CHADRON, Neb. – What could MSU Denver do for an encore?
 
Pretty much the same thing.
 
One night after hitting .394 and giving up only 41 points in a sweep of Chadron State, Metropolitan State University of Denver hit .383 and gave up only 41 points in another sweep of Chadron State (25-10, 25-18, 25-13) on Friday.
 
Avaline Lai pounded 14 kills while hitting .542, Ember Canty added seven kills on .778 hitting, and Alyssa Kelling added seven kills on .538 hitting to lead the Roadrunners. All three added three blocks.
 
The Roadrunners finished the regular season 21-6 overall and 16-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
"I'm very proud of this team for going on the road, into a tough environment, and playing six sets of composed volleyball," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said of the two-night swing. "We made great decisions as attackers and played feisty defense. We finished the conference season well and can now look to postseason play."
 
The Roadrunners, who have swept four straight matches, finished in second place in the RMAC and will play host to seventh-seeded Black Hills State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Auraria Event Center.
 
Chadron State, which entered the week with a shot at gaining a spot in the eight-team RMAC field, saw its season end at 14-12 overall and 8-10 in the RMAC.
 
MSU Denver hit a resounding .389 for the weekend, with Lai leading the way at .550 on 24 kills (with two errors in 40 attacks). Canty hit .526 with 10 kills and no errors in 19 attacks while adding seven blocks (one solo), and Kelling hit .444 with 13 kills and one error in 27 attacks while adding five blocks (one solo).
 
Not only did the Roadrunners post back-to-back matches of over .300 hitting for the first time this season, they did it for the first time since Oct. 12 and 13 of 2018.
 
They hadn't hit .360 or better in consecutive matches since Sept. 24 (Colorado Christian) and 26 (Black Hills State) of 2011. MSU Denver has no record of ever hitting .383 or better in consecutive matches in statistics dating back to 2002.
 
The Roadrunners bolted to their 25-10 first-set win by hitting .452 in the opening set, matching their largest single-set advantage of the season.
 
It was all downhill from there for MSU Denver, which on Thursday had clinched its seventh-consecutive 20-win season.
But the Roadrunners still have some work to do to reach the NCAA Division II Tournament for the 20^th consecutive season – they were ranked eighth in the region prior to this weekend, and only eight teams are invited to the South Central Regional.