DENVER – It's time to party like it's 2003.
 
For the first time in 18 years, MSU Denver has captured the championship of the Colorado Premier Challenge – arguably the best tournament in NCAA Division II volleyball.
 
After an impressive sweep of No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) earlier in the day, No. 20 MSU Denver outlasted No. 17 Wayne State (Neb.) in a five-set thriller Saturday night at Regis Field House to win the title for the second time in the event's 25-year history.
 
Wins of any kind -- as in one win in four tries -- in this tournament are to be cherished. This year, the top two teams in the AVCA poll, as well as four of the top six and six of the top 10, were in the 12-team field.
 
Getting to the Gold (championship) Bracket after going 2-0 Friday for the first time since 2005 was huge for MSU Denver, as it would be for any team.
 
"After we got to Gold, we said, 'OK, goal update,'" MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "Now that we got to Gold, the goal is to win it."
 
Tournament most valuable player Avaline Lai had 21 kills on .485 hitting – surreal for an outside hitter against that level of competition – while true freshman Riley Anderson was equally ethereal while adding 19 kills and four blocks. Anderson took over late in fifth set while getting kills for the final two points of the match.
 
Rylee Hladky, also a member of the all-tournament team, had 16 kills and three service aces to go with 11 digs, and Alexis Benda had a career-high 16 kills on .394 hitting in the 25-16, 29-31, 21-25, 25-17, 15-12 marathon.
 
Evidence of MSU Denver's depth – and also evidence that perhaps all-tournament team voting should consider a format change – is that the Roadrunners had only two players on the all-tournament list.
 
Jessa Megenhardt set 36 assists, Ashlyn Cinciulli had 20 digs and Ember Canty had four blocks for the Roadrunners, who hit .313 for the match.
 
It looked like it might be smooth sailing for the Roadrunners, who hit .480 while winning the opening set. But MSU Denver couldn't seal the deal in the second despite having three set points.
 
"The first set we served aggressively, and I think we caught them off guard," Glenn said. "Then they regrouped and came back at us."
 
Wayne State continued to hold the momentum through the third set while hitting .375, but the Roadrunners hit an astounding .556 in the fourth set, with 16 kills on 27 swings and only one error.
 
"We changed some strategies and matchups in the fourth set and caught them off guard again, and the fifth set it was just a battle," Glenn said. "I'm really proud of our team for being able to overcome it when we get down by several points. We stay composed and claw our way back in."
 
The Roadrunners hit .323 in the fifth while rallying from a three-point deficit, trading points after falling behind 3-0 until it was 8-5.
 
Then the Roadrunners scored five straight points – including two on kills by Benda and another on a kill by Lai.
 
"We were able to claw our way back to make it even, then got the advantage at 9-8 and at that point, when they had played so well in the first part of the set, I think it was a little deflating for them," Glenn said. "The momentum shifted to our favor."
 
Anderson had one kill in a 3-0 run that made it 13-9, then she had back-to-back kills after Wayne State had pulled within 13-12.
 
"What I love about Riley is that she's so laid back," Glenn said. "A lot of our team is feisty and wants to get after it. Her chill is a good balance for our team. She had a lot of big moments. Being a freshman in the Premier is a big undertaking."
 
Anderson had 42 kills for the four matches for the tournament, averaging 3.0 per set while hitting .315. Benda had 36 kills and hit .316. Hladky had 50 kills while hitting .254 and adding nine aces.
 
But Lai was out of this world with 63 kills (4.5 per set), on .491 hitting – 63 kills, 10 errors, 108 attacks.
 
"She had an awesome tournament," Glenn said. "Both of our right-sides (Benda is the other) are super dynamic. When you have good right sides, it's a good ingredient. When you have two you put a lot of pressure on your opponents. I mean, .316 (which Benda hit) is a really good number. But .491 is something else."
 
It all started Friday, when MSU Denver beat dispatched Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 10 Central Missouri in impressive fashion. It seemed something special was happening, but the early-morning matchup with Concordia-St. Paul was daunting.
 
"To beat them in three sets, we were playing pretty good volleyball – all day today and all weekend, honestly," Glenn said. "We're finally flowing as a unit and doing the little things better.
 
"The whole weekend, I thought our team played really composed – unemotional so that we could be tactical and not waste energy on things we didn't need to waste energy on."