DALLAS— Coming off a Thursday win over traditional power Nebraska-Kearney, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team split a pair of 3-set matches in Friday's portion of the Dallas Classic, which continued here in Dallas Baptist University's Burg Center.
The Mavericks, now 2-1 on the young season and the tournament, fell to the hosts, 25-22, 25-22, 25-14 but bounced back with a balanced and dominant effort to record a 25-14, 25-13, 25-12 win over Mississippi Christian University later in the day.
The Mavs had three different players in
Ashlee Macias,
Addie Ritterbush and
Jaycee Windorski finish with eight kills in the victory over the Choctaws as CMU hit .361 as a team.
The Mavs also had 36 digs and seven blocks while holding the Choctaws to a negative .011 hitting effort.
Freshman libero
Trinity Burchett had ten digs and five assists in the victory while setters
Ashlyn Tafoya (11) and
Ashlyn Persha (10) combined for 21 assists.
Ritterbush hit .571 on 14 errorless swings while Windorski hit .615 on 13 swings while recording five blocks, defensively.
Macias finished with a .353 attack percentage and added seven digs and a pair of service aces from her outside hitter position.
The Mavs dominated the match and hit .333 as a team in the first set before putting down 18 kills while committing just one error in the second , good for a .500 effort as a team.
They cooled to .214 in the third but cranked up the defense, recording four blocks while forcing the Choctwas into 11 total hitting errors.
Earlier in the day against DBU, which later fell 3-0 to Nebraska-Kearney, Macias finished with a team-high ten kills while
Henley Madsen recorded seven from the opposite hitter position.
Freshman
Maya Grant tallied seven digs while pulling on the libero jersey in place of Burchett in the third set. Macias also added six while Burchett chipped in five.
However, The Mavs were able to record just one block against the Patriots as returning Honorable Mention All-American Karly Wells recorded 22 kills while hitting .500 in DBU's winning effort.
Persha, a freshman out of Surprise, Arizona, had 18 assists and three service aces in the best match of her young career while
Aesha Alrashed, Ritterbush and
Molly Whalen all finished with four kills to supplement CMU's attack that finished with a .223 hitting clip.
The Mavs will wrap up the tournament and the opening weekend of the season on Saturday when they face Biola University at 12:30 p.m. CDT (11:30 a.m. Mountain). The Eagles are 1-2 thus far, claiming a 3-0 win over Mississippi Christian on Friday morning.
