Box Score

ALAMOSA, Colo. - The No. 21 Metro State volleyball team opened a three-match road trip this weekend with a 25-19, 30-28, 25-15 win over Adams State on Thursday evening in Alamosa, Colo.  The win improved the Roadrunners to 14-6 overall and 7-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while the Grizzlies dropped to 8-11 overall and 5-6 in the RMAC.

Gabe Curtis (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) had a stellar night from her setter position, dishing out 39 assists to go with nine digs, five kills, three blocks and two aces.  She helped the Roadrunners offense put out its second-best performance of the season, hitting .410 (52-11-100).  It was the first time since a season-opening win over Millersville (Pa.) that Metro State hit over .400.  The Roadrunners hit .486 (38-4-70) against Millersville on Aug. 28.  Metro State also did not have a receiving error for just the third time this season.

Bri Morley (Parker, Colo./Cherokee Trail H.S.) had a match-high 14 kills and tied a career high in hitting percentage, connecting at a .500 clip (14-2-24).  The other time she hit .500 (9-1-16) in her career came against Colorado Mines on Sept. 12, 2008.

Anna Mapes (Chaska, Minn./Chaska H.S.) also tied a career high in hitting percentage, the fifth time in the past six matches that she has tied or set a new career high in hitting percentage.  On Thursday, she hit .600 (9-0-15).

Libero Amy Watanabe (Littleton, Colo./Heritage H.S.) snapped a 13-match streak of 10 or more digs as she finished with seven, two behind Curtis' team lead with nine.  Morley had eight.

The first set was even halfway through, as the Roadrunners led by one at 15-14.  But they found their stride by scoring the next three points and six of the next seven to take a 21-15 lead.  Morley closed out the set with a kill at 24-19, her seventh in just eight attack attempts during the first set as she carried the offensive load early on.  The Roadrunners hit .467 (18-4-30) in the first set, compared to .250 (11-4-28) for ASC.

The Grizzlies started the second set with a 9-5 lead, but Metro State fought back to an 11-10 advantage with six of the next seven points as Metro State's defense forced four hitting errors on ASC.  Trailing 14-13, Adams State scored six of seven points to lead 19-15.  But Curtis' strong serving helped the Roadrunners scored the next five points as they took a 20-19 lead.  Curtis had an ace and her serves kept ASC out of system, forcing three attack errors during the five-point swing.

Adams State led again at 24-22, but the Roadrunners fought off two set points to force extra play in the second set.  Metro State fought off two more set points before kills by Causseaux and Morley won the set after a 28-28 tie.

The third set was Metro State's strongest offensively and defensively, as the Roadrunners hit .577 (17-2-26), while holding the Grizzlies to -.038 (6-7-26).  Metro State jumped out to an 11-3 lead, led by Amanda Cook (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue East H.S.)'s three kills after an ace by Curtis opened the set.

Adams State battled back to 16-13, but Metro State scored nine of the final 11 points of the night as Cook added three more kills to take the third set 25-15.  Cook had six of her eight kills on the evening in the third set.

Metro State will continue its road trip on Friday night at Western State with the first serve set for 7 p.m. in Gunnison.