DURANGO, Colo. – No. 1 MSU Denver clinched the top seed for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament as well as at least a share of the RMAC regular-season championship on Saturday while cruising to a 3-0 victory at Fort Lewis.
 
By securing the No. 1 seed, the Roadrunners are guaranteed to play on their home floor (barring a facility issue) throughout the RMAC Tournament, which is Nov. 16, 19 and 20, as long as they continue winning in that event.
 
"It's great to be able to host and play in front of our home crowd," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "We've had awesome fan support all season long. But we also hope everyone comes out next weekend, too. We have a couple of critical matches in the big picture for us coming up, and we're looking forward to being back home to face CSU-Pueblo on Thursday."
 
So, even though MSU Denver clinched a crown Saturday, there were no significant celebrations – champagne or otherwise – after the match. CSU-Pueblo will be a formidable opponent on Thursday – the ThunderWolves pushed the Roadrunners to five sets earlier this season.
 
"When we say we take it one match at a time, we absolutely do," Glenn said. "Our goals are big, and we just keep dealing with what is in front of us – in the world we're in, I think that's all you really have the capacity to do. It's allowed us to stay grounded and to be able to take care of the task at hand."
 
Middle hitters Maddy Williams and Ember Canty combined for 13 kills on .706 hitting (one error, 17 attacks) as the Roadrunners won their 20^th straight match while improving to 22-2 overall and 16-0 in the RMAC.
 
"We did a good job of involving our middles, and they executed well," Glenn said. "That was a big part of the gameplan for us."
 
Avaline Lai had nine kills on .450 hitting (no errors, 20 attacks) and Rylee Hladky also had nine kills for the Roadrunners, who hit .282. Williams had a career-best seven kills on .545 hitting (one error, 11 attacks) and Canty had a perfect hitting night (six kills, six attacks) – it's the fourth time this season she's had at least six kills with no errors.
 
Amela Qershia had a team-high 19 assists, and Ashlyn Cianciulli had 10 digs and a team-best three service aces as MSU Denver moved within two wins of its second perfect conference regular season since 2016 while winning 25-17, 25-20, 25-18.
 
"We got contributions from a lot of different players, and we mixed things up a bit," Glenn said. "Strengthening our unit as a whole was one of our goals, and we did that."