Mortensen's former player leads Metro State to 3-0 win
DENVER— The Metro State College Roadrunners held visiting Adams State College to just 30 kills while putting down 54 of their own en-route to a 30-19, 30-23, 32-30 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball win on Thursday night at the Auraria Events Center. The win was Metro State’s fifth straight and allowed them to move into sole possession of second place in the RMAC’s East Division with 9-5 overall and 5-2 league marks. The Grizzlies now stand 4-10 overall and 1-6 in RMAC play.
Roadrunner junior outside hitter Stefanie Allison, a former player for first-year ASC Coach Lindy Mortensen at Montezuma-Cortez High School, led the way with a match-high 17 kills and a solid .270 attack percentage. She and teammate Sheena McLaughlin, a senior outside, also had double-doubles. Allison had 10 digs while McLaughlin had 12 kills and as many digs.
The Grizzlies were led by nine Tiffany Stockebrand (Alamosa, Colo.) kills and a match-high 19 digs from senior libero Jocelyn Garcia (Albuquerque, N.M.). Senior defensive specialist Carly Simpson (Kent, Wash.) also had 14 digs.
The Grizzlies never got on track in the first game committing nine attacking errors while hitting at a .000 clip as the Roadrunners used a 9-0 run behind Allison’s serving to build a 19-9 lead. The Roadrunners also used a 4-0 stretch in the late stages to put the first game away.
ASC played a much tighter game 2 and was down by just one at 23-22 before an Allison kill started a 7-1 game-ending run. ASC hit .146 in the stanza but could not keep pace with 20 Roadrunner kills and their .350 attack percentage.
The third game was even tighter and included 13 ties and five lead changes before a 3-0 Grizzly run that included a Roadrunner service error, one of eight on the night, and a Stockebrand kill gave ASC the edge at 25-22.
After a Roadrunner timeout down 28-25, the Grizzlies earned four game points on an Allison attacking error. However, the Roadrunners responded as Sheena Bohannon put down two kills while Metro forced two Grizzly hitting errors before they took a 30-29 lead on Allison’s 17th kill.
The Grizzlies erased that first match point on a Bohannon miscue before the junior middle blocker avenged the mistake with her seventh kill. The Roadrunners then put the match away on a Gabrielle Curtis serve and ensuing ball handling error. Curtis, a 5-foot-7 senior setter, had 45 assists and was just one dig shy of a double-double. ASC’s Tagen Bierley (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had 24 assists, eight digs, three kills and a .222 hitting percentage.
The Grizzlies hit just .053 on the night and committed 23 attacking errors. Metro hit .192 despite 26 attacking errors.
“We didn’t make passive mistakes. Our mistakes came because we were aggressive and I’m glad to see that,” Mortensen said in a post-match interview.
The Grizzlies have little time to dwell on the setback as they remain in the metropolitan area to face Colorado Christian University (1-14, 0-6 RMAC) on Friday evening and Regis University (3-11, 2-4 RMAC) on Saturday afternoon.
“That’s the good thing about volleyball. We don’t have time to think about tonight and have to bounce back quickly,” senior outside hitter Emily Bussey (Alamosa, Colo.) said following the match.
Friday’s match in Lakewood against CCU begins at 7 p.m. while Saturday’s match against the Rangers is at 3 p.m., earlier than the previously scheduled 7 p.m. start.
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