Box Score DENVER - Metropolitan State University of Denver upset No. 20 Colorado Mesa 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 15-13 on Thursday night at the Auraria Event Center. The Roadrunners improved to 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while CMU fell to 9-3 and 3-1 in the RMAC. It was the second win this season over a top-25 team for MSU Denver.
 
Lauren Quijano (Wildomar, Calif./Elsinore H.S.) led the team with 19 kills and hit .325. Michaela Smith (Littleton, Colo./Regis Jesuit H.S.) had 15 kills and Kylee Hoagland (Mead, Colo./Skyline H.S.) added 12 and five blocks. Kylie Haun (Simpsonville, S.C./Hillcrest H.S.) had nine kills and Vasati Fiatoa (Las Vegas, Nev./Bonanza H.S.) chipped in with seven.
 
Savannah Garcia (Platteville, Colo./Valley H.S.) had 21 digs to lead the defense and was perfect in serve-receive. Freshman Jackie Lopez (Encino, Calif./Notre Dame H.S.) had a season-high 17 digs and Haun had 12.
 
MSU Denver hit .235 thanks to 55 assists from Brandi Torr (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva H.S.).
 
The Roadrunners dominated the first set, jumping out to an 11-4 lead and outhitting CMU .233-to-.032.
 
MSU Denver dug itself a 13-9 hole in the second set, but rallied with six of the next seven points to lead 16-15. CMU fought right back with four straight to pull back ahead 19-16. The Roadrunners then scored five in a row to lead 21-19, sparked by two aces by Torr, a pair of kills from Fiatoa and a combined block by Fiatoa and Smith. Quijano had six kills in nine attempts in the second set.
 
The Roadrunners dug themselves a 19-13 hold in the third set. Despite cutting the deficit to 22-20, the Mavericks prevailed after holding the Roadrunners to a minus-.094 hitting percentage in the third with four blocks.
 
The fourth set was even as neither team led by more than four points at any point. After hitting .144 through three sets, the Mavericks hit .421 in the fourth.
 
After trailing 4-1 in the fifth, MSU Denver rallied back to tie the set at 5-5. Down 11-9, Smith served three straight points, capped by an ace as the Roadrunners took their first lead in the fifth at 12-11. After Fiatoa and Quijano combined on a block, Garcia served an ace to force match point and a timeout by the Mavericks. After a service error coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks hit an attack into the net to end the match.
 
MSU Denver will host Fort Lewis at 7 p.m. on Friday.