PUEBLO, Colo. – No. 3 MSU Denver had a road scare Saturday but nonetheless fought off two match points to outlast CSU-Pueblo 3-2 (25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 16-25, 17-15) to remain unbeaten in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
"I'm proud of our team," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "We battled all night long, battled with serve and pass, but we were able to stay in it and stay composed in a tough environment against a good team that was playing very well."
 
The Roadrunners (10-2 overall, 4-0 RMAC) trailed 14-13 in the fifth before an Avaline Lai kill tied it, then trailed 15-14 but tied it on a kill by Rylee Hladky. Then Mikayla McClinton took over, hammering an overpass for a kill to create the Roadrunners' first (and only) match point, and then stuffing Hannah Delor for the match-winning point.
 
"We always talk about being aggressive in fifth, and stuff-blocks are big momentum points," Glenn said. "On match point, that was a huge moment, and I'm super proud of her for that."
 
CSU-Pueblo, playing scrappy defense to help set up 15 blocks, dropped to 9-3 and 3-1.
 
The Roadrunners survived despite hitting just .112, their lowest in a match since hitting .051 against Colorado Mesa in the 2018 RMAC Tournament championship match. It was their lowest hitting percentage in a win since a sweep of Black Hills State on Oct. 31, 2014, in spite of .111 hitting.
 
CSU-Pueblo's 15 blocks matched the most against MSU Denver since Fort Lewis turned aside 20 attempts on Oct. 25, 2013.
 
"They played extremely aggressively and motivated, and they were extremely feisty defensively," Glenn said. "And they served us very tough and made it difficult on our side of the net. That got us out of system, which makes our offensive more predictable, which makes their block – which is already big – even bigger."
 
Hladky matched her career high of 19 kills set just Friday night, and she also added 16 digs. Lai added 16 kills and Alexis Benda had nine.
 
Ashlyn Cianciulli had a career-high 31 digs while Ember Canty had a team-best five blocks (three solo). Amela Qershia set 26 assists and added 13 digs, while Jessa Megenhardt had 22 assists and 11 digs.
 
MSU Denver improved to 3-2 in five-set matches this season.
 
"Our experience in five setters has been invaluable," Glenn said. "We've lost some and we've won some, but we felt good about going into that fifth set, not just because of what we've done in the past but because of what we've done in the past few weeks."
 
In the marathon match, MSU Denver used a variety of people in different roles while finding success.
 
"We talk about being 19 (players) strong and the strength of our team as a whole," Glenn said. "We moved a lot of individuals in and out of the lineup, and it was very much a team effort."