Box Score GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Metro State survived to earn a 25-27, 25-23, 25-13, 23-25, 20-18 win at Colorado Mesa on Saturday night in Grand Junction, Colo. The win improved the Roadrunners to 13-8 overall and 9-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while CMU fell to 17-5 and 9-4.

MSU Denver started the fifth set on fire, jumping out to a 5-1 lead, but the Mavericks crawled back to even the set at 8-8. It was back-and-forth the rest of the way with eight ties and four lead changes in the fifth set. The Roadrunners held match point three times before finally putting it away, while also fighting off match point twice. Kylee Hoagland (Mead, Colo./Skyline H.S.) finally ended the marathon with a kill off an over pass from CMU's defense.

Alysa Heath (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) came within one kill of a career high, putting down 25 kills and hitting .258 (25-9-62). Lauren Quijano (Wildomar, Calif./Elsinore H.S.) hit .303 (15-5-33) with 15 kills. Kylie Haun (Simpsonville, S.C./Hillcrest H.S.) added 11 kills and Hoagland had 10.

Setter Brandi Torr (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva H.S.) dished out a career-high 56 assists, the most for Roadrunners setter this season. She also had 11 digs, four kills, two blocks and one ace.

Alex Green (Peoria, Ariz./Cactus H.S.) paced the defense with 20 digs. Savannah Garcia (Platteville, Colo./Valley H.S.) chipped in with 15, followed by Tiffany Harris (Dublin, Calif./Dublin H.S.) with 13. Vasati Fiatoa (Las Vegas, Nev./Bonanza H.S.) had a team-high six blocks and Quijano added five.

Metro State outhit CMU .217 to .177.

The Roadrunners ran off five straight points to overcome a 10-8 deficit in the first set. Metro State maintained a 20-18 lead, but CMU scored four of the next five points to pull ahead. The Mavericks broke a 25-25 tie with two straight to take the set.

Heath finished off a very close second set with a kill for the 25-23 win. The Roadrunners overcame a .343 hitting percentage by the Mavericks in the second.

Metro State dominated the third set, outhitting CMU .320 to -.061. The Mavericks could not get anything going, scoring five of their 13 points off Metro State errors.

The Roadrunners were down 22-18 and rallied to get within one point at 24-23 before CMU won the set.