GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After going 2-0 in a week of regional pod matches, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will return to official Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a pair of weekend home matches in Brownson Arena.
 
Tied with five other teams atop a jam-packed RMAC table at 3-1, the Mavericks will take on Western Colorado University on Friday night at 6 p.m. before hosting Fort Lewis in a Saturday matinee at 3 o'clock.
 
CMU will also enter the weekend with an 11-3 overall record, equal to the best in the conference, and winners of nine of their last ten overall including seven home wins.  Western Colorado, who the Mavs defeated last Tuesday during the Regional Pod, is 7-7 overall and 2-2 in RMAC play.  Fort Lewis is 9-6 overall and 3-2 in the RMAC, just a half-match out of the conference lead.
 
Tickets are still available and both matches will be streamed on the RMAC Network.
 
Live statistics can be accessed at the link above.
 
Last Time Out
 
Led by Molly Whalen's 14 kills and errorless .667 hitting, the Mavericks swept visiting Westminster University on Saturday afternoon in Brownson Arena. 
 
The Mavericks shook off a slow start before Whalen came in to spark a first-set rally en route to the 25-21, 25-15, 25-14 victory.
 
The Mavs hit .341 as a team throughout the match, including at a .517 clip in the second set and a .417 pace in the third.
 
Addie Ritterbush recorded eight of her nine kills in the second set while setters Ashlyn Tafoya and Hallie Hewlett combined for 34 assists.  Tafoya also had three of the Mavs' nine service aces.
 
Dig Pink
 
Saturday's match against Fort Lewis will be the Mavs' Dig Pink match to support fundraising efforts for cancer research.  Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the match to show their support.  CMU Athletics will give away pink shirts to the first fans that arrive.
 
More about the Mavs' efforts to support the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, co-founded by CMU alumna Kathy Howa, can be seen here.  Howa's foundation has raised more than $1.8 million over the years, including more than $50,000 with support from CMU.
 
In the Nation's Top 10
 
The Mavericks continue to lead the RMAC in hitting percentage with a .287 team mark, which now puts them inside the nation's top ten in ninth as of Wednesday morning.  The Mavs now also have four of the RMAC's top individual hitters.
 
Addie Ritterbush ranks second in the RMAC at .369 while Jaycee Windorski is now third at .357.  Henley Madsen ranks fifth at .326 while Molly Whalen now ranks sixth at .318 after her stellar effort against Westminster.
 
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 performance.
 
Top D
 
The Mavericks also top the RMAC statistics in the RMAC defensive statistics, holding their 14 combined opponents thus far to a .154 attack percentage.  The Colorado School of Mines (.167), Western Colorado (.171) and South Dakota Mines (.175) are the three teams behind the Mavs in that statistical category.
 
Ace-ing their way to victory
 
The Mavericks lead the RMAC with 98 service aces and a 2.04 per set average.  The Mavs are also ranked third in the RMAC for opponent service aces, giving up one fewer (1.04) per set.
 
The Mavs have recorded more aces than their opponents in ten of their 14 matches, going a perfect 10-0 in those matches.  They are 1-2 when their opponents have had more aces and are 0-1 when both teams have had the same numbers of aces.
 
Nine Sweeps and No Fours
 
Nine of the Mavericks' 11 wins this season have come in 3-set sweeps.  The other two victories have come in 5-set matches over Fort Hays State and MSU Denver.  The Mavs are 2-1 in 5-set matches this year and have yet to play a 4-set match this season after playing in nine such matches last year.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks have consistently taken advantage of their home and supportive crowd in Brownson Arena, something they hope to continue this weekend.
 
The Mavs are slated to play 13 home matches this year and are already off to a 7-0 start.
 
They went 7-2 at home last season and have posted an impressive 79-9 home record and .898 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 130-26 (.833) since the start of that campaign.
 
They are 115-17 (.871) in their last 132  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. 5) AVCA-Taraflex Division II poll, as they have been in the five previous editions, including the preseason poll.
 
The Mavericks have 27 points in this week's poll, two less than last week, but still well more than the previous week's total of 16.  They are also the first of three RMAC teams in the others receiving votes category.
 
The Mavs are 2-0 against other nationally-ranked teams at the time of the match this season and are now 1-1 against teams currently ranked.
 
The Mavs defeated then seventh-ranked Nebraska-Kearney in the season-opener.  The Lopers have since won 15 straight matches and are 15-1.  They moved up to sixth in this week's poll.
 
