The 11th ranked Colorado Mesa University (CMU) women’s volleyball team split a pair of two highly anticipated RMAC matchups this past weekend. The team lost against the 9th ranked Metropolitan State University Denver (MSUD) Roadrunners and beating the nationally recognized Colorado School of Mines (CSM) Orediggers.
The Mavericks came into the home stretch nationally ranked and sitting undefeated at 11-0 amongst conference and non-conference opponents. The Roadrunners looked to continue an impressive 42 consecutive RMAC wins, going undefeated the last two seasons in conference play, in addition to winning their last four conference matches in the spring season of 2021
In the nationally ranked showdown in Brownson Area, the Mavericks saw their undefeated season end and a perfect 11-match home-court winning streak come to a close when the Roadrunners claimed a 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 25-20 victory.
While CMU had a 57-47 total advantage in terms of kills, MSUD recorded 14 blocks. Ride-side hitter Emma Shaddix recorded 15 kills while outside hitters Sydney Leffler and Riley Daugherty combined for 24 kills. The Mavericks finished with five blocks on the night, led by contributions from middle hitter Aesha Alrashed, who recorded a new career-high in total blocks.
Libero Allison Waller improved upon her own career-high with 22 digs, while defensive specialist Jordan Woods added another 13, aiding the Mavericks’ 61-54 advantage in total digs. Other notable defensive and offensive efforts came from setter Sabrina VanDeList who finished with 44 assists, six digs, and five kills while middle hitter Savannah Spitzer ended the night with nine kills.
Unfortunately, the Mavericks’ season-high 32 hitting errors and 10 service errors had a largeimpact on their first loss of the season to the Roadrunners. CMU looked on to another tough competition against CSM the following afternoon. The Orediggers were also hoping to bounce back after losing in four sets to Westminster in Salt Lake City on Friday night.
Leffler put down 17 kills on the night while Shaddix and Spitzer each recorded 11 to contribute offensively in a 25-14, 25-17, 19-25, 25-17 win over the visiting Orediggers Saturday afternoon. VanDeList had 43 assists to help the Mavericks hit .284 as a team.CMU had a season-high nine service aces and recorded eight blocks to improve to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in RMAC play. Alrashed made significant contributions with eight kills and five blocks while Leffler, the RMAC kills leader, put down seven kills in the final set alone. The Mavericks hit at over .300 in the final three sets and finished the match with a 54-48 advantage in total kills. They also had an 8-5 advantage in blocks and edged out the Orediggers 48-47 in terms of total digs as Waller recorded 14 while Daugherty matched her season-high with 10.
The Mavericks will continue their four-game home run as they host conference opponents Western Colorado and Westminster. During the first week of RMAC play, the Mavericks swept the Mountaineers 25-19, 25-11, 25-22, and the Griffins 25-19, 25-19, 25-14. CMU will take on 2-10 Western at 6 p.m. on Thursday and 4-9 Westminster Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. Despite facing their first loss to MSUD, Mesa remains at 11 th in national polls going into this weekend.
