DENVER – It looked like a classic on paper: two teams with identical records tied for first in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
It started off like a classic on the court: two closely-contested sets MSU Denver was able to close out with clutch play.
 
But in the end, the No. 4 Roadrunners breezed past CSU-Pueblo to complete a 3-0 sweep Saturday night at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"They challenged us and put pressure on us, which other teams in the conference haven't done yet," outside hitter Riley Anderson said. "It was good to be pushed like that so that we can learn from it."
 
MSU Denver, 11-1 overall and 4-0 in the RMAC, rallied from deficits of 20-17 and 21-18 before winning the first set 27-25, edged the ThunderWolves 25-22 in the second set, and then took care of business 25-12 to wrap it up.
 
"I'm really proud of this group for its composure in those moments," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "We really haven't been tested – up until these last couple of matches – in end-game situations: after 20 points, where we have pressure on us to win the point or we could lose the set. We've gotten that the last couple of matches, and I'm really happy with our response."
 
Said Anderson: "I think we all know to come back and be aggressive (late in close sets). Jenny tells us to go for it and give it our all – we've got nothing to lose."                                                                                                     
                                       
Rylee Hladky, who in Friday's win over UCCS became the 16^th player in program history to record 1,000 career kills, turned in arguably her best match of 2022: a season-high 17 kills on .457 hitting (one error, 35 attacks), with two service aces.
 
Kelsey Gordon was unstoppable on the right side with 11 kills on .500 hitting (two errors, 18 attacks), and Anderson had 10 kills of her own.
 
Amela Qershia contributed team highs of 24 assists and 15 digs, and Ember Canty had five blocks. Ashlyn Cianciulli had three service aces.
 
The Roadrunners hit an excellent .293 while holding CSU-Pueblo (10-2, 3-1) to a season-worst .110 hitting percentage. The ThunderWolves are receiving votes in the national poll, and were just outside the top 25 this past week.

"When we played aggressive at the net, we played aggressive floor defense," Glenn said. "And we had some really ridiculous saves tonight. When we're in that space where we're aggressive and seeing the ball well, we're a really good defensive team."

Meanwhile Saturday, No. 1 Tampa (Fla.) and No. 2 Washburn (Kan.) both lost their first matches of the season.

MSU Denver hits the road Friday for a key matchup against No. 21 Colorado Mesa.