DENVER – For the first few hands of the volleyball season, MSU Denver has been holding all aces.
 
Service aces.
 
Oh, and blocks, too.
 
In fact, the Roadrunners, who are 9-3 overall and are alone in first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 4-0, rank fifth in NCAA Division II in blocks per set (2.5) and are 11^th in Division II in service aces per set (2.3).
 
"Even the first week of practice, we were talking as a staff that we were going to be a good serving team and we were going to be a good blocking team," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "We have all the tools to be.
 
"And if I reflect back on matches, those are the two areas where we are able to create gaps. That's been a difference-maker for us. We can go toe-to-toe with teams, and then we can break it open in those two areas."
 
Those strengths will be tested this weekend, as the Roadrunners host Homecoming matches against Colorado Mesa (8-5 overall, 4-1 RMAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Western Colorado (7-6, 3-2) on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Auraria Event Center.
 
Colorado Mesa was the preseason pick to finish second in the RMAC and relies heavily on its talented middle blockers.
 
The Roadrunners will go up against them in the middle with a group led by senior Alyssa Kelling – the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week – and freshman Mikayla McClinton. Kelling is second in the RMAC with 1.24 blocks per set, while McClinton ranks fourth at 1.20.
 
As a group, the Roadrunners' average of 2.5 blocks per set matches the 2011 team as the second-best per-set average since the dawn of the rally-scoring era – the 2001 team averaged 3.1 blocks per set, but even that team was playing sets that were played to 30 points.
 
"It's something we've been working on and having a focus on," McClinton said. "When we're concentrating on our blocking and not getting lazy, we've been doing really well with it. It's helping us get ahead in matches and helping us shut teams down."
 
Meanwhile the Roadrunners are also serving up aces at an historic rate.
 
Not only do you have to go back to the sideout-era to find an MSU Denver team that has had more aces, you have to all the way back to 1993 – seven years before the end of sideout scoring – to see such a sharp-serving club. That team averaged 2.7 aces per set. Meanwhile, no Roadrunners team has averaged more than even 1.6 aces per set since 2001.
 
Junior Jessa Megenhardt, who shares setting duties with Joli Sadler, leads the RMAC with 0.56 aces per set, while Kayla White (0.53) ranks third, Rylee Hladky is fourth (0.44), and Sadler sixth (0.40).
 
"Our serving is a weapon," Sadler said. "And it's not just, 'I want to get an ace,' it's 'I want to serve aggressively for my team.' Our aggressiveness comes from playing for our team."
 
Taken together, MSU Denver has been getting just under five points per set from serving and blocking. The average Division II team – the teams ranked 145^th of 290 in the division – get a little over three points per set in those areas. So, in some ways, it's like starting every set with a 2-0 lead.
 
"Those are your first two lines of defense," Glenn said. "If we're serving tough and getting them out of system, and then we're turning back balls, that's two areas away from getting to the actual dig. It makes defense a lot easier for us when those two areas are firing."
 
McClinton came to MSU Denver with a solid background and yet has still exceeded expectations with her early impact.
 
"It was definitely a goal for me," McClinton said. "I wanted to have a lot of confidence coming in to help the team. I want to help elevate us. And the team has helped me build up my confidence."
 
Sadler, as a junior college transfer, was expected to make an immediate impact. And she has been strong as both a setter and server.
 
"I knew I'd have to earn my spot, but everything I've been able to contribute is because of my team and the trust that they have in me," Sadler said.
 
Glenn said the Roadrunners' blocking training is the same, but due to their strong execution, some things have been altered.
 
"We're just giving our blockers a little more freedom in a couple of areas," she said. "Our middle blockers are doing such a good job of reading and going pin to pin that it allows us to cover more of the net."
 
And, in serving, there's more to it than just getting aces. Serving aggressively can get teams out of system quickly.
 
"It's definitely risk-reward," Glenn said. "We always want to be on the same page with how aggressive we are willing to be and how many errors we are willing to give up. We hope as the season progresses that the errors with dissipate. It's a philosophy that's different than 'keep the ball in play and hope for the best.'"
 
Getting points on aces and blocks are also huge momentum-builders in a game already filled with emotion.
 
"It's helped us get points and get teams down," McClinton said.
 
And if an aggressive serve is off target?
 
"That goes with the mindset," Sadler said. "If I serve aggressive and it's out, we all just laugh about it. That's a good miss. We also kind of know when to serve tough and get the ball in."
 
MSU Denver matched a season-high with 11 service aces (an added eight blocks) in its four-set win over then-No. 12 Regis last weekend, and followed that up eight aces and 12 blocks in a sweep of Colorado Christian.
 
With quality opponents coming in for the weekend, the Roadrunners are looking to maintain that momentum.
 
"Yeah, we've had good wins, but that's behind us now," McClinton said. "We have to focus on what's ahead of us."