DENVER – MSU Denver will be celebrating three seniors critical to its success on Friday.
 
Four-year veterans Santaisha Sturges (Parker, Colo./Regis Jesuit) and Stephanie Laraway (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood), and second-year transfer Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View), will play their final regular-season matches at the Auraria Event Center as the Roadrunners wrap up a two-match home series with Chadron State. Both Thursday and Friday matches are set for 7 p.m.
 
"Tai (Sturges) and Steph were freshmen when I came that spring (as the new coach), and it's been fun working with those two specifically because from the beginning that first group bought in and really trusted the process," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "They've been cornerstones.
 
"And Taylor came in last year and has just invested at a huge level and has really grown in a ton of ways, has had a great senior season and has grown as a leader as well."
 
Glenn said the leadership style of the three seniors has blended together nicely.
 
"Taylor is our most vocal leader, and Tai and Steph are more leaders by example," Glenn said. "But the work ethic of those three is tremendous, their commitment to training throughout the
spring especially. Their excitement to get into the gym and get better has been contagious."
 
Under the senior leadership, MSU Denver is 17-8 overall and ranks fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 13-3. Wins in both matches against Chadron State would clinch another home match in the first round of the RMAC tournament on Tuesday.
 
"Senior Night is a cool night," Duryea said. "It's emotional for the seniors, but there's a cool feeling about it among the team – you kind of feel like everyone is playing for the seniors, and is really there for them. It sets in that this is one of the last times that this particular team is going to be together.
 
"It'll probably hit me more afterwards, or after our last match of the season, than that night. But we'll be ready to compete. We have a lot left to look forward to."
 
Sturges was a second-team All-American, all-region and All-RMAC player last year who has 1,122 career kills and 1,098 career digs.
 
"The last four years have been a really good opportunity," Sturges said. "So playing our last home matches, taking it all in, thinking about all that I've put in on this court and the different teams I've been with … it's been exciting."
 
This season Struges is second on the team with both 3.1 kills per set and 3.4 digs per set.
 
"Santaisha has been a rock for this program," Glenn said. "Her improvement has been tremendous. She's carried a huge load for us the past few years, a six-rotation player who has won a lot of matches where she has just put the team on her back and carried us through. Everybody in the program respects Santaisha – when she speaks, we are all listening. She has a tremendous power."
 
Laraway was All-RMAC last year after making the All-RMAC second team as a sophomore. She's 10^th in school history in both block assists (273) and total blocks (325).
 
"It's like this every year with different teams," Laraway said of Senior Night. "But you stay a Roadrunner through it all. It hasn't really hit me that we're going to be done, but enjoying every moment I have with this team is a bonus."
 
This year Laraway leads the team in solo blocks (10), is second in both block assists (66) and blocks per set (0.9), and ranks third in hitting percentage (.263) and fifth in kills (1.8 per set).
 
"Steph has come a long way from her freshman year in terms of her improvement and commitment," Glenn said. "She's a force to be reckoned with at the net from an offensive and defensive perspective, and she's a beast in the weight room who has been a leader in that area."

Duryea spent her first two seasons at Dixie State and has a four-year total of 1,065 kills, including 586 for MSU Denver. She was second team All-RMAC last year.
 
"I feel like I've been here my whole career, just the way that they brought me in and how well I feel like we all fit," Duryea said
 
This season Duryea averages team bests of 3.4 kills and 0.3 service aces per set and ranks fourth with 2.6 digs per set.
 
"Taylor's presence on the court has been tremendous," Glenn said. "To play six rotations for the first time in her senior year, and from a blocking standpoint she's a huge presence and attacking-wise she's really developed a huge toolbelt. She's just a player who gets along with everybody on the team. She really is a connector for us with positive energy."
 
MSU Denver is seeking more victories in an effort to not only host a first-round RMAC tournament match, but also to extend its streak of appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament to 19.
 
Chadron State is 8-17 overall and is 10^th in the RMAC at 6-10.

"We just want to finish the season off strong," Glenn said. "We fully believe we can be a team that peaks at the right time. I think this team is hungry to overcome some barriers we have faced throughout the year. But we've had an excellent regular season where we've swept a lot of teams (11) and had a lot of success on the road (7-3). So there's a lot we can take from this regular season and use it to propel us into the postseason."
 
But Senior Night is approaching.
 
"I've tried not to think about it," Duryea said. "It's not sad yet, because we have further to go and hopefully more (home) matches after that. It's getting more real, though."
 
Said Sturges: "It's going to be emotional for me, but I'm trying to save that for after the match. Hopefully we'll play our first post-season match at home, too."
 
Said Laraway: "I'll be ready to play, ready to take care of business like always. But there's definitely going to be an emotional aspect to it, too, realizing that it could be our last match on this court as a Roadrunner."