GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Winners of six straight at home and eight of their last nine overall, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will look to continue their momentum when they take on the Westminster University Griffins for the first of three times this season on Saturday afternoon in Brownson Arena.
 
First serve for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Regional Pod match-up is slated for 3 p.m.
 
The results will not count towards the RMAC standings.
 
Tickets are available at the link above and the match will be streamed on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can be accessed at the link above.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks went 2-1 in their recent stretch of road matches.
 
The trip began on a high note on Friday as the Mavericks pulled off a reverse sweep of defending national champion and then 19^th-ranked MSU Denver.  The Mavericks trailed that match 2-0 but hit a combined .357 in the final three sets, which they won by 25-19, 25-20 and 15-7 margins.
 
Outside hitter Ashlee Macias led the Maverick attack with 15 kills and added 12 digs to register her fourth double-double of the season while Jaycee Windorski recorded a career-high nine blocks.
 
On Saturday afternoon, the Mavs then ventured to Colorado Springs to face UCCS, which clipped the Mavericks by a 17-15 score in the decisive fifth set.  The Mavs controlled the second and third sets to take a 2-1 overall lead and then trailed 12-10 late in the fifth set before rallying to take a 14-13 lead and earn a match point.
 
However, the Mountain Lions won four of the final five rallies to take the match.
 
The Mavericks then bounced back on Tuesday night, sweeping Western Colorado in Gunnison.  Macias had 16 kills in that RMAC Regional Pod victory.
 
Block Party
 
The Mavericks recorded 15 total blocks in Friday's win over nationally-ranked MSU Denver.  That total is the program's highest in more than five years since recording 16 on Sept. 4, 2021 against Seattle Pacific.
 
Jaycee Windorski, who leads the Mavs with 44 blocks this season, had a career-high nine while Aesha Alrashed tallied a season-high six.  Kaitlyn Hall also added five, her highest total in a CMU uniform.
 
First to Ten, Tight at the Top
 
The Mavericks became the first team in the RMAC to win ten matches this season on Tuesday, when they beat Western Colorado to improve to 10-3 overall. 
 
The Mavericks are also one of six teams tied for the lead in the RMAC standings with their 3-1 mark. 
 
The other teams with 3-1 records are South Dakota Mines, MSU Denver, UCCS, Colorado Christian and CSU Pueblo.

The Mavs and CSU Pueblo, also have the best overall sets win-loss record at 11-5, which could prove large in a multi-team tie-break scenario at the end of the regular season, which still includes conference teams for every team.
 
Welcome the Pods
 
The Mavericks and all other 14 RMAC teams are participating in the first of two pod week schedules that is part of the RMAC's scheduling philosophy since 2023.  This weekend's "Regional Pods" will see the 15 teams split into five 3-team groupings based on geography.
 
The Mavs have always been paired with Western Colorado and Westminster for the "Regional Pod" and have a perfect 7-0 all-time record in those matched under this current scheduling philosophy.
 
In late October, the teams will be split into five other groups of three teams for "Power Pods".  The make-up of those groups was based on last year's conference standings and has the top three teams from last year's standings matched together.  Meanwhile, the Mavericks tied for fourth in the RMAC standings last year and are in a pod with the Colorado School of Mines, who they tied with in 2025, and sixth-place Westminster, who they will play three times during the regular season including on Saturday.
 
Similarly,  the 7^th-9^th, 10^th-12^th and 13^th-15^th place finishers are also grouped together for the "Power Pods", which will be played between Oct. 22-24.
 
The two weekends of pod matches will not count in this year's conference standings and are in essence, non-conference, yet in-region matches that will still be used for NCAA Division II Tournament selection and overall record purposes.  The conference standings and regular season title will be determined by the other 14 official RMAC matches played over in a single round-robin. 
 
Prior to 2023,, teams played 18 conference matches, facing four teams twice in conference play, thus creating an unbalanced playing schedule.
 
These pod matches replace those four duplicate meetings and were designed to minimize travel for the "Regional Pod" weekend while pitting teams of relative strength against each other to further aid possible NCAA Tournament selection resumes during the "Power Pod" weekend for the top teams.
 
