DENVER – All streaks come to an end.
 
And the most impressive stretch in NCAA Division II volleyball this season was finally interrupted Saturday as No. 10 Colorado School of Mines rallied from a two-set deficit to knock off No. 1 MSU Denver 3-2 in the RMAC Tournament Championship match, ending the Roadrunners' winning streak at 24.
 
"Tonight doesn't define us by any stretch of the imagination," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "The last time I talked to the team after was a loss was at Western Washington in our opening weekend. I can't imagine there are many teams around the country that can say the same thing.
 
"I'm super proud of this group and what we've accomplished. Tonight they got the better of us a little bit, and we'll look to rebound."
 
The opportunity to bounce back comes in the days leading up to a berth in the NCAA's South Central Regional Tournament from Dec. 2 through 4, as well as in the tournament itself.
 
The Roadrunners are relatively confident about their chances of hosting the eight-team regional. They've split two five-set matches with the Orediggers this season, and both teams are now 26-3, but the Roadrunners also entered the week with solid advantages over Mines in Division II strength of schedule (.568 to .504) and in-region RPI (.641 to .600), two of the many factors the NCAA uses in determining its regional rankings.
 
MSU Denver was ranked No. 1 in the region prior to this week, and Mines was No. 2.
 
"Tonight doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things," Glenn said. "I'm much more proud of the regular-season championship (MSU Denver went 18-0 in league play) than one weekend. However, as we move forward, we need to be good in weekend. At this point of the season, I think this next weekend off is going to be very beneficial for this group so that we can get fresh and healthy again."
 
One streak MSU Denver would like to see end was extended – while reaching the RMAC Tournament championship for the sixth straight time, the Roadrunners have yet to break through for their first win in the event since 2013.
 
But that's in the past for now. The regional is up next.
 
"We're super excited, and like we have all season, we're taking it one match at a time," defensive specialist Caiden Rexius said. "We're just preparing everyone in the sense that it's go-time now. We're going to be seeing some great teams (at the regional). Practice may be a little shorter this week and we may have a couple of days off, but we're going to be super intentional with things we need to get better at.
 
"We're going to stay hungry, and we know that we're set up. We've been practicing all year for this, and we can be successful."
 
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is Monday at 5:30 p.m. MDT. The Roadrunners will host a watch party beginning at 5 p.m. at the Auraria Event Center as fans can learn with the team where and against whom the Roadrunners will continue their journey.
 
"It's just a matter of not taking this one to the gut and walking out of the locker room with our heads held high," team leader Alexis Benda said. "We're still a really good team. We've put in a lot of work this season. Losing this match doesn't define who we are in any way."
 
Another long streak came to an end – for the first time since Oct. 29, 2013, against Regis, MSU Denver lost a match after winning the first two sets.
 
"I thought we played really well the first two sets, won the serve-and-pass game," Glenn said. "But they came out with a vengeance in the third set and started serving us very aggressively and we didn't handle it very well. They kind of changed their game plan against us, and it took us too long to adjust to it."
 
Said Rexius: "We saw the very aggressive Mines team that we're used to seeing. On our side, we didn't come together as much as we normally do. Our chemistry fell apart a little bit, but we're ready to come back at it next time.
 
"They're one of the better serving teams in the RMAC, but it's nothing that I don't think we can handle and that we will handle if we see them again."
 
Rylee Hladky led MSU Denver with 18 kills and five blocks (one solo) and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Kaylee Corsentino, who had nine kills after delivering a career-best 14 against CSU-Pueblo in a Friday semifinal.
 
Riley Anderson and Avaline Lai each had 13 kills for the Roadrunners, while Ashlyn Cianciulli had 30 digs – one short of her career high – and two service aces, sharing the team high with Anderson in that category. Amela Qershia set 25 assists.
 
Colorado School of Mines was limited to .175 hitting through two sets, but hit .304 in the third set to start building momentum. Then the Orediggers found a way to extend plays when MSU Denver delivered several of its strongest swings in the final two sets.
 
"We always want to push back after a team pushes us, but they didn't break," Glenn said. "We had some attempts to push them back, but they stayed right at us."
 
Ultimately another streak, 21 straight home victories, came to an end.
 
"We've gotten through this stretch learning a lot of lessons and not having an 'L' next to it," Glenn said. "Unfortunately we do have an 'L' next to this one. But I'm not worried about this group. We'll rebound well. And I think it will motivate us because we haven't lost in a long time."