Mesa State and Metro State squared off in the RMAC semifinal match up Friday afternoon in Kearney, NE. The Roadrunners won the first two sets and held a lead late in the third set before the Mavs fought their way back in to the match with a 28-26 third set win. Metro State held off the Mavericks winning the fourth set 25-21.
Meagan Bosch and Sarah Kemp each finished with double-doubles. Bosch recorded 15 kills and 10 digs while Kemp tallied 15 kills and 13 digs. Bosch had five of the teams nine blocks.
Tara King had 37 assists, 10 digs, three kills and three blocks in the four set match.
Whitney Howard and Megan Rush combined for 34 digs including Howard's game high 19 digs.
Antoinette McCormick and Lindsey Reed (Jefferson) combined for 10 kills and seven blocks.
Metro hit .204 in the match and recorded 12 team blocks and five service aces.
Mesa State hit .081 and tallied nine team blocks and two service aces.
In set one the Mavericks held one lead in the game (1-0) and trailed 5-6 when the Roadrunners went on a 6-0 run pushing their lead to 12-5. MSC struggled early putting together a string of points. On three occasions the Mavs won two consecutive points while Metro had several long runs leading to a 25-14 first set victory.
Mesa State and Metro opened the second set trading points for a 10-10 tie. MSC went on a five point run (15-10) and held a 17-13 lead when the Roadrunners won six of the next nine points to tie the set at 19-19. Metro extended the lead to 24-19 with four kills and a service ace. Following a kill by Sarah Kemp, the Roadrunners clinched the set 25-20, on a kill by Anna Mapes.
The Mavericks erased a 24-19 Metro lead in the third set winning five consecutive points to tie the game at 24-24. Metro took a 25-24 lead and MSC took the lead right back on a kill by Kemp and a block by Lindsey Reed for a 26-25 lead. After Metro tied the game at 26, MSC got back-to-back kills by Kemp and Bosch to take the third set 28-26. MSC had trailed by as many as five points on several occasions but climbed back in to the match with timely blocks and 17 kills.
The fourth set began with the two teams trading points before the Mavs opened the gap with a 10-7 lead. The Roadrunners went on a five point run and a 12-10 lead. MSC climbed back on top 15-14 with the help of another block by Reed. The Mavs held their final lead of the set at 16-15 when the Roadrunners tallied three consecutive kills to go on top 18-16. MSC closed the gap to one point (17-18) on a service error by Metro, but the Roadrunners won the next three points and a 21-17 lead. A kill by King, Kemp and a block by Bosch were the final three points the Mavs tallied, while Metro finished the final eight points taking advantage of a Mavs service error and three kills for a 25-21 fourth set victory.
The loss dropped the Mavericks to 20-9 overall while the Roadrunners improve to 24-5, advancing to the championship match Saturday night versus the winner of the Neb.-Kearney/Regis match.
Box Score
