The Mavericks continue their inconsistent play as they beat Colorado Christian University and lost to Regis University over their weekend Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) road trip. The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team has already reached the number of losses they accumulated during the entire season in 2018.
“It was a good win over Christian, and then we got outplayed by Regis… I think we matchup on paper with them, but we didn’t when we played them.” CMU Head Coach Dave Fleming said. “Their middles were better, their setters were better and their libero was better, so just one of those situations where we have to learn from it and get better.”
In the first game, the Mavericks played CCU in Lakewood, Colo. and won 3-1 in very close sets. The history between these two teams goes back till 1997, and CMU is leading the series 10-8. With big games from right-side hitters, freshman Maranda Theleus and redshirt junior Hailey Crane had a combined 24 kills as the Mavericks were able to increase their all-time series lead.
In the first set of the game, the Cougars scored the first point, but with two multi-point runs, the Mavericks took an early 9-4 lead. CCU never counted themselves out as they just continued to get back into the game. The Cougars got within two points, but the Mavericks finished them off before they got the chance to take the lead as they won 25-23.
The Cougars opened the second set on a 5-1 run to gain the early momentum, and they continued to keep separation from the Mavericks as they got the lead up to 12-6. CMU got the lead down to two points before CCU took control of the set and won 22-25.
To start the third, both teams opened with a three-point run, but the Cougars led 10-8 mid-way through the set. The Mavericks took the lead with a big four-point run, and their biggest lead of the set was three points. The third set was fought hard by both teams as they needed extra points to determine the winner, and CMU put together multiple two-point runs to win 27-25.
The Cougars scored the first point in the fourth set, but the Mavericks answered with five points of their own to grab all the early momentum. CMU showed the glimpses of greatness that we’ve all seen this season in this set, as they took the momentum and never took their foot off the gas. When the Mavericks scored their 20 points, CCU only had 13, and CMU continued to score as they won the set 25-18.
“They played really consistent on the right side, and that’s what we need, most teams are going to be geared up to stop our middles, and we need our other attackers to pull the block and pull the defense away from our middles,” Fleming said. “They are starting to do that, but we just have to be more consistent about it and more consistent about getting them the ball.”
The second game of the weekend was against #16 Regis University in Denver, Colo., and in the game, the Mavericks showed glimpses of being able to hang with the 16th team in the nation and other times they couldn’t.
To start the first set, The Rangers and the Mavericks traded points, until CMU ripped a 6-1 run to take the lead 11-7. In the blink of an eye, RU went on a tear of their own with a 9-1 run, but the Mavericks didn’t let it discourage them. The Rangers were up 23-19, and CMU clawed back into the game 23-24, but they had a little chaotic rally and gave up the gaming losing point.
The second set opened with RU scoring five unanswered points and continued to dominate the set as they took a 16-5 lead. The Mavericks seemed to turn it on after the tough start, as they strung together three multi-point runs, but it wasn’t enough as the Rangers won the set 25-18.
With the momentum from the second set, the Rangers opened the third with a 6-2 run to grab the early lead. RU kept a sizable lead over the Mavericks for the whole set, as the smallest lead for the Rangers was three points. CMU wasn’t able to mount a large enough comeback either as they lost the set 15-25.
“We competed well this weekend, we won ugly against Christian and winning ugly is still winning, and I think a lot of good teams out there always find a way to win ugly in bad situations. I think against Regis we learned that we have to have better reaction to error,” Fleming said. “When someone puts a wall up in front of us, we can’t keep butting our heads up against it because we start getting really crumbled. We have to find a way to get around it, under it or over it, we need to problem-solve better.”
Redshirt junior Kasie Gilfert led the Mavericks in kills this weekend with 20, followed closely behind by Crane with 17 kills through the two kills.
CMU’s next game is Friday, Oct. 18 against Black Hills State University at 7 p.m., in the first game of the volleyball team’s parents weekend.
