Box Score

DURANGO, Colo. — Mesa State College (18-8 overall, 12-5 in league games) clinched at least a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference West Division title tonight by beating Fort Lewis College (15-10, 9-8) in four sets — 25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 25-17 — at Whalen Gymnasium.

“It was a better performance than last time we played them, but I can see why Mesa is number one in the West. They present a very balanced offense in addition to strong serving and defense that keeps them in rallies,” said seventh-year head coach Shelly Aaland.

Sarah Kemp had 20 kills to lead the Mavericks, while Meagan Bosch added a double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs. Tara King assisted on 47 of Mesa's 60 kills.

Fort Lewis was led by senior outside hitter Chelsea Flaming, a Durango product playing her last match in her hometown. Flaming had 17 kills and 10 digs. FLC's two other seniors — middle blocker Taylor Hillberry (nine kills, four blocks) and setter Adriana Saiz (45 assists, 10 digs) — also played well in their final home match.

Jessica Wilson had a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs, while Tayrn Pearce had 10 kills and a team-best .389 attack percentage (10 kills, three errors, 18 attempts). Freshman libero Jenna Kinzer logged a game-high 19 digs.

The team statistics were relatively even: Mesa State had 60 kills and a .229 attack percentage, compared to 51 and .214 for Fort Lewis. Both teams had seven blocks, while the Skyhawks out-dug the Mavs 66-62. The one glaring difference, as Aaland alluded to, was serving. Mesa had seven aces while FLC had just two.

Still, the Skyhawks were left thinking what might have been, blowing sizeable leads midway through each of the first two sets. FLC led 16-12 and 19-16 in the opening frame, only to see the Mavericks off five straight points to take a 21-19 lead and never look back. FLC led 14-10 in the second, only to watch Mesa go on a 13-3 run to put the set out of reach.

The Skyhawks travel to Adams State (8-16, 5-11) on Saturday in their final regular season match.

Fort Lewis still clings to the eighth and final spot in the push for the RMAC playoffs, to be hosted by Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 11-13. Colorado Christian (16-13, 8-8) trails FLC by a half-game in the standings, but Fort Lewis owns the tie-breaker based on a five-set head-to-head victory in Durango on Sept. 21. Christian closes its regular season with games against Regis (15-10, 10-6) and No. 14 Metro State (20-5, 14-2). The Skyhawks' magic number to clinch a playoff berth is one, meaning any CCU loss or FLC win puts the Skyhawks back into the RMAC playoffs for the first time since 2008.