DENVER – As if it had a metronome setting the pace for the season, the No. 1 MSU Denver volleyball team continues keeping the beat.
 
"We prepare for every match just like any other match and take each match one by one," defensive specialist Caiden Rexius said. "We're not looking ahead, which has been our theme."
 
And that's how the Roadrunners are approaching Tuesday's quarterfinal match of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. New Mexico Highlands, which is 11-17 overall and earned the eighth seed with a 7-11 record in league play, comes to the Auraria Event Center for a 7 p.m. match Tuesday.
 
MSU Denver beat the Cowgirls 25-21, 25-13, 25-14 on Oct. 23.
 
"We do want to have the same mentality of taking it one match at a time," Megenhardt said. "We want to come out strong each and every match and not worry about who's on the other side of the court. We've got to keep preparing, trying new things and making sure that we're not the same team we were at the beginning of the season. We keep growing and improving."
 
MSU Denver, 24-2 overall and 18-0 in the RMAC, has earned the top seed for the league tournament and would host the tournament semifinals and final on Friday and Saturday if it wins Tuesday.
 
The Roadrunners have won 22 straight matches this season and have won a school-record 19 straight at home, dating to the start of the spring season.
 
Should MSU Denver advance to the semifinals – barring a major upset – it would move ahead needing to win two matches against teams that pushed the Roadrunners to five sets during the season. Second seed Colorado School of Mines, third seed Colorado Mesa, fourth seed Regis and fifth seed CSU-Pueblo all came up just short in previous meetings.
 
But that's not what MSU Denver is focusing upon.
 
"In playoff games, you know teams are going to come after you," outside hitter Avaline Lai said. "You know that they're surviving. And we know we have a huge target on our backs. Teams are going to continue to come after us as hard as they can. That's just what it is."
 
Peaking ahead just a little bit further, MSU Denver is also hoping to host the South Central Regional Tournament, which is the first three rounds of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Roadrunners are currently first in the NCAA's South Central Region, giving them the inside track to host the regional.
 
"This time of year, it's always a balance between rest and preparation," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "We still have a lot to work through. There are some intricacies in our lineup that need to be smoothed out. We still need some reps. I like where we're at, but we still have work to do. We don't want to stall out right here. We want to accomplish what we set out to accomplish."