DENVER – One of the sometimes-overlooked plot points to MSU Denver's path to its five-week stay at No. 1 in Division II and its 18-0 run through the RMAC regular season is that the Roadrunners have had to overcome some precarious predicaments.
MSU Denver has played eight five-set matches, winning six of them, including the last five in a row.
"Every match we've played this season has taught us something," MSU Denver coach
Jenny Glenn said. "I love the fact that we've gone five against teams and that it wasn't always an easy win, because it's kept us hungry. When you win a lot, it doesn't always do that.
"Those five-setters feel in some ways like a loss in the sense of our ability to learn and grow from that and be better the next time."
As the Roadrunners prepare for Friday's 7:30 p.m. RMAC semifinal match against CSU-Pueblo, they'll be playing one of those teams that took them to five – the ThunderWolves even held two match points in a Sept. 25 meeting. Should they win, the Roadrunners will face another team that took them five sets – either Colorado School of Mines or Colorado Mesa – in Saturday's 6 p.m. championship match.
"Anybody who gets to the semifinals of the RMAC is going to be a tough team," middle blocker
Ember Canty said. "So it's taking it one match at a time and relying on each other. Yes we took it to five with them, but we've also grown in areas where maybe we were struggling. So it's using the growth that we've accumulated."
Said outside hitter
Riley Anderson: "I don't think we're ever too nervous going five sets with people."
MSU Denver has won 23 straight matches – the second-longest winning streak in program history – and is riding the longest home winning streak in program history with 20 in a row dating to the start of last season.
"It's great to be at home," Glenn said. "We're comfortable here, our fans are here, we train in this gym every day. It's great to have the homecourt advantage going into the next couple of rounds."
Matches are coming fast and furious now for MSU Denver, which won at home Thursday and Friday to wrap up the regular season before dispatching New Mexico Highlands 3-0 at home in an RMAC quarterfinal. As the league champion, MSU Denver earned the right to host the semifinals and final after its first-round win.
"It gets a little overwhelming, but it's also exciting because it means you're in postseason," Canty said of the hectic schedule. "And I wouldn't want it any other way, because I wouldn't want to not be in postseason."
