DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks third 7-match winning streak of the season and their run in to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament came to an end as the host and top-seeded MSU Denver Roadrunners came from a set down to win 18-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-20 in Saturday night's championship match here at the Auraria Event Center.
The Roadrunners won their fourth RMAC Tournament title in five years and their tenth overall and improved to 23-6 overall.
The third-seeded Mavs are also 23-6 but will still earn an at-large berth in to the South Central Regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament, which will be announced during the selection show on NCAA.com, which is slated to air at 8 p.m. MST.
The Roadrunners, who have been to every NCAA Tournament since 2000, will once again earn the conference's automatic qualification spot.
The two teams are likely to meet again in the opening round on Thursday and will likely play that match in San Angelo, Texas.
CMU had two players named to the all-tournament team, which was announced after Saturday's match. Those selections were junior outside hitter
Ashlee Macias, who recorded 12 kills in Saturday's championship, and sophomore opposite
Henley Madsen, who put down ten.
The Roadrunners had four picks, including MVP Hayden Liebsack, who put down 19 in Saturday's championship. She also had 10 digs as she and Brooke Gennerman (15 kills, 11 digs) both recorded double-doubles.
CMU freshman libero
Maya Grant had 16 digs to lead all players while
Jaycee Windorski had four blocks to help the Mavs to a small 9-7 edge in that category.
However, the Roadrunners finished with a 55-40 advantage in total kills and hit .288 to more than double the Mavs' total of .141.
The Mavericks hit .389 in the first set and led the way through most of it.
They went on a 4-1 run in the middle portion of it tot take a 15-11 lead at the media timeout and later used a 3-0 run that featured kills by Macias and Windorski around a block to take a 23-17 lead before closing out the set on a
Molly Whalen kill and a block by
Aesha Alrashed and
Kaitlyn Hall.
However, the Roadrunners came back in the second set and used a 5-0 run to take a 15-8 lead before evening the match after an equal split of the next 20 points.
The third set then proved the be the closest and featured 11 ties and five lead changes in the earlier half before the Roadrunners gradually pulled away to a 20-16 lead before finishing off the set with five straight points.
The Mavs did not go away quietly in the fourth and took a 10-6 lead before a 5-0 Roadrunner spurt gave the hosts the lead.
The set was then tied at 11, 12 and 13 before a 3-0 run that was triggered by a pair of Gennerman kills helped the Roadrunners take the lead for good.
All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Team
MVP: Hayden Liebsack, MSU Denver
Kaiya Gilbert, Colorado School of Mines
Emily Henderson, South Dakota Mines
GabriElle Brewer, MSU Denver
Brooke Gennerman, MSU Denver
Henley Madsen, Colorado Mesa
Kami Scott, MSU Denver
Ashlee Macias, Colorado Mesa
