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LAKEWOOD, Colo. - No. 14 Metro State closed out the regular season on Saturday with a 24-26, 25-16, 25-21, 25-22 win at Colorado Christian.  The Roadrunners finished second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a record of 16-2 in the conference and 22-5 overall, while CCU fell to 16-15 overall and 8-10 in the RMAC.

Bri Morley (Parker, Colo./Cherokee Trail H.S.) led all players with 21 kills and had five blocks.  Julie Causseaux (Dumas, Texas/Dumas H.S.) added 14 kills and Emily Greenhalgh (Conifer, Colo./Conifer H.S.) had 13 as setter Darcy Schwartzman (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest H.S.) turned in another solid performance, helping the Roadrunners hit .293 and assisting on 57 kills.  She also had three service aces and eight digs.  Anna Mapes (Chaska, Minn./Chaska H.S.) also had an efficient night, hitting .700 with eight kills and one error in 10 attempts.  She also had four blocks.

Defensively, Ngoc Phan (Lone Tree, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) dug up 24 balls, a career high for a four-set match.  Nikky Sapp (Arvada, Colo./Pomona H.S.) added 13 digs and Lisa Jones (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo East H.S.) had 10.

The Roadrunners spotted CCU six points to start the match, including back-to-back aces by Lauren Rosenthal to start the match.  The Roadrunners slowly crept back in and tied the set at 15-15 after Mapes and Morley connected on consecutive kills.  Metro State tied the set at 19-19 after three straight kills, but CCU took the lead right back with three points of its own.  Following a timeout, Metro State went on another three-point run to even the score at 22-22.  The Roadrunners fought off two set points after a service error and a kill from Causseaux, but CCU again rallied with consecutive points to take the set 26-24.

Metro State jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the second before the Cougars scored three to cut it to 10-9.  But the Roadrunners scored six of the next seven to lead 16-10 and held CCU to a -.049 hitting percentage in the second set to win 25-16.

The third set was back-and-forth nearly the entire way with 14 ties and five lead changes.  CCU went ahead 15-13 after four straight points.  Metro State took the lead for good at 20-19 after a kill from Jones and took a 21-19 lead after another from Morley.  She had a kill for a 23-21 lead and Mapes ended the set with two more kills for a 25-21 win.

The fourth set was another tight battle with nine ties and four lead changes.  Metro State tied the score at 12-12 with four points in a row.  After CCU scored two more, Metro State took a 15-14 lead with three in a row again and did not give the Cougars a lead the rest of the night.  The Roadrunners hit .344 in the fourth, their highest hitting percentage of the night in the 25-22 win.  CCU also had a night-high of .282 in the fourth.

The Roadrunners will face Western New Mexico at 12 p.m. (CST) in Kearney, Neb., in the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament on Thursday.