DENVER – With a week off since a disappointing loss, the fourth-ranked MSU Denver volleyball team came out firing on Thursday.
 
The Roadrunners hit .478 and had four services in the opening set and eventually cruised a 3-0 sweep of Chadron State (25-13, 25-17, 25-16).
 
"We came out wanting to be aggressive, and we played MSU Denver volleyball," middle blocker Mikayla McClinton said.
 
It was the Roadrunners' first match back since they were ranked No. 3 and lost 3-1 at then-No. 4 Colorado Mesa.
 
"It was good to get on the court again tonight, even though it wasn't a perfect match for us," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said.
 
Though the Roadrunners weren't able to maintain that offensive pace, they still wound up hitting .293 while serving eight aces and getting five of their eight blocks in the third set.
 
"They run a different tempo of offense than we're used to seeing – it's a little bit higher," Glenn said. "So it took us a while to dial in our block. The timing of our defense looks a little bit different. They changed tempos all night and we had to find our rhythm within that."
 
No Roadunner had more than nine kills, but Glenn was also able to run 12 players through the rotation throughout the match as the team gets ready for Friday's 6 p.m. non-conference home match with No. 21 Regis.
 
Rylee Hladky had nine kills while hitting .300, Avaline Lai had six kills on .312 hitting and Ember Canty (.625), McClinton (.455), Kayla White (.385) and Kaylee Corsentino all had five kills.
 
"It's amazing because maybe one person doesn't show up (statistically), but you have five or six others who are going to show up," setter Jessa Megenhardt said. "It's great that we have so many people ready to step in and step up."
 
McClinton had block assists and a career-high four service aces and Megenhardt added two service aces to go with 16 set assists.
 
The Chadron State match wound up being a quick turnaround for MSU Denver, which until Wednesday had been preparing for the Friday match with Regis. The Roadrunners and Chadron State were supposed to play Saturday, but the match was moved up due to the approaching winter storm.
 
"It wasn't too hard because our coaches do a good job of just training in general and then sneaking things in for specific teams," Megenhardt said. "We're used to adapting and we're used to changing like that, so it wasn't crazy hard."
 
Said Glenn: "Well, it just turned into a late night last night. It's part of the year (with all the adjustments related to COVID-19). We take it in stride. We're always trying to play our style of volleyball, no matter who is across the net from us, so we can handle that pretty well because we're just going to try to play Roadrunner volleyball and make some small adjustments as we go."
 
Next up then, is that match with Regis. The teams last played in the first-round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, as Regis posted a five-set win on its homecourt – its toughest match until reaching the Division II national semifinals.
 
"It's always fun to play Regis," Glenn said. "It's a cross-town rivalry. That's why we added the match. (Coach) Joel (List), and I talked and why not (play)? They're 10 minutes away and it's always a super-fun match. It's going to be a great match."
 
Said McClinton: "It's really exciting. It's always fun to play Regis with them being just right next door. I feel like we're prepared, and it's definitely going to be a battle. We're ready for that fight."