GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Fort Lewis College volleyball team battled back to take the third set on Saturday afternoon, but (RV) Colorado Mesa University responded in the fourth to hand the Skyhawks a 3-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) loss inside Brownson Arena.
The Mavericks (13-3, 5-1 RMAC) took the match by scores of 25-16, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-16, while Fort Lewis moved to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
Senior Jordan DeJesus paced the Skyhawks offensively with 16 kills on a .289 hitting percentage, while senior Alina Nunez followed closely with 15 kills and 12 digs for a double-double. DeJesus also chipped in seven digs.
Senior Addie Garn directed the offense with 29 assists to go along with eight digs and an ace. Sophomore Alyx Daugherty led all Skyhawks with 20 digs while adding four assists and two service aces. Senior Ellie Ames supplied three kills and a match-high three aces.
Fort Lewis finished the afternoon with 46 kills while hitting .171 as a team. Colorado Mesa countered with 55 kills and a .311 hitting percentage. The Skyhawks held a 6-5 advantage in service aces, but the Mavericks created separation at the net with 11 total blocks compared to two for Fort Lewis.
Set One – CMU 25, FLC 16
Colorado Mesa jumped out to a 5-1 advantage before Fort Lewis worked its way back, using a Garn ace and consecutive kills from DeJesus to pull even at 7-7. The Mavericks answered and eventually used a 6-0 stretch to turn a 10-9 edge into a 16-10 lead. Fort Lewis was unable to close the gap from there as CMU took the opener, 25-16.
Set Two – CMU 25, FLC 18
The Skyhawks remained within striking distance throughout much of the second set. An Ames ace tied things at 11-11, and Fort Lewis pulled even again at 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15. Colorado Mesa finally created separation with a 6-1 run for a 21-16 advantage before closing the frame with three straight points to take a 2-0 match lead.
Set Three – FLC 25, CMU 21
Fort Lewis flipped the script in the third, racing out to a 5-0 lead behind a Nunez kill, a Munson kill and three Maverick attacking errors. The Skyhawks maintained control from there and pushed the advantage to 16-10 on a Daugherty ace. Back-to-back aces from Ames later stretched the lead to 22-15. CMU made a late push to pull within 24-21, but an attacking error ended the set and kept the Skyhawks alive.
Fort Lewis hit a match-best .364 in the third set, putting down 15 kills with just three errors on 33 attempts.
Set Four – CMU 25, FLC 16
The teams traded points early in the fourth and were tied at 4-4 following back-to-back kills from DeJesus. Colorado Mesa then used a 9-1 stretch to build a 13-5 advantage. Fort Lewis faced match point at 24-12 but fought off four straight opportunities behind kills from DeJesus, Garn and Nunez and a block from Munson and Nunez. Ashlee Macias eventually ended the match with her 19th kill of the afternoon.
