Box Score

GOLDEN, Colo. - No. 11 Metro State rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the match to win 18-25, 21-25, 25-19, 27-25, 15-9 on the road at No. 22 Colorado Mines on Friday night in Golden.  The Roadrunners improved to 18-4 overall and 10-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while CSM fell to 16-6 and 10-3.

It was the third time in the past three years the Roadrunners rallied to win after dropping the first two sets to a nationally-ranked opponent, and the first since Sept. 11 of last season when the Roadrunners came back against No. 25 West Florida.  All three of those matches have been on the road.

Julie Causseaux (Dumas, Texas/Dumas H.S.) put down a season-high 20 kills to lead Metro State, while hitting .514 with just two errors in 35 attempts.  She also had six blocks.

Bri Morley (Parker, Colo./Cherokee Trail H.S.) recorded her 25th career double-double with 17 kills and 10 digs, but hit just .096 while battling an injury.  Morley had 52 attack attempts and it was the first time this season in the fifth match that Metro State has won when Morley attempted 40 or more attacks.  Emily Greenhalgh (Conifer, Colo./Conifer H.S.) put down 15 kills and hit .268.

Defensively, Ngoc Phan (Lone Tree, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) led five players in double digits in digs with 28, tying a season high.  Setter Darcy Schwartzman (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest H.S.) had 13, Alysa Heath (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) had a career-high 12, and Alex Green (Peoria, Ariz./Cactus H.S.) had 11 to join Morley's 10.  Those five individuals and 14 team blocsk helped hold the Orediggers to just a .185 hitting percentage.

Schwartzman had a season-high 50 set assists.

Shockingly, the Roadrunners won despite hitting just .193, their second-lowest hitting percentage of the season.

Metro State handed CSM the first two sets with a weak approach at the service line, allowing the Orediggers to stay in-system offensively.  The Roadrunners managed zero service aces and zero service errors in the first two sets, a testament to the easy serves.  As a result, CSM hit .284 in the first two sets, while Metro State was held to just .149.

Schwartzman served well to open the fourth set, directly leading to three errors and a 4-0 start in the set.  The Roadrunners opened an 8-1 lead and Morley finally served the first ace of the night for the sixth point in the third set.

CSM climbed back to cut the lead to 20-18, but four straight Metro State points gave the Roadrunners set point at 24-18, including an ace by Causseaux during the run.

The Orediggers jumped out to a big lead in the fourth, pulling ahead 7-3.  Metro State finally took its first lead at 17-16 and built a 19-17 lead.  Mines battled back and held match point two times at 24-22, but the Roadrunners fought back with three in a row, started by a kill by Heath and a pair of blocks.  After the Orediggers evened the score at 25-25, Metro State scored the final two points to force a deciding set.  The final point came with controversy as Mines setter Amanda Massey set the ball over the net, but was ruled with an illegal attack that led to a protest.

The call that went Metro State's way to end the fourth took the wind out of the Orediggers and the Roadrunners jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the fifth set and led 13-7, hitting .500 in the final frame, while limiting CSM to a .053 hitting percentage.

Metro State will travel to UC-Colorado Springs for a 7 p.m. match on Saturday.