MSU Denver Volleyball captures NCAA Division II national championship
Roadrunners earn program’s first title in the sport with 3–1 win in national final.
The Roadrunners took sets one, two and four — 25-22, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21 — behind a balanced attack. MSU Denver hit .280 for the match and controlled the net with a 17–10 edge in total blocks, holding Concordia–St. Paul to a .209 hitting percentage.
RELATED PHOTOS: Roadrunners celebrate on the court and in Denver
Megan Hagar led MSU Denver with 18 kills and 18 digs, sealing the championship with the final-point kill. Brooke Gennerman added 16 kills, while Karyna Werley recorded 10 kills and five blocks as the Roadrunners turned in a complete, all-around team performance.
After 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the Roadrunners secured the first Division II volleyball national championship in program history and the fifth NCAA title overall for MSU Denver Athletics, joining championships in men’s basketball (2000, 2002) and women’s soccer (2004, 2006).
The title capped a 32–3 season, a program record, and extended MSU Denver’s winning streak to 23 consecutive matches to close the year. In her 10th season, head coach Jenny Glenn now owns a 252–53 career record, further cementing MSU Denver volleyball as one of the winningest programs in Colorado over the past decade.
ROADRUNNER PRIDE: Get National Championship gear at the Tivoli Station Bookstore or online
UPDATE — Dec. 12: MSU Denver swept top-ranked, unbeaten Tampa 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-21) Friday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship for the first time in program history. The win improved MSU Denver to 31-3, extended its winning streak to 22 matches and handed Tampa its first loss after entering the match 32-0.
MSU Denver will face No. 2 seed Concordia-St. Paul in the national championship match Saturday, Dec. 13 at 4 p.m. MST.
How to watch: Join the Roadrunner community for the National Championship Watch Party at Prost Brewing or watch live on ESPN+.
Can’t do either? Follow live scoring at NCAA.org.
UPDATE — Dec. 11: The Roadrunners didn’t stop at the Elite Eight. In one of the most dramatic victories in program history, the No. 4 seeded Roadrunners battled past No. 5 Wingate in a five-set thriller (24-26, 25-16, 15-25, 25-22, 15-13) in the national quarterfinals to advance to the NCAA Division II Final Four for the first time. With the win, the Roadrunners improved to 30–3 overall and extended their winning streak to 21 matches. MSU Denver also became the first RMAC program to reach the national semifinals since 2019.
The victory over Wingate featured a resilient performance from the Roadrunners after they dropped the opening set. MSU Denver’s balanced play and clutch execution late in the match propelled them past the Bulldogs. MSU Denver faces top seed University of Tampa Friday at 6 p.m. MST in Sioux Falls.
Join the official watch party at Prost Brewing or watch on ESPN+.
Learn more at RoadrunnersAthletics.com.
Dec. 10:
Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Women’s Volleyball Team headed into uncharted waters Tuesday. Coaches and fans gathered on the Auraria Campus to send them off to the NCAA Division II Championship in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Despite 25 straight years of NCAA Tournament appearances, the team had never made it beyond the regional finals.
Until this year.
After sweeping Angelo State to win the South Central Regional Championship last Saturday, the team advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the first time in program history.
“It’s just a different year,” Head Coach Jenny Glenn said. “Even though we’ve tried other times, this year just felt so different. So I’m just really proud of the girls.”
The Roadrunners, seeded No. 4 of the final eight teams, face No. 5 Wingate University on Thursday in the tournament quarterfinals. If they win against Wingate, they’ll advance to the Final Four on Friday, then the Championship match on Saturday.
North Carolina’s Wingate University is on a 30-match winning streak and is making its second appearance at the national quarterfinals. MSU Denver is on a 20-match winning streak, 17 of which were at home, tying the school record set in 2022.
“We know that there’s pressure, but we don’t put more pressure on it,” said setter GabriElle Brewer, a junior majoring in Exercise and Sport Sciences at MSU Denver. “We try to just know that we’ve been ourselves and played our game this whole time. So just staying the same and being true to ourselves and having the same belief that we had in the first game in the last game, too.”
Historic season for academics, too
MSU Denver has placed a league-best five student-athletes on the First Team Academic All-RMAC this year, while adding 10 more to the Academic Honor Roll. It marked a milestone academic haul for the program — and was the first time since 2021 that MSU Denver has featured both the conference’s Summit Award winner and Academic Player of the Year in the same season.
Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Mia Accomazzo continued her breakout year by landing First Team Academic All-RMAC, just days after winning the prestigious RMAC Summit Award for carrying the highest GPA among all student-athletes competing at the RMAC Championship site.
How to watchThursday, quarterfinals, MSU Denver vs. Wingate, 3:30 p.m. MST, ESPN+ Friday, Final Four, 6 p.m. MST, ESPN+ Saturday, Championship, 4 p.m. MST, ESPN+ (or watch the replay on ESPN-U Sunday at 3 p.m. MST for free)
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Junior middle blocker Kryssa Moerman remains one of the conference’s most consistent academic standouts — earning First Team Academic All-RMAC honors for the second straight season, the only player in the RMAC to repeat on the first team this year.
“We’re just super unified as a team and like no matter what we do, no matter what we will face during the game, we’ll face it together. So that’s like one of our biggest advantages,” said MSU Denver senior Annika Helf, a First Team Academic All-RMAC and RMAC Academic Honor Roll selection.
MSU Denver joins Point Loma as the only two teams that are in the quarterfinals for the first time. In addition to Wingate, other teams in the field include Tampa, Concordia-St. Paul, Bentley, Gannon and Ferris State.
“All eight teams are experienced programs, so it’s going to be really fun because everyone in the tournament knows how to win,” Glenn said. “It’s a matter of who can execute the game plan better, who can keep the distractions out more, who believes they can do it.
“Why not us?”
