DENVER – Here's one of those stories that's too crazy to make up.
 
Angie Duryea was on a golf course in Idaho a few weeks ago, but she was still on her phone watching her daughter Taylor play volleyball for Metropolitan State University of Denver.
 
A good friend and teammate of Taylor Duryea's (Logan, Utah/Sky View) is Kayla White (Montgomery, Ala./Montgomery Academy) – they both joined the Roadrunners' program in 2017.
 
So, back to Angie Duryea and that match on her phone.
 
"I heard the announcer say something about Kayla's mom and said, 'Penny Lucas,'" Angie Duryea said. "Well, there's only one Penny Lucas."
 
That one Penny Lucas played Major League Volleyball for the Chicago Breeze back in 1988.
 
Her roommate and teammate was none other than Angie Knox, now married and of course known as Angie Duryea.
 
"It's a small world," Penny Lucas-White said.
 
Angie Knox-Duryea quickly started putting the pieces together to confirm that somehow, some way, lives had intersected 30 years apart.
 
"I texted Taylor right away, while she was still playing so she would get it right after the match, and I said you have to call me right away," Angie Knox-Duryea said.
 
After talking to her mom, Taylor quickly face-timed Kayla with an unusual request.
 
"Taylor said, 'Hey, did your mom play for the Chicago Breeze?" Kayla White (Montgomery, Ala./Montgomery Academy) said. "I called my mom and she said she did, and then I called Taylor and I'm like, 'Taylor, our parents played together,' and we were screaming on the phone.
 
"How crazy is that?"
 
Said Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View): "We were screaming and laughing. We just kept saying, 'No way. How did this even happen?'"
 
Major League Volleyball was in operation for 2 1 /2 seasons before folding in 1989. It was a six-team league that also included the Los Angeles Starlites, the Minnesota Monarchs, the New York Liberties and the San Jose Golddiggers, as well as a franchise that was originally was the Dallas Belles, then became the Arizona Blaze and finally was the Portland Spikers.
 
Some of the matches were shown tape-delayed on ESPN.
 
Penny Lucas had starred at Louisiana State and for the U.S. National Team. She played professionally overseas in Italy and Germany, but came back to join Major League Volleyball for a second season in 1988.
 
"It was a great opportunity to play abroad," Lucas-White said. "But to play in the states in front of loved ones was more beneficial, just to able to stay and play here."
 
Angie Knox was an All-American at Colorado State and is still the school's all-time kills leader. She finished her collegiate career in the fall of 1987 and quickly moved into the MLV. She later moved on to play professionally in France.
 
The former teammates don't have many stories to tell about their time away from the court together. It all happened pretty quickly, and it was a long time ago.
 
"We were roommates, but the whole team was staying in this hotel," Knox-Duryea said. "We all just kind of hung out together."
 
Said Lucas-White: "There were multiple people living there, and I was coaching (she was an assistant at Auburn) and I would come in for the matches. I remember pounding balls in practice."
 
Of course their names have changed, and they hadn't kept in touch, so it was shocking to be reconnected through the daughters.
 
Both former teammates remember the other as a player.
 
"Angie was a terminator," Lucas-White said. "If the ball was going down, it was going to be terminated."
 
Said Knox-Duryea: "With Penny, all of a sudden you're seeing this girl – just like Kayla – jumping out of the gym."
 
Now that they know of the connection, it's obvious for the moms to see their former teammate in their daughters.
 
"My mom said that Taylor jumps like her and swings like her," White said. "She said she could tell that she's Angie's daughter."
 
Those daughters have a singular focus this weekend, helping the Roadrunners (15-8 overall, 11-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) pick up league victories at Black Hills State (7-15, 4-11) on Friday at 7 p.m. and at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (4-21, 1-14) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
 
It seems so random that not only did Lucas-White and Knox-Duryea came from different parts of the country, passing through on different paths but that the same thing happened to their daughters.
 
For good measure, both Taylor and Kayla have a twin sibling as well.
 
"We're from such different areas," Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View) said. "I'm from Utah. She's from Alabama. And how random is it that they played in Chicago? If they had played in Colorado, maybe that would've made more sense."
 
Penny Lucas-White is a long-time college head coach, who is in her eighth season at Alabama State after previously leading the programs at Memphis and Air Force. Angie Knox-Duryea coached Taylor growing up and still coaches high school volleyball.
 
The two former teammates haven't been able to connect yet. Lucas-White isn't able to make it to many matches because of her own team's schedule. The one weekend she was in Denver for matches, Knox-Duryea wasn't.
 
They are hopeful of re-connecting again, though it might have to be at the NCAA Division II tournament, should the Roadrunners qualify for the 19^th consecutive season.
 
"I'd love to see her again," Knox-Duryea said.
 
Said Lucas-White: "I'm sure we will."