DENVER  Western Colorado volleyball takes to the road for its upcoming Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matches, looking to score a major upset Friday against host and No. 1-ranked Metropolitan State University Denver before traveling across town to take on Colorado Christian University on Saturday.

WESTERN COLORADO HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | SEASON STATS
The Mountaineers are coming off a 3-1 win over visiting Westminster (Utah) College. In that match, Lexi Wilmoth tallied a career best 31 set assists, Jordyn Todd knocked down a season best and match high 18 kills, and Emily Mangone came up with a season best 20 digs.

Setters Wilmoth and Hailee Martinez split time in the Western system, and the duo are nearly identical statistically as Wilmoth is dishing out 4.77 assists per set while Martinez is doling out 4.69/set.

Wilmoth and Elizabeth Rupprecht's 15 service aces apiece trail only Mangone, who has 21 so far this season.

Mangone is the leading attacker with 185 kills, which translates to 2.64 per set. With a season best 15 kills in the win over Westminster, Caroline Parker moved up to third on the attack list with 114. Todd is next with 107.

The Mountaineers split with Colorado Christian in the 2021 schedule, each team winning at home. Western and the Cougars have played twice this season with CCU winning both, the first of which was a non-conference victory in an early-season tournament.

MSU DENVER HEADING INTO THE MATCH | SEASON STATS
The Roadrunners, 21-1 overall and 14-0 in the RMAC, are on a 15-match win streak. They have posted 3-0 scores in 12 of those 15 wins.

Their lone loss this season came at a tournament against then-No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.), which has since lost two matches but sit right behind top-ranked MSU Denver in the Oct. 24 AVCA Division II Poll.

MSU Denver leads the RMAC in blocking, accumulating 187.0 for the season at a rate of 2.53 per set. Leading the way at the net is Mikayla McClinton whose 1.16 blocks/set leads the conference.

The Roadrunners also lead the conference in hitting percentage, with a .295 success rate. Rylee Hladky paces the team on the attack and is second in the RMAC with 3.66 kills/set.

An outside hitter, the do-everything Hladky is fifth in the league in service aces (0.42/set), second on the team in digs (196) and third on the team in total blocks (55.0).

COLORADO CHRISTIAN HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | SEASON STATS
The Cougars are 13-10 overall and 8-6 in the RMAC. They had a three-match win-streak halted this past weekend, but the losses were to then-No. 2 MSU Denver and then-No. 18 Regis University (now Nos. 1 and 17, respectively).

Libby Goodman has accumulated 300 kills and averages 3.75 kills/set, figures that top RMAC attackers. She is averaging 4.05 points/set as well, third most in the league.

Teammate Lilly Woods also averages at least 3 kills/set (3.06) while leading the Cougars defensively at the net with 70.0 total blocks from 13 BS and 57 BAs.

Behind the blocks most often is Madelyn Long whose 217 digs (3.88/set) leads CCU.

Izzy Jones is the team leader in service aces with 23, and has 801 of the team's 941 set assists.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mountaineer volleyball will close out the regular season at home with Food-Drive Weekend on November 4 and 5. The Friday night match will be against New Mexico Highlands University and will also serve as Professor Appreciation Night, with Saturday's Senior Night match seeing Adams State University come to Paul Wright Gym.