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Ranked 'Runners continue to roll in RMAC
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Jason Small • jsmall4@mscd.edu Volleyball head coach Debbie Hendricks looks intently as her ‘Runners team handily beat Colorado School of Mines in four sets, 3-1, Sept. 30. The victory over the Orediggers improved their RMAC record to 5-4. Metro is now 9-8 overall and has won six of their last eight matches.

Things are setting up nicely for the Metro women’s volleyball team with wins at Colorado Christian, 3-0, and at home against Colorado School of Mines, 3-1. They are also ranked third in Southwest Region poll after posting a winning record for the first time this season.

Metro had an easy time with Colorado Christian, sweeping them in three games, 30-20, 30-20 and 30-23 in Lakewood on Sept. 26. Middle blocker Sheena Bohannon had 12 kills and outside hitter Stephanie Allison chipped in 16 to lead all players.

“She has been stepping up in other ways as well the past few weeks,” said head coach Debbie Hendricks. “If everybody on the team steps up a little bit, we will get whole lot better, and we recognize that, and if the whole team does that, we start becoming the team we believe we are.”

Metro out-killed the Cougars 57-27 and produced a higher percentage of kills at .240-.008. Colorado Christian did have the advantage in blocks, 16-13, but the dig count hurt the Cougars as they only put up 36 to Metro’s 58.

On Sept. 30, the Roadrunners capitalized on a career-high 30 kills by outside hitter Stephanie Allison to defeat the Colorado School of Mines 30-21, 27-30, 30-24 and 33-31.

“We knew Mines was a solid team and that they were going to come shooting for us,” said Hendricks. “Especially now that we are ranked in the region, and I think our team did a good job of preparing all week and both physically and mentally for the challenge.”

Game 1 was dominated by the Roadrunners as they jumped out to a 14-5 lead and finished the game 30-21 off a Megan Wittenburg kill. Wittenburg had five kills in the game.

The Orediggers evened the match at one apiece after rallying from deficits of 17-12 and 26-24. They took advantage of Metro’s mistakes by earning the final three points off of two attack errors by middle blockers Kelly Angel and Bohannon and a set error by Allison.

Metro put the miscues behind them by taking the next two games, including game four, which went down to the wire.

It looked like a fifth game was imminent as the Roadrunners fell to a 20-15 deficit in the fourth game but then reeled off four straight points to put the score at 20-19.

The teams battled back and forth producing seven ties and seven lead changes. The ’Runners had two match-point opportunities at 29-27 and 29-28 and gave up the lead when attack errors were made by setter Stephanie Levi, Angel and Allison.

But Metro stood strong as Bohannon put away two straight kills to pull ahead from a 30-31 point deficit to a 32-31 lead. “That’s an area we struggled with in the past,” said Hendricks about giving up leads that cost them games early on in the season. “But I think we stayed very steady and played with confidence, and we played to win, so it is a big step for us especially in a good team like Mines.”

The wins improve the ’Runners’ record to 9-8 overall and 6-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Metro will take their two-game winning streak to Nebraska, where they will face off against Western State on Oct. 6 and New Mexico Highlands and Adams State on Oct. 7.