SAN MARCOS, Calif. – No. 4 MSU Denver earned two more victories Friday at the Cougar Classic, cruising past Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) 3-0 before defeating Biola (Calif.) 3-1.
The Roadrunners will look to complete a 4-0 weekend in Saturday's 11 a.m. MDT match against CUI (Concordia University Irvine).
"It was a pretty good day," MSU Denver coach
Jenny Glenn said. "We're continuing to work through a lot of things and see how we respond to certain situations. This tournament has been good in that respect."
Against Biola, a team that received votes in the AVCA Division II preseason poll, the Roadrunners bounced back strong after dropping the second set for a 25-21, 17-25, 25-18, 25-11 victory.
MSU Denver had little trouble while winning the opener against Saginaw Valley 25-17, 25-21, 25-15.
In the Biola match,
Rylee Hladky had 12 kills, three service aces, four blocks and 14 digs,
Riley Anderson had nine kills in only two sets while hitting .500, and
Kaylee Corsentino was error-free while pounding seven kills.
Amela Qershia set 22 assists and
Ashlyn Cianciulli had 14 digs.
The Roadrunners hit .279 for the match, including .462 in the fourth set, and served nine aces.
"Biola is a really aggressive team that was super feisty on defense," Glenn said. "Their pin attackers put a lot of pressure on us at the start of match. It was a great match. They play a fast tempo game, which is how we like to play, so it was a fun match with some exciting rallies. They put a lot of pressure on us, and we didn't respond great early, but we really but made adjustments later in the match."
Against Saginaw Valley, Hladky had 11 kills and three service aces,
Maddie Lindsay had nine goals, and Corsentino had six kills while hitting .364.
Delaney Eckhardt set 20 assists and Cianciulli had 11 digs.
The Roadrunners hit .370 in the first set and .272 for the match, while Saginaw Valley State hit just .066, including .000 in the second set.
"We handled the morning match pretty well," Glenn said. "We served pretty well and maintained the passing lanes."
