Auraria’s court queens rule Division II.
Metropolitan State University of Denver volleyball won the national title on Saturday, beating Concordia-St. Paul 3-1 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It’s the first Division II national championship for the program, and the fifth overall for MSU Denver, which also claimed men’s basketball crowns in 1999-2000 and 2001-02 as well as women’s soccer titles in 2004 and ’06.
“This is a goal that we set as a program, to a win a national championship, and we’ve been really unashamed of that goal for the last 10 years,” MSU Denver head coach Jenny Glenn told reporters.
“… I’m just so proud of who these women are, and that they know who they are. You saw it on display these last three matches of the fearlessness that comes from knowing there is no pressure because we’ve already won by knowing who we are.”
The Roadrunners capped their magical season by beating Concordia-St. Paul 25-22, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21. Megan Hagar (18 kills) and Brooke Gennerman (16) led the way offensively, while the Roadrunners defense racked up 9 blocks.
Hagar, who also had a team-high 18 digs for her first career double-double, finished off the dramatic final point with a thunderous kill to clinch the title that was set up by a perfect assist from GabriElle Brewer. Hagar stepped up to fill the void left by the injury to MSU Denver star outside hitter Annika Helf in the Elite Eight.
“Losing a player (like Helf) and then to be able to battle back and do what they did, that shows the integrity and grit that their team had,” Concordia-St. Paul volleyball coach Brady Starkey told reporters. “Just really impressive by them… They deserved it. They were the aggressive team the whole night, and really the whole tournament.”
Mia Accomazzo also contributed 13 digs on Saturday, Kryssa Moerman and Karyna Werley both had 5 blocks each, Brewer lead the team with 29 assists and Werley had 25 more in a balanced effort that showed off MSU Denver’s depth.
MSU Denver trailed early in the opening set, 19-15, but finished the frame on a 10-3 run that changed the momentum of the match. The Roadrunners then led 16-15 in the third set before the Golden Bears rallied to take the frame, but MSU Denver bounced back to win the match the next set.
“That fourth set got a little tight, but I saw the look in my athletes’ eyes during that last timeout and I knew we were going to get it done,” Glenn said.
Winning the national title punctuated this year’s postseason breakthrough for MSU Denver, which had lost in the regional final each of the prior four seasons. And it underscored the impact of Glenn, a 45-year-old Granby native and Middle Park High School alum who got her collegiate coaching start as an assistant at Northern Colorado.
In her 10 seasons leading the Roadrunners, Glenn is 252-53. Her theme this season of “true identity” — in which the coach emphasized the positive traits of each player that were unrelated to winning or losing on the court — allowed MSU Denver to play relaxed in the most pressure-packed matches of the year.
“We’ve faced different battles and had different tests, so walking into this tournament on Thursday, we knew we were prepared for what was ahead,” Glenn said.
Since losing to Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 3, the Roadrunners ripped off 23 straight victories to close the season, setting a program record with 32 wins. In Sioux Falls, MSU Denver beat Wingate in a five-set thriller in Thursday’s Elite Eight and ended Tampa’s undefeated season in Friday’s Final Four before triumphing over Concordia-St. Paul in the title.
MSU Denver’s feat is the first national championship in volleyball for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
