DENVER – After what has suddenly become an apparently obligatory slow start, No. 2 MSU Denver found its rhythm and made relatively quick work of No. 18 Colorado Mesa, 3-1, on Friday night.
 
"It was a bit of a rough start," MSU Denver Coach Jenny Glenn said. "I thought we came out a little tight – maybe because it was the first conference match at home or it was different because Mesa was on the other side. We were a little bit behind the play. I'm glad we turned it around in the second set. We started playing a little bit more like ourselves."
 
The Roadrunners (10-1 overall, 3-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) outhit Colorado Mesa (8-3, 2-1) .463 to .014 in the middle two sets and .331 to .123 overall in winning 18-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-20 at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"It was an awesome game," outside hitter Annika Helf said. "We stayed aggressive, after the first set. We just had joy, and that really helped us."
 
Said middle blocker Alyssa Boyte: "We just came out with a new fire after the first set. It was cool to bring our 'knives-out' mentality and just go at our opponent fearlessly."
 
While Helf had a match-high 17 kills on .433 hitting and Riley Anderson added 13 kills, it was the Roadrunners' block – as has been the case in most of its recent matches with Mesa – that made the difference.
 
MSU Denver matched a season high with 16 total blocks, shutting down RMAC kills per set leader Sydney Leffler and the league's leading team in kills per set. Leffler rallied late in the match to finish with nine kills but also had nine errors. Mesa had 47 kills for 11.8 per set – it had been second nationally with 15.3 per set.
 
"They make you be solid blockers," Glenn said. "If they're going to swing into you, you can't let the ball trickle through. We let it happen a couple of times, but for the most part we were turning back balls."
 
The Roadrunners came into the match second nationally with 3.02 blocks per set and upped that by averaging 4.0 in this match. In its last three meetings with Mesa, all four-set wins, MSU Denver has averaged 4.3 blocks per set.
 
And while all-region middle blockers Ember Canty and Mikayla McClinton have departed, the new kids on the block – freshman Alyssa Boyte and sophomore Kryssa Moerman – have matched their production, step by step.
 
On Friday, each had the right stuff, with seven blocks apiece. Boyte had eight kills on error-free .727 hitting, while Moerman added seven kills and hit .545.
 
"They're both really good learns, sponges," Glenn said. "And (assistant coach) Kaden (Knepper) is doing a really good job of training them and making situational adjustments in matches. They're really coachable. You can tell them to do something, and they go out and do it the next time."
 
Said Boyte: "We train it every day in practice. The coaching staff does a great job of training us and getting us to do the fundamentals correctly every single time. And it's cool to see it play out in games."
 
Delaney Eckhardt set 23 assists while Amela Qershia had 21, and Abbie McCrimmon had 14 digs. Williams added six to the block party, and Helf had two solo blocks.
 
"They had some really good swings coming at us," Helf said. "It was fun to defend them and hit against them, and I think we did a good job against them as a team."
 
MSU Denver plays at home again Saturday at 3 p.m. against Westminster (6-4, 2-1), which led a two-set lead slip away Friday in a 3-2 loss at Colorado School of Mines.
 
"They're really organized, playing well and playing smart volleyball," Glenn said. "They're solid in all areas."