GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball team will play a major chunk of their entire regular season schedule this week, playing nine matches in a span of five days in the Southeastern United States.
Now 4-4 overall and coming off a set of dominating wins in their only home action of the season, the Mavericks will play Tennessee Tech in a Tuesday doubleheader in Louisville, Tennessee.
They will then head to Franklin Springs, Georgia for two matches on Wednesday, three on Friday and two more on Saturday. All of those will be hosted by Emmanuel University, which came to CMU last spring.
All of the Mavs' matches in Georgia will be streamed on the
Conference Carolinas Digital Network.
While in Georgia, the Mavs will lay the host Lions twice and will also face Carson-Newman twice while meeting Truett McConnell, Erskine and LaGrange as well.
The Mavs' complete schedule can be seen here.
Last Times Out
The Mavericks hosted junior college foes Trinidad State and Central Wyoming in the Maverick Invitational on Mar. 6-7.
The Mavericks swept their tri-duals on both days, winning all 24 matches and 48 sets throughout the weekend holding the Rustlers and Trojans to single-figures in 26 of them.
Recaps of both days can be found here:
FRIDAY (MAR. 6) | SATURDAY (MAR. 7)
Century Win
The Mavericks' 5-0 win over Central Wyoming on Mar. 7 was the program's 100
th all-time dual-win.
It was also the 100
th win for Maverick Head Coach
David Skaff, the only head coach in the program's history since the founding in 2016. Seventy eight of the Mavs' 101 wins, including the 5-0 win over Trinidad State later that day, have come in the last 4-plus seasons.
Home Perfection
With their four recent home wins, the Maverick improved to a perfect 29-0 on home sand throughout their program's history.
Eleven of the Mavs' home wins have come over Trinidad State while six others have come over Central Wyoming, which has come to Grand Junction in each of the past two years on the same corresponding weekend.
Trinidad State has come in each of the past five years, on various March weekends.
Winning Streak & Team Leaders
The Mavs' pair of
Ellie Ask and
Gracyn Spresser has won their last five matches. The duo went a perfect 4-0 in the top flight during the Maverick Invitational and won at No. 2 against UC Davis on Feb. 21.
Ask and Spresser's five wins as a par are the most for any pairing on the CMU squad this season.
Mikala Henderson,
Addie Ritterbush,
Lauren Rohlwing and
Ania Swartzendruber also all have 5-3 records but have played with different partners.
Opponent Briefs
Tennessee Tech (Tuesday -11 & 1 p.m. Eastern / 9 a.m. & 11 a.m. Mountain)
The Golden Eagles are 2-9 as a team. Their wins were at LaGrange on Mar. 7 and against Salem College on Mar. 13 during this past weekend's Coastal Carolina Invitational.
Vivian Robards and MK Roberts have the team's best record at 3-6. They have played at No. 1 throughout the campaign.
Truett McConnnell (Wednesday – 9 a.m. Eastern/7 a.m. Mountain)
The Lady Bears, who hail from Cleveland, Georgia are currently 7-10 overall and 1-5 in the Sun Conference. They went 20-13 overall and played in the NAIA bracket of the AVCA Small College Championships, where they went 2-3 last year.
Erskine (Wednesday – 1:30 p.m. Eastern/11:30 a.m. Mountain)
The Fleet are currently 6-6 on the season and have a 3-1 record in South Atlantic Conference play. They are coming off a 2-2 weekend at the Triton Invite in St. Petersburg, Florida. They went 9-24 last season and lost to the Mavs in Pool Play at the AVCA Small College Championships last year.
They hail from Due West, South Carolina.
LaGrange (Friday – 9:30 a.m. Eastern/7:30 p.m. Mountain)
The NCAA Division III Panthers, who call La Grange, Georgia home, are currently 4-11. The lost their last two matches on Mar. 7 at the Berry tournament, falling to Tennessee Tech and Berry by 4-1 and 5-0 scores.
Carson-Newman (Friday & Saturday – 11 a.m. Eastern/9 a.m. Mountain)
The Eagles are currently 14-0 and will play twice before facing the Mavs for the first time on Friday.
Their No. 2, 3 and 4 pairs have all won 12 straight matches. Emerson Ahsmuhs and Ava Potts are 13-1 at No. 2 while Camryn Ehlers/Addie Smith and Lucy Bartee/Morgan Foy are both 12-0 in the third and fourth flights.
Trinity Hafey, a native of Grand Junction, and Paige Halcrow are 10-1 in the top flight and have won three straight.
Last year's Eagle squad went 25-7. One of their losses came to the Mavs during pool play at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships.
Emmanuel (Friday- 2 p.m. Eastern/Noon Mountain & Saturday – 9:30 a.m. Eastern/7:30 a.m. Mountain).
The Lions are currently 7-11 but have lost their last nine duals after strong 4-0 and 7-2 starts. They finished 18-20 last year while going 3-3 at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships.
They lost 4-1 decisions to the Mavs in Grand Junction, Colorado last year.
Up Next
The Mavericks will have just one more weekend of the regular season, playing at the Wildcat Spring Challenge in Tucson, Arizona on Apr. 3-4. Three of the Mavs' four matches that weekend will be against teams currently ranked in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Poll with another against a team in the others receiving votes.
The slate includes match-ups with No. 3 USC, No. 13 Hawai'i, No. 19 Arizona and Florida Gulf Coast.
