BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Trailing 6-3 in the fifth set, No. 11 MSU Denver rallied behind the savvy firepower provided by Alexis Benda to post a quality win over Central Washington on Friday and finish the first day of the Western Washington Invitational at 2-0.
 
"As a fifth-year senior, Alexis came through in the clutch in some key moments when needed to score," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "That's what you want in a senior. She stepped up and took on more of a load, which was great."
 
Central Washington, picked to finish third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and having received votes for the AVCA Division II national preseason poll, rallied from a 2-1 sets deficit by winning the fourth and jumping out to the early lead in the fifth.
 
But Benda had two of her career-high-tying 15 kills in the quick 7-1 burst that put MSU Denver ahead 10-7 and changed the complexion of the fifth. Avaline Lai also had two kills in that stretch, and Amelia Qershia had a service ace to send MSU Denver on its way to its first five-set victory in five tries dating to 2018.
 
"That was a good step for this group," Glenn said. "We were able to get tough when we needed it and closed it out."
 
In winning 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11, MSU Denver fell behind 11-4 in the first set before eventually getting in groove. Benda had four kills – including set point – in the second set.
 
Lai and Rylee Hladky each finished with 12 kills, and true freshman Riley Anderson had eight. Middle blockers Ember Canty and Mikayla McClinton each turned back four shots, while Ashlyn Cianciulli had 20 digs. Jessa Megenhardt set 26 assists, and Qershia had career best of 22 assists and two aces.
 
The Roadrunners hit .209 for the match.
 
"We played a really feisty Central Washington team that was extremely hard to score on, and they had some good offensive options that challenged us," Glenn said. "We had to make adjustments throughout the course of the match, but we were able to do that."
 
MSU Denver completes the two-day tournament with matches Saturday at 11 a.m. MDT against Chaminade (Hawaii) before facing 14^th-ranked host Western Washington at 8:30 p.m. MDT.