DENVER – Maybe that No. 4 national ranking for the MSU Denver volleyball program didn't feel quite right since teams that hadn't played yet this season weren't included in the poll this week.
 
Maybe.
 
But not any more.
 
Not after the Roadrunners took down Nebraska-Kearney – the preseason No. 1 team before dropping out this week.
 
That's the same Nebraska-Kearney that played in the national championship match at the end of the 2019 season, which returned to the same Auraria Event Center where the tournament was played with two of its top three hitters and its starting setter from that team.
 
And this Nebraska-Kearney team had some problems with the Roadrunners.
 
Only that weird rankings demotion prevented MSU Denver from winning its second match against a No. 1 team in two seasons.
 
Because, other than a third-set letdown, the Roadrunners cruised to a surprisingly easy 3-1 win (25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18) on Saturday. It was Nebraska-Kearney's lowest point total in a four-set match since Sept. 13, 2013.
 
"We decided to own it," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said of the No. 4 ranking. "Even if it's a weird year, we're going to own that target and get used to having that on our back.
 
"And this was more about getting the chance to play a really good team, and the excitement of that. With everything that's gone on in the past year, it's a blessing to be able to play the sport. So to play a really good team on our home floor, we were like kids in candy stores in that moment."
 
MSU Denver (6-0) had that kid-in-a-candy-store look for much of the match.
 
Avaline Lai ripped 20 kills while hitting .529 (just two errors in 34 swings).
 
Kayla White had a double-double of 13 kills and 15 digs.
 
Jessa Megenhardt and Joli Sadler combined for 49 assists while directing an offense that hit .250.
 
Rylee Hladky had three of the team's eight service aces.
 
Ember Canty had seven block assists, leading a dominant effort at the net that included nine total blocks while continually frustrating the Loper offense on plays that didn't end on the block.
 
"That's a very storied, traditional, excellently-coached, disciplined team with a lot of high-level experience," Glenn said. "Our goal was to measure ourselves against a really good team, and we got to do that today. We can walk away and say we executed things at a very high level, and those are going to be the stairsteps to continue to move us up the ladder."
 
Said Canty: "I think we were just excited to see some new faces. We knew how competitive they were and that they're such a good, strong team. Our main focus was to not adjust to them, to make them adjust to us and to play our game. And I think we did that."
 
It might take some adjusting for teams to get used to MSU Denver sticking around with a high national ranking. Because this win will be noticed, even if some teams that hadn't played previously move into the national rankings – like Nebraska-Kearney.
 
"They were still a really good team, and so are we," Lai said. "They were big competition for us."
 
MSU Denver started strong, jumping out to a 7-1 lead in the first set. The Roadrunners hit .385 in the first set as right-side hitters Lai and Kaylee Corsentino each had four kills with no errors in 14 attacks while hitting a combined .571.
 
"Our middles were calling for the ball super loud when they came in for their hits, and our outsides were taking big rips against the double-block," Lai said. "And that allowed me and Kaylee to have a single block on our side, which opened up the whole court for us. Just leaving a single block on any of our hitters allows us to take huge swings."
 
Said Glenn: "We had a really good matchup on the right side of the court. We had a lot of hands in front of our left-side attackers, who usually put up big numbers. But because of how they were defending us, we had really good opportunities on the right side of the court and we were able to take advantage of it."
 
Lai had five more kills in the second set, which is when the Roadrunner block started to take effect. Canty had the assist on both blocks in that set and the Roadrunners continued to cruise after taking an 8-2 early lead.
 
"We wanted to get our blocking back on track, turn more balls down and back rather than just block," Canty said. "When we saw the big swings they were taking (Thursday) against UCCS, we knew we had to be strong and low. And the communication we had when they were switching or running different plays was amazing."
 
Said Glenn: "Blocking hasn't been great for us for the last couple weeks, and we know it can be a strength. It was a focal point for us in practice this week, and to come out and execute at the level we did, I was really proud of that. We were able to scheme and do some things and execute our game plan."
 
Nebraska-Kearney got on track in the third set, serving three of its four aces.
 
"I thought we got a little passive in that set," Glenn said. "They got some fire under themselves and did some really good things, and we started tipping the ball more and backing out of our passes. Backing down created that situation for us."
 
The fourth set was close early, but then the Roadrunners scored eight straight points to take a commanding 20-12 lead. Lai had six kills during the set, and the Roadrunners hit .324.
 
"(Glenn) told us to stay aggressive, to not be passive with our swings, or on defense or blocking – any aspect of the game," Lai said. "She wanted us taking big rips against them. As soon as you start getting passive in any aspect on the court, that's when you start losing. That's what happened in the third set, but we bounced back and decided we weren't going to be pushed around on our home court."
 
The Roadrunners are off until Saturday, when they play host to CSU-Pueblo at 11 a.m. and Colorado Christian at 5 p.m.
 
"We celebrate this win, then on Monday it's back to business and on to the next team," Canty said. "We can't get caught up in this one victory. We still have so much of the season left."