BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For the second time Saturday, No. 11 MSU Denver held two match points but couldn't quite hold off a high-powered foe and fell in five sets.
 
After losing to Chaminade (Hawaii) earlier in the day, the Roadrunners dropped their final match to the 14^th-ranked hosts at the Western Washington Invitational 25-21, 24-26, 18-25, 30-28, 15-7.
 
"Honestly, this was a great tournament for us," said MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn, whose team was 2-0 Friday. "There was some really high-level volleyball being played. We played 18 sets of volleyball the last two days, and we learned a lot about ourselves that we wouldn't have if we hadn't been playing really tough teams. Every team across the net from us brought a challenge.
 
"I'm happy we finished 2-2, but I would have really liked to be 4-0. We had moments to win both of those matches, but we missed them."
 
While MSU Denver had two match points in the fifth set against Chaminade, against the Vikings the Roadrunners reached the penultimate point twice in the fourth set. But the Roadrunners also fought off five set points in the fourth, rallying from a 24-20 deficit to forge a 24-24 tie.
 
Western Washington held another set point at 25-24, but the Roadrunners scored the next two to force match point. The Vikings scored two straight for set point at 27-26, but then the Roadrunners got the next two for match point at 28-27. Ultimately Western Washington took the next three points to force a fifth set and MSU Denver, playing a third five-set match in 28 hours, couldn't get it going in the fifth.
 
Western Washington hit .435 in the final set to finish the match at .293. The Vikings also recorded 13 blocks, offsetting MSU Denver's 11 service aces.
 
MSU Denver was playing its fourth match in two days, while Western Washington played just once Friday and once Saturday.
 
"I'm really proud of our team," Glenn said. "We played hard every match and didn't show any signs of fatigue. We didn't let that get to us. We showed a lot of toughness. With the (Colorado) Premier coming up, this weekend was a good sign for the resiliency of our group."
 
Rylee Hladky had 17 kills on .324 hitting and added 13 digs and two service aces for MSU Denver, while Alexis Benda had 12 kills, and true freshman Riley Anderson and veteran Avaline Lai each had 11.
 
Ember Canty had six blocks (two solo), while Mikayla McClinton hit .438 with eight kills.
 
Second-year freshman Amela Qershia set 31 assists, Jessa Megenhardt had four service aces to go with 28 assists, and Ashlyn Cianciulli had 14 digs.
 
In the four-match tournament, Hladky led the Roadrunners with an average of 2.9 kills per set, Lai hit a team-best .292, Megenhardt had 10 aces, Canty averaged 1.06 blocks per set, Cianciulli averaged 4.3 digs and Qershia and Megenhardt were nearly identical in assists per set (5.22 and 5.17, respectively).
 
The emergence of Anderson and Qershia shows even more depth for the Roadrunners.
 
"Riley has a very laid-back personality on the court, which is helpful," Glenn said. "She handled things really well and was able to play well through the course of the tournament.
 
"And Amela is getting better each match, getting the playing experience that she hasn't had in her time here. She's figuring things out and growing quickly, which is nice to see."

After the tournament's conclusion on Sunday, Hladky, Lai and Megenhardt were all named to the all-tournament team.