PUEBLO, Colo. (October 23, 2021) – The Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) foe Colorado Mesa on Saturday night.
 
It was a black party at Massari Arena on Saturday night as the Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball team registered 30 combined blocks, the most since the ThunderWolves tallied 34 combined blocks in 2019 against the Mavericks.
 
The Pack started the tone of the match early, registering four blocks in their first six points in a 6-2 run, highlighted by two blocks from Payton Stack (Sr., Casper, Wyo.) and Jazzy Espinoza (Jr., Cheyenne, Wyo.) and a lead the Mavericks would not come back from in the first set. The big blocks early held the Mavericks to a .159 hitting percentage compared to the ThunderWolves .273 as the Pack took a 25-21 win in set one.
 
The Mavericks responded by starting the second set with an 8-2 run as the ThunderWolves never found the same rhythm they had in the first set. Service and attacks errors combined with a hot Mavericks offense gave CMU a 25-16 win.
 
Sets three and four were more back-and-forth affairs as the teams found themselves tied a combined 17 times. The ThunderWolves walked away with a 25-23 win in set three before taking a 13-11 lead in set four. Now tied at 22 apiece, two setting errors followed by a kills allowed the Mavericks to send it to the decisive fifth set with a 25-22 win.
 
The Pack ran out of steam, however, as the Mavs held the ThunderWolves to a .08 hitting percentage in the fifth set to walk away with a 15-8 and 3-2 win.
 
Stack led the Pack with 14 kills and 6 blocks while Espinoza tallied a team-high 7 blocks and 5 kills. Elaine Thibadeau (Jr., Monument, Colo.) recorded 17 digs on the match and teammate Hannah Delor (Jr., Marysville, Mich.) finished it off with her fifth double-double of the season consisting of 10 kills and 10 digs on the match.
 
The ThunderWolves will be back in action next weekend as they hit the road to take on Colorado Mines on Friday night and Chadron State on Saturday.