COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team's seven-match winning streak was snapped by the narrowest of margins as the Mavericks were unable to close out a second 5-set win in as many days, falling 25-20, 10-25, 20-25, 25-19, 17-15 on Saturday afternoon at UCCS.
The Mavs held a 2-1 overall lead but dropped the fourth set and then fell in the decisive fifth as they were unable to convert a match point at 14-13 while the host Mountain Lions won four of the final five rallies to win the fifth set in extra points.
Both teams are now 3-1 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play and part of a 6-way tie for first place in the conference standings after two weeks of conference play.
The Mavs, 9-3 overall, finished with a statistical advantage in both kills and digs as well as hitting percentage, although the Mountain Lions, who improved to 7-5 overall, had an 11-5 edge in blocks.
The Mavs finished with 68 kills as a team, 11 more than Mountain Lions, and hit .268 as three players finished in double figures while two others tallied nine.
Fifth-year senior
Sydney Amiatu, saw her first extended match after a preseason injury kept her out of the Mavs' first ten matches and finished with a team-high 13 kills.
Meanwhile, sophomore
Addie Ritterbush tallied a dozen without an error and hit .500 on 24 swings. Henley Madesn also registered 11 kills on .375 hitting.
Ashlee Macias and
Jaycee Windorski also chipped in nine kills apiece.
Defensively, freshman libero
Maya Grant recorded a season-high 23 assists while Macias dug up 18 Mountain Lion attacks while defensive specialist
Addison Wright tallied a season-high 15 allowing the Mavs to finish with a 83-66 advantage as a team.
Sophomore setter
Ashlyn Tafoya finished with 31 assists and eight digs for the Mavs.
UCCS received 21 kills and 11 digs from Payton Tompkins in the win, recording two of those in the final moments.
The Mavs dropped the opening set but dominated the second while getting out to 7-0 and 14-3 lead before cruising to the win.
In the third, the Mavs fell behind 6-2, but rallied to take a 16-14 lead, which they were able to build upon to go up a set.
However, the Mountain Lions came back to win the fourth to set up what proved to be a back-and-forth deciding set.
The final frame was tied on eight separate occasions and featured three lead changes as the Mavs were able to bounce back from a 10-7 deficit to the set at ten on a Amiatu kill.
The Mavs then fell behind 12-10 and 13-11 behind but scored three straight points to take a 14-13 lead on a Mountain Lion hitting error.
However, Tompkins put down two kills around a Mountain Lion service error to level the set at both 14 and 15.
The Mountain Lions then got a kill from former Maverick Nicole Himebaugh (Martin) and an ace from Tompkins to win the match.
The Mavs will wrap up a 3-match roads wing on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Gunnison against Western Colorado University (6-6, 2-2 RMAC) in what is their first of two RMAC Regional Pod match-ups.
