DENVER – MSU Denver was living the life of Riley.
 
And Rylee, too, for that matter.
 
Led by a combined 15 first-set kills from Riley Anderson and Rylee Hladky, the third-ranked Roadrunners jumped out to the early lead against No. 11 Angelo State (Texas) and earned a trip to the Division II South Central Regional final with a 3-1 volleyball victory Friday night at the Auraria Event Center.
 
The tone set by the Roadrunners' homophonically-named left-side hitters was anything but the carefree and comfortable demeanor associated with the old phrase life of Riley.
 
"We knew we would have some good opportunities over there," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "I didn't necessarily script how often we should set them, but I think once they (the setters) saw that they were having so much success … they continued to score and it was working, so it's 'don't fix it if it's not broken.'"
 
Hladky, the all-everything award winner, had eight kills on .429 hitting in the opening frame, while Anderson, an all-future kind of true freshman prospect, had seven kills while hitting .462 to get on a roll.
 
"I was definitely nervous, but in the first set I gained my confidence after my first few kills," Anderson said.
 
Still, despite the hot hitting from the left side, MSU Denver found itself in a 19-14 hole. But Avaline Lai had three kills as the Roadrunners scored five of the next six points to get back into the set.
 
Hladky found the floor with a kill to get within 22-21 and MSU Denver forged ties at 22, 23 and 24 – fighting off a set point down 24-23 on the first of two straight kills by Anderson. The first one was down the line and the second went crosscourt to set up the first of three Roadrunners set points.
 
Eventually MSU Denver closed it out 28-26.
 
A little Internet research shows that the name Riley suggests you give up what you want so other people can have what they need.
 
But on this night at least, Riley – and Rylee – got what they wanted and helped their teammates get what they needed, too, a trip to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. regional final against a hot West Texas A&M team.
 
"They both had great nights from the pin," Glenn said. "They had multiple shots and (Angelo State) didn't have much of an answer for them. That was a critical piece of the match."
 
A win Saturday would send the Roadrunners to the national quarterfinals in Tampa, Fla., next weekend, which would be the program's first quarterfinal appearance since joining Division II.
 
"We're not near our mission yet, and we're not thinking about Tampa because we've got to get through a really tough West Texas A&M team that is playing extremely well and is hot right now," Glenn said. "It's definitely all eyes turned to West Texas and that's it moving forward."
 
MSU Denver won Friday's second set 25-21, but perhaps rested on its good fortune – the proverbial life of Riley – in the third set, falling behind 17-6 and 22-7 before dropping the set 25-12.
 
"It's a little bit of a shock," Hladky said. "You say, 'Yep, OK, they're still here.' It was a little reminder. And we came back in the fourth and still had the love and that fire that we had to take the first two and we took it."
 
Said Glenn: "That was an uncharacteristic set for us. It felt like the wheels were falling off in all directions. We just had to re-establish our unity, look each other in the eye and re-establish our serve-and-pass game. When we do that, everything usually falls into place."
 
In the end, Hladky had 21 kills – one short of her career high – on a career-high 61 attacks. She also had three service aces to match a career best and added 10 digs for good measure, living up to the regional player of the year and conference player of the year accolades she has earned this season.
 
"I look up to Rylee a lot and I want to be just like her," Anderson said, laughing.
 
Anderson finished with 16 kills, the second-best total of her career, topped only by the 19 she had in the championship match of the Colorado Premier Challenge on Sept. 11. Her 40 attacks were also the second-highest total of her career, and her four block assists also matched a career best.
 
"She's so fun to play with, and she's a fun human to be around," Hladky said of Anderson. "I have complete trust in her. I know she's going to go bang every time she gets the ball. I don't even think of her as a freshman on the floor any more – off the court, yes, but on it no. She plays like she knows what she's doing."
 
Lai finished with 10 kills, while Ember Canty had six kills and four blocks and fellow middle blocker Mikayla McClinton added four kills on .400 hitting (no errors, 10 attacks) and recording a season-best seven blocks (one solo).
 
Setter Amela Qershia had 27 assists and a team-best and career-high 17 digs.
 
MSU Denver improved to 28-3, matching the highest single-season win total for the program (the 2001 team finished 28-5) since the 1993 team that went 32-5.
 
"We battled, played really well and defended how we wanted to defend for the most part," Glenn said. "I thought we were winning the serve-and-pass game when we were winning the sets, and we definitely lost the serve-and-pass game in the third set."
 
The biggest match of the season is up next.
 
"I love playing in high-level matches," Anderson said. "It feels like it's so much more fun."