Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Metro State head coach Debbie Hendricks earned her 200th win at Metro State as the Roadrunners knocked off No. 16 Florida Southern 3-1 (25-14, 25-18, 17-25, 25-20) on Saturday morning at the St. Mary's Invitational in San Antonio, Texas.  The Roadrunners improved to 3-0 this season with the win.  The last time Metro State opened the season 3-0 was 1997.  The team has not opened a season with four straight victories since starting the season 7-0 in 1993.

Hendricks is in her 10th season at Metro State and now has a record of 200-85.  This is her 18th season overall after coaching at West Texas A&M and Wayland Baptist previously, and has an overall career record of 396-166.  With another win today and three victories next weekend at the Colorado Premier Challenge, she would be just the 20th active NCAA Division II coach with 400 wins.

Bri Morley (Parker, Colo./Cherokee Trail H.S.) continued her strong play at the tournament as the only player on either side with double digit kills as she pounded down 18 kills to carry the Roadrunners offense.  She also hit a match-high .395 (18k-3e-38a).  Lisa Jones (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo East H.S.) added nine kills and had seven digs, six assists and four blocks for a solid all-around performance.  Julie Causseaux (Dumas, Texas/Dumas H.S.) had eight kills.

Gabe Curtis (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) handled the setting duties again, assisting on 38 kills, while adding 10 digs and five kills to her stat sheet.  Amy Watanabe (Littleton, Colo./Heritage H.S.) led the Roadrunners with 12 digs, followed by Curtis and Amanda Cook (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue East H.S.) with 10 each.

Metro State hit .283 (53k-17e-127a) for the match and hit over .300 in both the first and the fourth sets.

The Roadrunners controlled the first set, leading 19-9 at one point.  Causseaux carried the offense in the first set with five of her eight kills during that frame.  Metro State held FSC to a -.025 (8-9-40) hitting percentage during the first set.

Metro State trailed 5-3 in the second set before Jones served eight straight points for the Roadrunners as they took an 11-5 lead.  Morley had four kills during that run.  The Moccasins cut the lead down to 15-12 before Causseaux served five consecutive points and the Roadrunners held on from there in the second set as Morley scored seven of her 18 kills during the set.

Florida Southern played a strong third set defensively forcing side-outs after the first or second serve the entire set.  Leading 3-2 early on, FLC scored five of the next six points to take an 8-4 lead and never looked back.  The Moccasins also hit .400 (14-4-25), compared to Metro State's .080 (8-6-25) in the third set.

However, the Roadrunners came back firing after falling behind 4-1 early in the fourth set.  Cook served eight consecutive points as Metro State jumped ahead 9-4.  Curtis had a strong set setting with 14 assists.  Morley added five more kills in the final set.

Metro State will look for a perfect weekend this afternoon with its final match at the St. Mary's Invitational against host school St. Mary's at 1:30 p.m. (MDT).