Sports Reporter
scschroc@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
After missing out on last season’s conference tournament, the CMU volleyball team clinched a playoff birth with a win in its final home game over Fort Lewis on Tuesday, followed by a four-set win at Western New Mexico on Friday. The sweep over Fort Lewis snapped a seven-game losing streak and put the Mavs two games ahead of the Skyhawks for the final playoff spot.
“It feels so good to make it into playoffs this year after missing last season,” setter Jordyn Moody said. “We improved a lot from last year, so it is nice to have something to show for it. Even though we had a rough patch, we pulled through it when we really needed to.”
The Mavs came out on fire against Fort Lewis, using the crowd’s energy to win a close first set 28-26. Several Rachael Beaty kills helped the Mavs jump to a 15-11 lead. A quick-hit kill later in the set from sophomore middle Melissa Hess gave the Mavs match point at 24-19, but six straight points from Fort Lewis left the Mavs struggling to save the set, down 25-24. Freshman Abby Ney subbed in and used her first kill of the match to tie the score, allowing Kelly Regimbal and Haleigh Higgins to finish off the first set with consecutive kills.
The Mavs dominated sets two and three, winning 25-14 and 25-18, behind 18 combined kills for Regimbal and Ney. Regimbal also chipped in five blocks to combine with Beaty for 10 total.
“After the seven losses, we all realized that if we won one game, we would have a winning streak, and that’s all we needed to turn our season around,” middle Melissa Hess said. “We just went out to win and we definitely played like the Mavericks we were in the beginning of the year.”
Friday’s match at Western New Mexico didn’t start as well for the Mavs in set one, losing 25-22. Western New Mexico’s Ziona Verhulsdonk and Seluia Falealili combined for 17 kills, while several miscommunication errors from the Mavs gave away the first set.
“The first set was close, and we had a lot of errors, so we just knew that if we cleaned up our game they wouldn’t be able to hang with us,” Moody said.
Coach Dave Fleming told the team to take the first swing and not wait to see how Western New Mexico would respond.
“After coach told us that, we came out more aggressive and had more desire to win,” Hess said. “We had a lot more to prove for ourselves, especially since they took us to five sets at home.”
The Mavs regrouped after the first set to win the next three 25-13, 25-21 and 25-12, securing their spot in the RMAC tournament. Freshman outside hitter Christian Otzen led the Mavs with 14 kills, while Hess provided 11 kills. After her 25-assist performance against Fort Lewis, Moody recorded an astounding 31 assists.
“We just knew as a team that all it took was a win to turn our season back around,” said Beaty. “Our team almost looked flawless against Western New Mexico after the first set. We didn’t let them do what they wanted to do.”
With a playoff berth clinched, the Mavs can play pressure-free volleyball in the last two regular season matches against CSU-Pueblo on Friday and New Mexico Highlands on Saturday. Playing well in the final two matches could earn the Mavs a higher tournament seed and will help the team gain a good rhythm heading into the playoffs.
“These last two games just give us time to continue our winning streak,” Beaty said. “We could potentially get a better seed, and we just need to continue playing Maverick volleyball and we will be fine.”
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