DENVER – No. 1 MSU Denver's journey came up just short of its intended destination.
 
The Roadrunners were knocked off by ninth-ranked West Texas A&M 3-0 on Saturday night in the South Central Regional final. MSU Denver's season ended one win away from reaching NCAA Division II's version of the Elite Eight.
 
"It's not the ending that we wanted, but all the things we did, all the little steps that we took to get to this point, it's great to think about what we've accomplished," middle blocker Ember Canty said. "It was a fun journey and we celebrated it, and we really did live it moment by moment. We really did have a great season and I'm proud of it. I'm excited for what's to come, but this team is special."

• The Roadrunners finished the season 30-2 for the best winning percentage (.938) in program history. 
• They spent four weeks ranked No. 1 in Division II.
• They completed a second-straight 18-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season, extending their streak of regular-season conference wins to a league-record 40.
• They earned a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament championship, their first since 2013.
• They tied last year's team for the second-longest winning streak in program history, with 24.
• Won both the RMAC regular-season and tournament championships in the same season for the first time since 2003.

"This is hands-down my favorite team to play with," All-American outside hitter Rylee Hladky said. "We were mentally tough. We had a good time. We played free. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to play with or a better coaching staff that pushes us every day. We came into practice every day and worked hard with an expressed intent to get better.
 
"We didn't end up quite where we wanted, but we left the jersey in a better place. We made history and we'll use that to propel us forward and get better every single day like this team did."
 
West Texas A&M, the same team that dashed MSU Denver's hopes in this round, at this location, last season, played an impressive first set and never let the Roadrunners get truly untracked in posting set victories of 25-16, 25-21 and 29-27.
 
"I think we were maybe a little gun-shy at the service line early, maybe from our errors (15) last night (in a five-set semifinal win)," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "And we had trouble getting in system on our side. Our offense is pretty lethal when we're in the box, but we hit (.158) the first set, and they hit (.467). A team like that, firing on all cylinders, you've got to get them out of the box, and it took us too long to get to that.
 
"They were playing pretty free, pretty comfortable, because of how the first set went. We needed to put them on their heels in the first set, and we came out a little passive. You can't be passive against a team like that. It felt like an uphill climb after the first set because we had let them set the tone."
 
West Texas A&M finished the night hitting .336, which was 107 points better than any opponent had hit against the Roadrunners this season and the best against an MSU Denver team since Cal State Monterey Bay hit .375 in sweeping the Roadrunners on Sept. 2, 2017 – 174 matches ago.
 
"I thought West Texas played really, really well," Glenn said. "We tried to have some answers for some of the stuff they were doing, but we couldn't quite dial it in."
 
Sophomore outside hitter Riley Anderson was brilliant again, with 19 kills on .441 hitting, but West Texas A&M (30-4) was able to keep the rest of the Roadrunners somewhat in check.
 
MSU Denver hit .314 in the third set, which it led 23-21. The Roadrunners fought off three match points before finally seeing a dream season come to an end.
 
Anderson was joined on the all-tournament team by Hladky (nine kills), libero Ashlyn Cianciulli (nine digs) and setter Amela Qershia (18 assists).
 
Delaney Eckhardt set a team-high 21 assists Saturday, while Canty and Maddy Williams each had two blocks (one solo).
 
It's the last match played as Roadrunners by grad transfer Kelsey Gordon as well as Cianciulli and outside hitter Kaylee Corsentino.
 
"We'll definitely miss our three seniors," Glenn said. "They had amazing seasons. Ashlyn did such a great job running our back row, Kelsey came and fit right in and added to our offensive power, and Kaylee – who wasn't even a regular starter last year – was putting up All-America numbers this year. I couldn't be more proud of them and what they invested in the program."
 
Said Hladky: "They've contributed so much to this program and they left their legacy. That's what we talked about all year and you couldn't have asked for anything better. They brought passion and they brought fuel to our team and that drove us forward."
 
Now the rest of the Roadrunners will regroup and attempt to move one step further next season.
 
"I think the future is bright," Glenn said. "We bring back a lot next year. Every time we have these situations, we learn a little bit more of what it takes in these moments to find a way to overcome. I'm really excited for the future of Roadrunners volleyball."