Denver, Colo.: The 25th-ranked Regis volleyball team took on upset minded Black Hills State in the opening match of the 2012 RMAC schedule.  The Yellow Jackets of BHSU were playing their first ever RMAC contest.

The Rangers led for most of the first set with Black Hills State (4-5, 0-1 RMAC) closed the gap to 19-17 but Regis (6-4, 1-0 RMAC) scored six of the final seven points to take set one 25-18.

"We scored well tonight," says head coach Frank Lavrisha.  "They are a talented team and we had to make some blocking adjustments on their outsides and I thought we did a good job doing that."

The Rangers led 13-10 in set two before the Yellow Jackets scored five in a row to take a 15-13 lead.  Regis battled back to tie the game at 17 before the game went on a back-and-forth track.  Tied at 21, senior Makayla Higgins and freshman Jaclyn Williamson each had a kill to give Regis a 23-21 lead.  BHSU tied the game at 23 and again at 24 before a kill by Regis freshman Caitie Breaux and a attack error by Black Hills State to put the game away for Regis 26-24.

The third set looked like it was going to go to the wire but with Black Hills State leading 7-6 Regis put all doubts away by going on a 10-4 run to lead 16-11 on their way to the 25-17 win.

Breaux led the Regis offensive attack with 11 kills.  She not only scored for the Rangers but did so effectively.  She had just one error in 23 attempts for a .435 attack percentage.  Freshman Katie Klein notched 10 kills, while Higgins tacked on nine more.

Williams had 26 set assists in two sets while also getting six digs.  Freshman Rebecca Sponcil assisted 13 balls.  Junior Sage Martinson led all players with 11 digs, with Higgins second for Regis with seven.

Junior Lauren Flanagan put up a great blocking game with five total blocks to lead all players while also hitting .667 at the net.

Regis returns to action tomorrow afternoon as they host Chadron State at 5:00 p.m.