DENVER – The top-ranked MSU Denver volleyball team returns home for two matches, headlining a Roadrunners Athletics home weekend that also includes two men's soccer home games. Meanwhile the Roadrunners' cross country teams head to Las Vegas, N.M., for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, and the women's soccer has a single road game on Thursday.
 
VOLLEYBALL
Adams State at No. 1 MSU Denver, Friday, 6 p.m. 
CSU Pueblo at No. 1 MSU Denver, Saturday, 4 p.m. 

The MSU Denver volleyball team is ranked No. 1 in Division II for the third time in four seasons after ascending to the top spot on Monday following a five-week stay at No. 2. The Roadrunners were No. 1 for five weeks during the 2021 season and for four weeks in 2022.
 
The Roadrunners have already defended their No. 1 ranking once, in a 3-0 sweep Tuesday at Colorado School of Mines that pushed them to 17-1 overall and 7-0 for first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
MSU Denver ranks second nationally in hitting percentage (.312), fifth in assists per set (13.6), sixth in blocks per set (2.7) and eighth in kills per set (14.4), ranking either first or second in the RMAC in all of those categories. Additionally, the Roadrunners lead the RMAC in opponent hitting percentage at .147.
 
Individually, Annika Helf ranks third in the RMAC in points per set (4.2), and fourth in both kills per set (3.6) and aces per set (0.43). Delaney Eckhardt (setter) and Abbie McCrimmon (defensive player) earned RMAC weekly awards this past week.
 
Adams State is (6-14 and 3-6). The Roadrunners are 42-4 all-time in the series, with 13 straight victories dating to Oct. 13, 2012.
 
The Roadrunners are 66-10 all-time against CSU Pueblo, however their 33-match winning streak in the series, dating back to the 20^th century, came to an end last season in a 3-1 upset by the ThunderWolves. MSU Denver has since won 23 straight matches against unranked opponents and is 34-1 in its last 35 matches against unranked teams as well as 55-2 against teams outside the top 25 dating to the end of the 2021 season.
 
CROSS COUNTRY
MSU Denver men at RMAC Championship, Saturday, 10:45 a.m.
MSU Denver women at RMAC Championship, Saturday, 11:35 a.m.
 
The MSU Denver men's and women's cross country teams compete Saturday at arguably the toughest cross country conference championship in Division II when the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference gets together for its annual showdown. The races are at the Gene Torres Golf Course in Las Vegas, N.M., and start at 10:45 a.m. (men's eight kilometers) and 11:35 a.m. (women's six kilometers), respectively.
 
The Roadrunners have been off since Oct. 5's Old Glory Gallop hosted by Dallas Baptist, where Mia Salas (women's 5K) and JJ Ramey (men's 8K) set program cross country records with times of 17 minutes, 23.7 seconds and 24:23.0, respectively.
 
Nationally-ranked teams competing in the RMAC race are, for the men, No. 2 Colorado School of Mines, No. 5 Western Colorado, No. 6 Adams State, No. 11 Colorado Christian, No. 12 CSU Pueblo and No. 22 UCCS, and, for the women, No. 1 Adams State, No. 3 CSU Pueblo, No. 4 Colorado School of Mines, No. 7 Western Colorado, No. 11 UCCS, No. 18 Colorado Christian, No. 23 Fort Lewis and No. 28 Colorado Mesa.
 
MSU Denver will be looking to pick up important wins over opponents while also preparing to host the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships on Nov. 9.
 
The Roadrunners' men were seventh at the RMAC race last year, while the women placed eighth. Individually, Ramey placed 14^th, while Salas was 25^th.
 
MEN'S SOCCER
Adams State at MSU Denver, Thursday, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Fort Lewis at MSU Denver, Sunday, noon  


The MSU Denver men's soccer team will be seeking to increase its potential playoff positioning with home games Thursday at 6 p.m. against Adams State and Sunday at noon against 13^th-ranked Fort Lewis.
 
The Roadrunners (5-6-3 overall) are currently tied for fifth in the RMAC with eight points after going 2-2-2 in their first six league games. MSU Denver and Colorado School of Mines are both two points behind UCCS and Fort Lewis.
 
The top six teams will advance to the RMAC Tournament at the end of the regular season, and MSU Denver is 0-2-1 against top-four teams and 2-0-1 in league games against teams in the bottom five.
 
Goalkeeper Nick McNeil is tied for the league lead with five shutouts and ranks second with 49 saves. Luke Bone leads the Roadrunners with three goals and eight points.
 
The Roadrunners are 14-1 all-time in the series against the Grizzlies, but the loss was a season-wrecker in 2022. Adams State (2-7-2, 0-4-1) is last in the RMAC with one point.
 
Against Fort Lewis (7-1-5, 3-1-1), former Skyhawks player Nick Kirchhof of MSU Denver once again coaches against his former college roommate, David Oberholtzer.
 
MSU Denver is 26-38-4 all-time against the Skyhawks after going 0-1-1 against them last season.


 WOMEN'S SOCCER
MSU Denver at Adams State, Thursday, 3 p.m.
 
The MSU Denver women's soccer team, after a heartbreaking defeat at No. 1 Colorado School of Mines when it conceded the game-winning goal with seven seconds left, looks to regroup this week with a 3 p.m. game Thursday at last-place Adams State, the first of four straight games against teams currently in sixth place or lower in the RMAC to conclude the regular season.
 
The Roadrunners (7-3-4 overall, 6-2 RMAC) have lost only to the first-place Orediggers and second-place Colorado Mesa in league play and are comfortably in third place in the league with 18 points. Regis is fourth with 13 points and Westminster is fifth with 12, and the Roadrunners have the tiebreaker advantage over both of those teams with head-to-head wins earlier this season.
 
The top four teams in the RMAC standings earn first-round home games for the RMAC Tournament, which begins Nov. 10.
 
Goalkeeper Kylie Bach is tied for third in Division II with nine shutouts this season, and the Roadrunners are eighth nationally in shutout percentage at .714, with 10 shutouts in 14 games, as well as 10^th in save percentage at .887. Tessa Killmon and Madrid Mack lead the team with three goals each, and Mack has a team-best seven points.
 
The Roadrunners continue to receive votes in the Division II top 25 coaches' poll.
 
MSU Denver has never lost to Adams State, with a 24-0-3 record that includes eight straight wins dating to the 2014 season. The Roadrunners won the first 16 in the series before the teams tied in 2012, 2013 and 2014. MSU Denver has outscored the Grizzlies 28-1 over the last eight meetings.