DENVER – For the eighth consecutive season, seventh-ranked MSU Denver is headed to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament's championship match.
 
The top-seeded Roadrunners dispatched fourth-seeded South Dakota Mines 3-0 Friday night in the first of two semifinals at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"We've had a great season and we've put ourselves in a good position, and now we can go play a match tomorrow," Glenn said. "This group has been through a lot and is a very veteran group when it comes to the post-season and knows what it takes to win these kinds of matches."
 
They'll play for the title at 4 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday's late match between second-seeded and 10^th-ranked Colorado Mesa and third-seeded and 11^th-ranked Regis.
 
"We played a pretty well-rounded match," Glenn said. "I thought we got better as the match went on, controlled the ball a little bit better. We served tough throughout the course of the night, which made it easier for us. I'm proud of our passers – they're an aggressive-serving team and they got us out of system a lot, but they hung in there – and our hitters found ways to score."
 
Scoring early and often was All-RMAC first-team outside hitter Riley Anderson, who had 17 kills – the second-best total of her career for a three-set match – on electric .438 hitting.
 
"It was just switching up my shots and finding different ways to score," Anderson said. "It's something I've been working on all season and I was able to use it tonight."
 
Anderson had eight kills in the first set, which was the most competitive of the night – the Roadrunners won 25-18, 25-13, 25-15.
 
The Roadrunners started slowly, with nine hitting errors while hitting .163 in the first set, but hit.390 the rest of the way to finish at .287.
 
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners' defense was stellar, with South Dakota Mines still hitting .000 late in the match before finishing at .022.
 
Middle blocker Mikayla McClinton and right-side hitter Skyler Michael each had four blocks assists as the Roadrunners finished with 8.0 total blocks.
 
"My pins were doing a really good job of talking to me – that's something that's super important," McClinton said of the team's blocking effort. "Listening to them, we were able to set it up really well. It's just a matter of being aggressive."
 
Michael had eight kills, while Ember Canty had seven kills and three block assists. McClinton had four kills in eight swings to hit .500.
 
Setters Amela Qershia (22) and Delaney Eckhardt (13) combined for 35 assists, and Abbie McCrimmon had 15 digs. Maddie Lindsay had four kills and tied a career high with 14 digs.
 
"It's good to get it done in three, especially this time of year," Glenn said. "I told the team to be efficient and we were."
 
While the Roadrunners have played in eight straight RMAC championship matches, the only time they've won it in that stretch was last year. MSU Denver is also 49-1 in regular-season RMAC matches over the past three seasons.
 
"It's exciting that we're going to get a chance to play great volleyball again tomorrow," Glenn said.