Top Hitters
 
The Mavericks continue to lead the RMAC in hitting percentage with a .284 team mark, which ranks them 11th in the national statistics.  The Mavs also have three of the top six players in the individual rankings for hitting percentage.  Jaycee Windorski ranks second at .367 while Addie Ritterbush is third at .361.  Henley Madsen ranks sixth at .330.
 
For those unfamiliar with the hitting percentage calculations, the number is calculated by taking the total number of kills from a player or team and subtracting the number of errors they have committed before dividing that new number by the number of attack attempts they have taken.  It is regarded similarly to a batting average in baseball or softball as one of the main metrics to evaluate overall offensive performance.
 
Top D
 
The Mavericks also top the RMAC statistics in the RMAC defensive statistics, holding their 13 combined opponents thus far to a .156 attack percentage.  The Colorado School of Mines (.175), CSU Pueblo (.176) and Western Colorado (.177) are the three teams behind the Mavs in that statistical category.
 
26 Straight
 
The Mavs' win over Western Colorado was their 26^th straight in the regional rivalry.   Six of the last seven wins have come in straight sets.
 
The Mavs have also won 38 of the last 39 match-ups with WCU's win coming in 2012, their only one in the rivalry since 2006.
 
All-Arounder
 
Maverick junior Ashlee Macias has been an all-around leader for the Mavs this season.  Regularly playing in all six rotations, the El Paso, Texas native and transfer from UT Permian Basin, Macias leads the Mavs with 130 kills and 17 aces.  She is also second on the team with 113 digs, trailing only libero Maya Grant's total of 152.
 
Macias matched her season-high with 16 kills in Tuesday's 3-set sweep of Western Colorado after recording a season-high 18 digs in Saturday's match at UCCS.  She recorded her fourth double-double of the season on Friday in the win over nationally-ranked MSU Denver, tallying 14 kills and 12 digs.  She also matched a season-high with four aces in that match.
 
Lineup Bump
 
The Mavericks also added another strong outside hitter to the mix over the road trip as Sydney Amiatu made her Maverick debut after missing the first three weeks of the campaign due to a preseason injury.  She made a brief appearance in Friday's match at MSU Denver before recording 13 kills in Saturday's match against UCCS.  She then added five more kills while playing in all three sets of Tuesday's 3-set sweep at Western Colorado.
 
Amiatu, the younger sister of CMU assistant men's lacrosse coach Blake Amiatu, came to CMU this fall after playing beach volleyball at the University of Hawai'i for four years and is returning to the competitive indoor game after the long hiatus.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks have consistently taken advantage of their home and supportive crowd in Brownson Arena, something they hope to continue in their 3-match homestand.
 
The Mavs are slated to play 13 home matches this year and are already off to a 6-0 start.
 
They went 7-2 at home last season and have posted an impressive 78-9 home record and .897 winning percentage since the start of 2018, losing no more than one home match in each of the previous seven seasons between 2018-24.
 
The Mavs won their last ten home matches of 2024 and were 12-1 at home that season.
 
The Mavs were 13-1 at home in 2023 and went 8-1 in 2022. 
 
The Mavs also went 9-1 at home in the fall of 2021.  The Mavs also went 6-1 at home during the 2021 spring season while winning the RMAC title.  In the fall of 2019, the Mavs went 8-1 after going 9-1 in Brownson Arena during the 2018 campaign.

The Mavs were also 9-1 at home in 2015 before posting 6-3 home-court records in both 2016 and 2017.  CMU was also an impressive 15-1 in 2014 en route to an RMAC Tournament Championship and NCAA South Central Regional final appearance and have had winning records at home in each of the last 14 seasons since and including 2012, going 129-26 (.832) since the start of that campaign.
 
They are 114-17 (.870) in their last 129 home matches since 2014.
 
In the Poll
 
The Mavericks are continuing to be in the others receiving votes category of this week's (Week No. 4) AVCA-Taraflex Division II poll, as they have been in the four previous editions, including the preseason poll.
 
