Box Score DENVER - On back to back nights, No. 23 Metro State played in a five-set barnburner. However this time Metro State fell to No. 14 Colorado Mines 25-19, 17-25, 22-25, 25-16, 10-15 on Saturday night at the Auraria Event Center. With the loss Metro moved to 16-9 on the season with an 11-6 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The Orediggers jumped to 21-5 for the year and 15-2 in RMAC tightening their stranglehold atop the conference standings.

The first set and the match was dominated by Alysa Heath (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) as Metro went on to win the set 25-19. Heath had eight kills to go along with one block and her .667 hitting percentage. Tammy King (Colorado Springs/Liberty H.S.) was also a key factor as she added seven digs which was five more than any other Roadrunner.

Heath finished the night with 26 kills, the most for a Metro State since 2007 (29 by Julie Green-McFarland). Heath also hit .303 (26-6-66).

The second set was suspect defensively for Metro State. The Roadrunners only had two players with more than two digs in the set and allowed Colorado Mines to hit .452 in the set. They also had zero blocks in what was a quick set for the Orediggers.

The third set was a bit of an anomaly for the Roadrunners. Kylie Haun (Simpsonville, S.C./Hillcrest H.S.) was tremendous with her service holding it for five straight rallies. However the Roadrunners had seven service errors as a team in the set. Unfortunately for the Roadrunners, the seven errors would prove costly as they lost the set despite outhitting Colorado Mines by .026.

The fourth set was a dominant performance for Metro as it hit .371 collectively. Heath added seven kills with no errors to bring her total to 25 kills in the match up to that point. The Roadrunners also got at least four digs from Vanessa Gemignani (Colorado Springs/Doherty H.S.), Amy Wong (Litchfield Park, Ariz./Millennium H.S.) and Alex Green (Peoria, Ariz./Cactus H.S.).

For the second straight night the Roadrunners were forced to go five sets and for the second straight night they fell behind in the last frame early. This time however, the Roadrunners were unable to dig out of the early hole they had dug for themselves. Metro State hit .167 compared to Colorado Mines .448 for the set. CSM held an 11-4 lead and held off the late comeback attempt.

Metro State actually outscored the Orediggers 79 to 67 on the night, but made 42 errors.

Haun forced four timeouts from Colorado Mines in a span of three sets because of her ability to hold serve.  On the night she served 28 times.

Gemignani's 54 assists were three shy of tying a career high.

The next match for the Roadrunners will be on Friday night in South Dakota against Black Hills State.