The Metropolitan State University of Denver women’s volleyball team capped a historic season by winning its first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship with a 3-1 victory over Concordia Saint Paul over the weekend.
It was a marquee moment for the college, which has a total enrollment over 18,000 students in downtown Denver.
"It's huge, I think it puts us on the map in a lot of ways. So it's just great to see the support we have out here and the way that people are coming behind us," head coach Jenny Glenn said after the game. "MSU Denver's a great place, and we love our volleyball. So it's great to have a national championship to go along with all that."
The Roadrunners finished the season with a 32-3 record, the most wins in program history. They’re the first team from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to win a volleyball national title. The team gave the school its first national title since the women’s soccer team won in 2006.
MSU Denver won the final match by taking three of four sets at 25-22, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21. But they had to overcome a slow start during the first set to get rolling at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.,
MSU Denver trailed 19-15 late in the first set. But, the team was able to get back on track with a series of defensive stops, keeping them alive and closing out the set with a 10-3 run.
Glenn said her team displayed fearlessness throughout the last three matches of the season. But after dropping the third set to the Golden Bears, she wanted to finish the job.
“I thought it was a really fun battle of two high-powered offenses and gritty defense at different times. And that fourth set got a little tight,” Glenn said after the match. “I was thinking, we need to get this thing done now. I saw the look in my athletes’ eyes at one of those last timeouts, and I was like, we're in. We're going to get this thing done.”
After All-American Annika Helf went down with an injury, Megan Hagar turned in a clutch performance with her first career double-double with 18 kills and digs. The junior outside hitter from Casper, Wy., led the team in kills in both the semifinal and national championship matches.
“Megan has been grinding this entire season. I have nothing but great things to say about that girl on and off the court and off the court,” said Skyler Michael, junior outside hitter from Loveland. “She is there for every single person, no matter how she feels. Her identity is literally, she brings value to the team and she brings value to each one of us, and she brings out our value as well.”
Hagar earned Tournament MVP honors, totaling 39 kills and averaging 3.25 kills per set, while adding 39 digs and four block assists over the final three matches of the tournament. Alyssa Boyte, Brooke Gennerman, and Karyna Werley joined Hagar on NCAA Division II All-Tournament Team.
