
Ania Swartzendruber) pairs both won 21 matches while the Mavs' No. 4 pair of
Jessica Passi and
Taylor Scherff fell just one win shy of 20.
The No. 1 duo of
Ellie Ask and
Gracyn Spresser also posted a winning record of 16-14 in the top flight.
New Faces
The Mavericks have eight new faces on their 21-player roster for the 2026 season, including six freshman and a pair of transfers, who both have played indoor volleyball at the NCAA Division I level.
Those transfers are
Ewelina Gacek of Justice, Illinois who had a 4-year indoor career at George Mason, where she recorded 665 kills and 552 digs in over 100 matches with the Patriots from 2021-24. She is a graduate student at CMU.
Meanwhile, the Mavs picked up another transfer between semesters in Otsego, Minnesota native
Mikala Henderson. She was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American for Alaska Fairbanks' indoor team this past fall after playing for four seasons, including the COVID affected 2020-21 seasons at Division I UIC (Illinois Chicago).
The list of freshman includes five players from Colorado in
Kiersten Adams (Loveland),
Avery Malek (Erie),
Addie Ritterbush (Palisade),
Eva Stewart (Durango) and
Lucy Tremmel (Thornton) and one from the state of Washington in
Regan Rothley, who hails from the city of Liberty Lake.
Lineup Look
Here is a look at Head Coach
David Skaff's projected lineup and partnerships for this weekend's matches.
1 & 2:
Emerson Deferme/
Ania Swartzendruber &
Ellie Ask/
Gracyn Spresser
3:
Ewelina Gacek/
Regan Rothley
4:
Addie Ritterbush/
Lauren Rohlwing
5:
Mikala Henderson/
Stormi Tadlock
6 (Exhibition):
Ava Blanco/
Jessica Passi
Ask and Spresser were also partners in 2025 and went 16-14 in the top flight. Swartzendruber and Passi were also mainstays in the Mavs' starting lineup last year, but both lost their partners from 2025 to graduation.
Blanco, Deferme, Rohlwing and Tadlock are also Maverick returnees who played with multiple partners at No. 5 and in exhibition matches last year.
Transfer Destination
CMU and the Maverick program have become a transfer destination, attracting players from around the country to study at CMU and play the Mavs. Some of those have been indoor players at other schools that did not sponsor beach volleyball as a sport while others have just been looking for a new opportunity to play for the strong CMU program, the only NCAA and 4-year college beach volleyball program in the state of Colorado.
Ten members of the Mavs' 21-woman roster this year have spent times at other institutions, from literal corner-to-corner of the continental United States between Alaska and Florida.
Beach Boss
David Skaff, the only head coach in the Mavs' beach volleyball history, returns for his 11
th season in charge of the Maverick program. He is in his 19
th year overall as a CMU Coach, having served as a long-time assistant coach for the Mavs' indoor program before going full time to the beach program, starting in 2023.
Skaff has led the Mavericks to three straight top-3 finishes at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships, including a 2022 title.
His teams have combined for 97 wins in the previous ten seasons,74 of which have come in the last four years alone.
The program has also received the AVCA Team Academic Award eight times, including each of the last seven.
Ara "Bob" Norwood also returns for her fourth season as the Mavs' assistant coach after a standout indoor and beach playing career with the Mavs.
Tough Schedule
The Mavs are slated to play four matches against teams that were ranked inside the top 20 of the AVCA's preseason pol. They also have three matches against two opponents in the "receiving votes" category.
Three of those matches come this weekend while the other four will come on Apr. 3-4- when the Mavs head to Arizona's Wildcat Spring Challenge in Tucson. They are slated to play No. 4 USC, No. 16 Hawaii as well as the host's and Florida Gulf Coast, who are both in the others receiving votes category at that tournament.
Spring Break in the Southeast
In between their trips to Arizona and their lone home weekend on Mar. 6-7, the Mavs will head to the Southeastern portion of the United States, to play nine matches in a span of five days between Mar. 17-21. They begin the trip with a doubleheader at Tennessee Tech on Mar. 17 before playing their remaining seven matches in Franklin Springs, Georgia at the home of Emmanuel University. That trip is a the return trip after the Lions came to Grand Junction last season.
This year's schedule marks the first time since 2016 that the Mavs have not taken a spring break trip to Southern California.
About the Opponents
The Mavericks will play four different opponents on the opening weekend of the season. Here's a brief summary of each opponent, all of whom are opening their seasons this weekend.
Grand Canyon (9 a.m. – Friday)
The Lopes enjoyed a strong 23-11 season in 2025, capped by a 1-2 performance as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships. They racked up eight victories over nationally-ranked opponents and were No. 13 in the final national poll.
They will also begin the 2026 campaign ranked 13
th in the country and return the Drake sisters Becca and Jessica, who earned Second Team All-MPSF honors last year. Six players, including the Drake sisters, who played at No. 3 last year, later earned Top Flight Awards from the AVCA
Arizona (Friday – 2 p.m.)
The Wildcats finished last season with an 18-12 record but went 0-2 at the Big 12 Tournament.
Ashlyn Zilliken, who returns for her junior season, earned All-Big 12 honors a year ago after going 21-8 with partner Madeline Walker in the No. 3 spot of the lineup. Walker also returns for her sophomore season. Annie Kost and Elin Kaiser also had a strong 14-8 season, mostly at No. 4. Kaiser is back for 2026 as well.
They are receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll.
Arizona State (Saturday 9 a.m.)
The Sun Devils won a program-record 22 duals in 2025 and ended the year ranked 12
th in the AVC Poll. They finished second in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, falling 3-2 to TCU, which went on to the NCAA Tournament.
They return ten players from last year's roster including now redshirt senior Samaya Morin, a 2025 AVCA Second Team All-American. Here and partner Ava Kirunchyk went 3-1 at the Big 12 Championships and also represented the Sun Devils at the AVCA Pairs National Championships in the fall, where they played seventh.
UC Davis (Saturday – 2 p.m.)
The Aggies went 18-17 in 2025 and were 4-4 in the Big West Conference. They then went 1-2 at the conference championship tournament.
They have been picked fourth in the conference's preseason coaches' poll and are now under the direction of Head Coach Ari Homayun, who guided CSUN to a program-record setting season last year.
Series Histories
The Mavs will be looking for their first ever win over the four opponents that they will play this weekend.
They are 0-4 all-time against Grand Canyon. The last two of those meetings were in 2021.
The Mavs are 0-9 against Arizona and played the Wildcats last year in Tucson on Mar. 21.
The Mavs are also 0-9 against Arizona State. They last played the Sun Devils on Mar. 1, 2024 in Tempe, Arizona.
CMU's lone meeting with UC Davis came on Apr. 3, 2021, a match the Aggies won 4-1 in Tucson, Arizona.
Colorado Mesa turns 100
The CMU Century Celebration stands as the cornerstone of Colorado Mesa University's year-long centennial celebration. This ambitious initiative unites our community in honoring a rich heritage while boldly envisioning the next hundred years of academic excellence.
Led by the Steering Committee and six specialized sub-committees, we're orchestrating a transformative experience that will resonate through generations. Each committee brings unique expertise to create an unforgettable commemoration of our past, present and future.
To learn more about Colorado Mesa's 100-year celebration, visit
cmucentury.com.
Up Next
The Mavericks will be off next weekend and then will have a home weekend on Mar. 6-7 against junior college opponents. The exact schedule of that weekend has not yet been finalized.
It will mark the only time that the Mavs will be at home this season.