The Mavericks have 29 points in this week's poll, nearly double last week's total of 16 and more than quadruple of the previous total of seven points.
 
The Mavs are 2-0 against other nationally-ranked teams this season.
 
MSU Denver, who the Mavs beat last Friday, dropped to 24^th in this week' poll as the only RMAC team in the top 25.  CMU is the only RMAC team in the receiving votes category.
 
Notably, Nebraska-Kearney remains in the No. 7 spot of the poll.  The Lopers are 13-1 with their lone loss coming in the season-opener to the Mavs.
 
Two of the three teams that CMU has lost to this season— Biola and Dallas Baptist are also receiving votes with 43 and 19 points, respectively.
 
About the Coaching staff
 
Austin Albers is in his second season in charge of the Mavericks.  He is just the fifth coach in program history and the third in the last 42 years. 
 
In his first season with CMU (2025), Albers led the Mavericks to a 17-11 campaign and a fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
He is no stranger to the RMAC after having spent the six previous seasons (2019-24) at CSU Pueblo, where he led the ThunderWolves to a 93-61 (.604) record and RMAC Tournament appearances in all six campaigns.  The Pack also went to the NCAA Tournament in both 2021 and 2022.
 
Prior to that, he was the head coach at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he went 145-57 while leaving as the program's all-time win percentage leader (.718).  He was inducted into the LCCC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025 and received the AVCA 30 under 30 award along with NJCAA Region IX and NJCAA District C Coach of the year honors.
 
Including this year's 10-3 start, Albers now has a 120-75 (.615) record at the 4-year level and surpassed the 100-win milestone in 2025.  He also eclipsed the 250 overall collegiate win milestone last year and now has a 265-132 (.667) overall collegiate coaching record.
 
His two assistants Bri Strong and AnnMarie Chin also return in 2026.  Strong is entering her seventh season with the Mavs and her fourth as the program's top assistant.
 
Chin is in her second season with the Mavs and third with Albers after assisting him at CSU Pueblo.  She was then named as the Pack's interim head coach after CMU hired Albers in February, 2025, before re-uniting with Albers for last fall's campaign.
 
About the Griffins
 
The Griffins currently hold a 2-10 record and have gone 1-3 in RMAC matches so far.  They will play at Western Colorado on Friday afternoon before facing the Mavs.
 
After serving as volunteer assistant coach last year, Lindsey Clavin is in her first set as the Griffins' head coach.
 
Her top offensive players thus far in 2026 have been Claire Cook, Elsa Gilmore and Apiline White.  Cook paces the team with 98 kills (3.16/set) despite missing all four RMAC matches.
 
Gilmore has started all 12 and has 96 kills (2.29/set) while hitting .204.  White has 76 kills and has added 12 service aces.
 
Defensively, Kyra Mahler has 28 blocks (0.82/set) while Ava Livolsi has 215 digs (5.00/set) to rank second in the RMAC.  Livolsi also has 21 aces to sit in a tie for second in the RMAC raw statistics.  Her 0.49 per set average is the best in the conference.
 
Setter Tiia Keikkinen, who hails from Finland, has 236 assists (5.49/set) and 14 aces.
 
Exploring the Rivalry
 
The Mavs have dominated the rivalry with the Griffins, winning 23 of the 25 all-time meetings.
 
The teams did split the season series last year as each team took a 4-set win.  Both were played in Grand Junction,  where the Mavs have a 13-1 record against the Griffins. 
 
The Mavs had won 21 straight matches, including last year's regional pod match on Oct. 3 before the Griffins claimed their lone road win in the rivalry during official conference play on Oct. 21.
 
The two teams will play their conference-counting match on Oct. 13 in Salt Lake City and will then play again on Oct. 23 during the RMAC Power Pod weekend at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks remain at home for two RMAC matches next week.  They will host Western Colorado next Friday (Oct. 2) at 6 p.m. before taking on Fort Lewis on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. in their Dig Pink game to raise awareness for cancer research.