Grand Junction, Colorado - Regis got into a 2-0 hole against West Texas A&M and battled back to force a fifth set but couldn't hold on to fall in the NCAA First Round 3-2.

"I am really proud of how we responded after falling behind 0-2," says Head Coach Frank Lavrisha.  "Our three seniors showed some good leadership tonight and this team was a treat to coach.  Our hats off to West Texas A&M, they are a good team."

Regis, who ended the season 19-10, trailed 11-10 in the first set before West Texas A&M () scored four in a row to lead 15-10.  The Rangers did not help themselves with two ball handling errors and the Rangers could only get as close as four as the Lady Buffs prevailed 25-19.  The Rangers had four service errors in the first set and allowed the Lady Buffs hit .393.

The two teams went back and forth and Regis led 14-13 following an attack error by Lauren Bevan.  West Texas scored the next four points to lead 17-14 and Regis got as close as two at 19-17 after a Samantha Mangseth kill.  West Texas forced the Rangers into a do-or-die situation with the 25-18 win in set two.  Caitie Breaux had five kills for Regis on 10 swings in set two as RU hit .237 to .270 for West Texas A&M.

RU bounced back in set three with a 25-22 victory and hit .325 with five more kills from Breaux.  A kill by Maggie Steward put Regis ahead 8-4 but West Texas A&M battled back to tie the score at 12.  Senior Mary Schroeder supplied two kills in a mini 3-0 RU run to regain the lead.  WTAMU would not go away and scored three in a row to tie the set at 15. The score was tied at 16 and 17 before back-to-back kills by Breaux and Gina Morgan gave RU the 19-17 lead.  The two teams sided out for a few points before RU took a 23-20 lead on a kill by Steward.  Steward finished off the set with one of her four kills.

The resilient Rangers passed and hit the ball with great efficiency in set four as they forced a deciding fifth set with a 25-17 win.  The score was tied early at four apiece before RU scored four of the next six points to lead 10-6 following yet another Steward kill.  Regis then started slowly pulling away and hit .424 for the set to just .056 for WTAMU.  Breaux had five more kills with Steward adding four more.

The Rangers and West Texas showed why they were two of the top teams in the region in set five.  The two teams were knotted at seven before RU scored three in a row on kills by Steward and Jaclyn Williamson and an attack error by Sydney Harlan gave RU the 10-7 lead.  West Texas scored four in a row to regain the lead 11-10 before the Rangers responded with three of their own including two kills by Breaux to take the 13-11 lead.  West Texas A&M Head Coach Jason Skoch called a timeout and his team responded by scoring three in a row and lead 14-13.  Breaux got one of her game-high 24 kilsl to tie the score at 14 before the Lady Buffs scored the final two points to win 16-14 and advance to the regional semi-finals.

Breaux's 24 kills led all players and she also chipped in with 11 digs.  Steward had 15 kills and had eight digs while Morgan and Schroeder each had 10 kills.  Schroeder led the way with a .348 attack percentage.  Williamson came off the bench to lead the team with 35 assists and also had five digs.

Rebecca Sponcil had 22 assists, while Maya Kirkeby paced all players with 24 digs with Morgan leading RU at the net with two solo blocks and four total.  RU out-hit the Lady Buffs .264 to .226 and had 73 digs to 70 for WTAMU.