SAN MARCOS, Calif. – No. 4 MSU Denver completed an undefeated opening weekend at the Cougar Classic by cruising to a 3-0 win Saturday against Concordia University Irvine.
"To go 4-0 against four really solid teams is a good jumping-off point," MSU Denver coach
Jenny Glenn said. "We learned a lot about our team this weekend and we can take that with us as we move forward."
The Roadrunners hit .324 for the match while winning by set scores of 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 to improve to 4-0.
"I was really pleased we finished the match in three," Glenn said. "Concordia is a good team that has a lot of weapons coming at you in different positions. I thought we continued to handle our assignments while making adjustments as the match wore on."
All-American
Rylee Hladky had 12 kills on .478 hitting (one error, 23 attacks), and
Kelsey Gordon and
Kaylee Corsentino each had nine kills while hitting .412 and .381, respectively. That trio hit a combined .426 (30 kills, four errors, 61 attacks).
"We upgraded our passing game today," Glenn said. "We were in system a lot more than we had been in our first three matches. That was helpful. Our passers locked down the lanes against a good, aggressive serving team."
Amela Qershia had team highs of 19 assists and three service aces while sharing the team lead of 13 digs with libero
Ashlyn Cianciulli.
The Roadrunners had eight service aces to just one by CUI and also had a 6-1 advantage in blocks. The Golden Eagles dropped to 0-2.
"I'm really proud of the depth of our team," Glenn said. "We were able to change things up and didn't miss a beat when we utilized our bench."
Hladky, Corsentino, Cianciulli and middle blocker
Mikayla McClinton were named to the all-tournament team.
Hladky had 51 kills on .309 hitting over the four matches, averaging 3.6 kills per set while also averaging 0.71 service aces and 2.7 digs per set.
Corsentino hit .371 with 31 kills (3.2 per set), and McClinton averaged 0.92 blocks per set while adding four service aces. Cianciulli had 49 digs, a team-best average of 3.5 per set.
MSU Denver returns to action Friday and Saturday in Denver at the annual Colorado Premier Challenge. On Friday the Roadrunners at the Auraria Event Center against No. 13 Angelo State (Texas) at 2:30 p.m. and then No. 12 Northwest Missouri State at 6 p.m.