MSU Denver, who the Mavs beat on Sept. 18, when the Roadrunners were ranked 19^th, has fallen out of the top 25, but still has 21 points.  The Colorado School of Mines also has 14 points.
 
Biola, who the Mavs lost to in their fourth match of the year, is now in the top 25 at No. 25.  The Eagles are 11-2 this season.
 
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 11-3 start, Albers now has a 121-75 (.617) 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 266-132 (.667) overall collegiate coaching record.
 
Saturday's match with Fort Lewis will mark Albers' 400^th match as a collegiate head coach.
 
His two assistants Bri Strong and Annemarie 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 Mountaineers
 
The Mountaineers are much improved in 2026 under the direction of second year head coach Sonia Morales-Jones.  They are 7-7 overall and 2-2 in RMAC play after winning just one match in Morales-Jones' first season.
 
Andrea Torres, Sierra Long and Maggie Legg lead a balanced offensive attach with the trio combining for more than 350 of the Mountaineers' 633 total kills (12.66/set), which has the Mountaineers ranked fifth in the RMAC offensively.  Torres has a team-high 127 (2.82/set) and has been in double-figures in five of her 13 starts.  The junior outside hitter and Grossmont College transfer had 24 kills in her Mountaineer debut against Southwestern Oklahoma and put down 17 against South Dakota Mines on Sept. 11.
 
Long, a senior outside, who transferred from Texas A&M-International has 118 kills and is hitting .262.
 
Legg, a freshman from Montrose, has 111 (2.27/set) and also leads the team with 12 service aces while starting all 14 matches for Morales-Jones.
 
Setters Olivia Moore and Anuhea Ka'alele have combined to average more than 10 ½ assists per set.  Moore ranks seventh in the conference with her 5.57 per set average.
 
Kyra Kidd leads the team with 38 blocks (0.79/set), followed closely by Breanna Nohava, who has 33 and a slightly higher 0.83 per set average.
 
Galatia Andrew has 184 digs (4.38/set) while Legg is second on the team with 128 (2.61/set).  Andrew ranks fourth in the RMAC.
 
About the Skyhawks
 
The Skyhawks are 9-6 overall and have a 3-2 record in conference play after sweeping Westminster on Tuesday night.  They have won four of their last five matches.
 
Senior outside hitter Alina Nunez, an Honorable Mention All-RMAC pick last season, has put down 180 kills (3.46/set) to rank fifth in the RMAC.  She is also hitting .275 and ranks third in the RMAC for kills per set and fourth for total points per set (3.88). 
 
Jordan DeJesus has also chipped in another 123 (2.56/set) while Caroline Munson has put down 94 while hitting .314 after hitting a program-record .900 with nine kills on ten swing in Tuesday's win.  She ranks seventh in the RMAC for attack percentage.
 
Meanwhile, libero Alyx Daugherty has recorded 270 digs to lead the conference.  She also ranks 17^th nationally with her 5.19 per set average and also leads the team with 21 service aces, the third highest total in the RMAC.
 
Ellie Ames leads the team with 34 blocks (0.67/set) and is second behind Daugherty with 17 aces.
 
Adrinna Reyna and Addie Garn co-run the Skyhawks' and second-year head coach Justin Wong's 6-2 offensive strategy.  Reyna has 260 assists (5.00/set) while Garn is right behind with 243 (4.67/set).
 
Exploring the Rivalries
 
The Mavs have dominated the rival with Western Colorado, winning 26 straight matches over the Mountaineers, who last won a head-to-head match in 2012.  The latest victory was in straight sets last Tuesday (Sept. 22) in Gunnison.  The Mavs have won 61 of the 73 matches during the NCAA Division II era and have a 30-5 record against the Mountaineers at home in that time.
 
The Mavs have 47 of the 60 matches against Fort Lewis during the NCAA Division II (1992-Present) era and have a 25-4 record against the Skyhawks in Grand Junction during that time.
 
FLC won last year's match-up in Durango in four sets to snap a run of eight straight Maverick victories in the rivalry.  The Skyhawks' last road win over CMU was on Sept. 30, 2017.  The Mavs have won the last four home matches, all in straight sets.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will head on the road for their next three matches.  They will play in Lakewood at Colorado Christian next Friday (Oct. 9) before heading to CSU Pueblo for a Saturday, Oct. 10 match.  The Mavs will then venture home to Grand Junction before making another trip to Salt Lake City to take on Westminster on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
 
All three RMAC matches will begin at 6 p.m.