Going into the weekend, the CMU volleyball team were locked in a four-way tie with Metro State, Colorado Christian and Regis University for fourth place, the final position that hosts an opening round game of the RMAC tournament.

A two-game conference skid against Fort Lewis on the road and Western New Mexico at home had also kept them from earning their 20th win, something they have not accomplished since the 2010 season.

Still in control of its own destiny, CMU (21-7, 13-6 RMAC) changed their fortunes for the better with a weekend sweep of CSU-Pueblo in four sets (25-14, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23) and New Mexico Highlands in five (25-12, 22-25, 21-25, 25-14, 15-4). Senior libero Sunni Rae Baird explained that the deficits they overcame in both matches helped the team become battle tested heading into the conference tournament.

“This weekend was huge for our confidence,” Baird said. “I think we needed to have that kind of a fight before heading into the RMAC tournament where we will be playing great teams with nothing to lose.”

Saturday’s contest against NMHU was the biggest hurdle cleared by the Mavs this week, falling behind two sets to one before putting together an impressive comeback in front of the home crowd at Brownson Arena. Sophomore outside hitter Christian Otzen played the role of instigator in the comeback and finished the match with a career-high 28 kills, 12 of which came in the final two sets. The defensive duo of Melissa Hess and Abby Ney also played key roles as they put together a combined 10 blocks in front of the net and Jordyn Moody set a career high in assists with 59. Baird, who had 27 digs in the match, explained that the team’s change in mentality after falling behind late in the match proved to be the difference.

“I think we really focused on loving each other and not on how good or bad we were playing,” Baird said. “We started playing selfless, and once we did that we got a good cycle going between us and it worked.”

The opening match on Friday also required the Mavs to play catch-up, as they were forced to recover from a 16-8 point margin in the fourth set to pick up the victory. CMU put together two dominant sets, winning 25-14 and 25-17 to take the early lead before losing their momentum in the third. Attack errors by the Mavs put them into a considerable hole before head coach Dave Fleming was forced to call timeout.

“The girls got into a little bit of a cruise mode,” assistant coach David Skaff said. “After that timeout they were able to turn it on, and when they go all out they are a tough team to stop because of their talent.”

Otzen and Hess tied with 13 kills apiece in the win, Jordyn Moody added 43 assists and Baird had 18 digs.

With the two wins, the Mavs secured the third seed in the RMAC tournament and will host Colorado Christian University Tuesday at 7 p.m.

mfreter@mavs.coloradomesa.edu