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Seniors honored with tough wins
Upperclassmen fight for pair of hard wins in final homestand
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Heather A. Longway-Burke • longway@mscd.edu Outside hitter Stephanie Allison rises up for the kill against UC-Colorado Springs Oct. 13 at the Auraria Event Center. Allison had 17 kills as the ‘Runners squeaked by the Mountain Lions in five games. Teammates and family honored seniors Allison, Megan Wittenburg, Sheena Bohannon and Kelly Angel prior to the game.

It was senior weekend for Metro’s volleyball team, and it was an exciting one as they held on to consecutive 2-0 leads to defeat UC-Colorado Springs and Regis University at Auraria Event Center on Oct. 13 and 14.

Both weekend matches went the full five games, and with an Oct. 17 win, Metro extended their winning streak to eight matches in a row, the most for the team this year. Head coach Debbie Hendricks just hopes it doesn’t take five games every time they play.

“It’s rather stressful,” Hendricks said. “We seem to be a group that likes to get backed into a corner before coming out and fighting, and that’s not going to win championships. But I guess what I’m hoping is that we are learning from these situations and that wins are wins.”

Metro’s game against the Mountain Lions saw the ’Runners take games one and two 30-19 and 31-29, respectively.

Metro had game three in the bag with a 29-26 lead. UCCS then scored four consecutive points off a kill by Colorado Springs’ outside hitter Stephanie Laband and three Metro attack errors.

The Mountain Lions eventually took game three 33-31 and game four 30-28.

The Roadrunners went on to capitalize off of eight Colorado Springs errors, taking the final game 15-12 and the match 3-2.

Outside hitter Stephanie Allison, who leads the RMAC with 271 kills, had an off night as she struggled to finish kills and make key digs. Her teammates, however, came through for her as middle blockers Megan Wittenburg and Sheena Bohannon picked up the slack to overcome Allison’s game-high 13 errors.

“They all did a really good job of being consistent,” Allison said, “I did have an off night, and it’s really nice knowing that they are such good players that can do that.”

Hendricks said the team recognizes that they need to step up when some of their go-to people are struggling and that even if the opposition keys in on one person, another will adjust and make the necessary plays.

Wittenburg came through with eight kills, two blocks, nine digs and a .429 kill percentage. Bohannon had a career-high 18 kills along with a .400 kill percentage.

Metro’s game against rival Regis University also needed five games to determine a winner, and the ’Runners once again prevailed, dominating the final game 15-8.

Allison had a better night, contributing a game-high 21 kills and 10 digs, while outside hitter Julie Green kept up with 18 kills of her own and a .400 kill percentage.

The team’s confidence seems to be showing on their seven-match winning streak, and they hope to use it to finish the season strong and to carry it into the playoffs.

“We are fairly confident,” Hendricks said. “I think that sometimes the lack of urgency comes from a bit of overconfidence at times. Hopefully we are carrying enough momentum into the late conference season and well into the postseason.”

It was senior night for four Metro players: Wittenburg, Bohannon, Allison and middle blocker Kelly Angel. Although it was a special night for those individuals, with flowers, personal photos and standing ovations given, the focus seemed to be on the season. There are four regular season games and the RMAC Tournament still left to be played, not to mention the Midwest Tournament if they play well in the RMAC Tournament.

“I really wasn’t thinking about senior night as much,” Allison said. “I was thinking about how we played UCCS last time, so I really just wanted to beat them.”

Wittenburg said the ceremony was thoughtful, and the night was exciting and sad for her personally.

“We have a lot of season left,” Hendricks said. “As much as we do that because we want the chance to honor them, we are not thinking about that much. I don’t want them to begin to think in those terms, because we are turning a corner, and we can still do some special things.”

Metro will take their winning streak on the road to Golden to face the Colorado School of Mines. Their two wins improve their overall record to 14-8 and 11-4 in the RMAC.