Box Score

DENVER - No. 11 Metro State swept Colorado Mines 25-20, 27-25, 25-14 on Tuesday evening at home in the quarterfinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. The Roadrunners improved to 23-5 and CSM fell to 18-10.

The two teams played two five-set matches during the regular season, including the longest fifth set in NCAA Division II history on Oct. 8. Tuesday's match was a far cry from those matches as the Roadrunners hit .396, their second-highest hitting percentage of the season, after a lineup change.

For the first time this season, Metro State went with a 5-1 formation with Darcy Schwartzman (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest H.S.) as the only setter and she responded with 44 assists in the win.

Bri Morley (Parker, Colo./Cherokee Trail H.S.) was on fire with 16 kills and a .419 hitting percentage, and she had a kill for set point in all three sets. Freshman Lauren Quijano (Wildomar, Calif./Elsinore H.S.) has 12 kills and hit .421, while Emily Greenhalgh (Conifer, Colo./Conifer H.S.) added 10 kills and Julie Causseaux (Dumas, Texas/Dumas H.S.) had eight.

Defensively, Ngoc Phan (Lone Tree, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) had 19 digs and Alex Green (Peoria, Ariz./Cactus H.S.) had 10. The team had just one receiving error all night as the new formation allowed for a better back row for ball control.

Metro State jumped out to a 19-13 lead in the first set before the Orediggers climbed back and cut the lead to 20-18. After the two teams traded points to a 22-20 lead for Metro State, a CSM attack error followed by a pair of thunderous kills from Morley finished the set.

The Roadrunners took an 8-5 lead in the second, but Mines came back to tie at 9-9 and it was back-and-forth the rest of the set.  Metro State held set point at 24-23 and the Orediggers then held set point at 25-24. Greenhalgh had a solo block to even the score and Causseaux and Morley closed out the set with kills.

The third set was dramatically different as Mines lost much of its fight, falling behind 10-5 and 18-9. Metro State hit .565 in the third and the Orediggers connected at just .038.

Metro State will travel to Kearney, Neb., for the semifinals where it will face Western New Mexico on Friday at 5 p.m. (CST).