DENVER – MSU Denver has for decades been a leader in providing equal opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics.
Today is the 22nd installment of a 52-part tribute by Roadrunners Athletics to pioneers and leaders in intercollegiate athletics at MSU Denver.
Each Thursday, a key female figure in Roadrunners athletics history will be recognized.
Today, volleyball star and current assistant coach
Amy Watanabe is featured.
One of the top liberos in program history, Watanabe is in her 10th year as an MSU Denver assistant.
Watanabe finished her playing career in 2009 as the school's all-time leader in digs with 1,640, a record she still holds. She is also still the program's all-time leader in service aces in the rally-scoring era (141) – though one of her current players,
Rylee Hladky, is two aces away from passing her.
As a senior, Watanabe was named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year after leading the conference in digs per set.
Title IX, the groundbreaking law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at schools that receive funding from the federal government, went into effect just over 50 years ago – on June 23, 1972.
