Photo: Kenny Coles

The Mavericks took a big step in distancing themselves from the rest of the RMAC pack this weekend with two convincing wins.

With about half the season completed, CMU (12-2, 5-1 RMAC) pushed Adams State out of first with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) sweep on Friday. They followed that with another 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-13) victory over last place Western State in a “Swing for Life” game to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The weekend dominance leaves the Mavs tied with only Colorado School of Mines for first place in the league. Senior libero Sunni Rae Baird explained how important it was for her team to come out on top this weekend to keep control of their poll position.

“This weekend’s wins were huge for us because Adams was ranked first in conference over us,” Baird said. “To come out swinging against them was great, and to finish the weekend with a win over Western was perfect.”

The home series began with the toughest test against a Grizzly team that was undefeated in conference play. The first two sets were a back-and-forth battle in which neither team could separate themselves from the other for very long.

With strong serving from Baird and punishing kills from Abby Ney, Audrey Steinkirchner and Erin Perez, the Mavs were able to escape the close games and take a commanding 2-0 advantage. The third set featured a 12-2 run by CMU to break the game wide open and extend a two-point Maverick lead into a set-and-match win.

“We feel like we haven’t had any respect this season, and that’s ok,” Baird said. “We have a chip on our shoulder and it is working well for us.”

In Saturday’s contest, both teams sported pink warm-ups and accessories to support Breast Cancer Awareness month. The Mavericks took care of business early on in the match with a decisive win in the first set but ran into trouble in the second.

The Mountaineers were able to capitalize off of serving errors by the Mavericks and keep the score close toward the very end of the set. Leading 23-21, Steinkirchner and Christian Otzen recorded two kills to finish and avoid dropping the set.

The Mavs once again closed out the third set in dominating fashion and completed the weekend sweep and remain undefeated in Brownson Arena.

They are on the road this weekend to take on Chadron State (3-11, 0-6 RMAC) on Friday and Black Hills State (5-10, 1-5 RMAC) on Saturday.

mfreter@mavs.coloradomesa.edu