DENVER – MSU Denver's bid for a 19^th straight trip to the NCAA Division II volleyball tournament starts Tuesday.
 
Win in the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament in a 7 p.m. home match against Regis, and the Roadrunners would improve their chances of moving up in the regional rankings that determine the at-large field for the eight-team South Central Regional.
 
Win twice in the RMAC tournament and Metropolitan State University of Denver would have an even stronger case for inclusion.
 
Win three times and there would be nothing left to worry about, since the Roadrunners would receive the RMAC's automatic berth as the tournament champion.
 
"It's a new season," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "The slate is wiped clean. Everybody goes and battles. It's great that we get to play on our home floor. I think this team is ready to push the reset button in a lot of ways. So we're excited."
 
MSU Denver (19-8 overall) received the home-court advantage and the fourth seed for the first-round matchup with Regis (19-9) after finishing in a third-place tie with Colorado Mesa with a 15-3 league record. (Mesa won the head-to-head matchup with the Roadrunners to receive the third seed.)
 
Regis, however, won both regular-season meetings with MSU Denver – coming behind for a five-set win in the official RMAC meeting at the Auraria Event Center on Sept. 15, then sweeping a non-conference matchup at Regis on Oct. 23.
 
Regis (which was 14-4 in the RMAC) is also one spot ahead of MSU Denver in the regional rankings at No. 7, on the strength of those two head-to-head wins as well as a couple of the other factors used to determine the at-large spots.
 
Colorado School of Mines (first in the RMAC, third in the region), Dixie State (second RMAC, fourth region) and Mesa (third RMAC, fifth region) are also competing for both an RMAC title and postseason position this week.
 
"Every match is a battle," MSU Denver outside hitter Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View) said. "Especially this year. The teams are really good. We love the battle. I'm excited to see how we've trained going into Regis. We've played them twice, so it'll be a fun opportunity to see how far we've come and how we can beat them. We're really confident."
 
Besides the RMAC winner, tournament champions from the Lone Star and Heartland Conferences also receive automatic bids to the tournament. Since the Heartland doesn't have a team ranked in the region's top eight, it means a team has to be in the top seven – and hope for no conference tournament upsets – to qualify as an at-large entrant.
 
The winner of the MSU Denver-Regis quarterfinal will advance to the semifinal and play either top-seeded Colorado School of Mines or No. 8 seed Fort Lewis, who will play in another quarterfinal in Golden, Colo., on Tuesday.


Tickets for Tuesday's match are free for the first 100 MSU Denver students to arrive, while tickets for remaining students, youth and seniors are $5 apiece. Adult tickets are $10, and children five years old and under get in free. Fans can purchase tickets at RoadrunnersAthletics.com/Tickets.


"I'm really excited to play Regis at home on Tuesday," outside hitter Santaisha Sturges (Parker, Colo./Regis Jesuit) said. "It's a great opportunity for us to get to play them on our home floor and get this 'W.'"

Make sure to follow @MSUDenverSports and @MSUDenverVB on Twitter for coverage of the 2018 postseason.