DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University volleyball team, co-hosts of the Colorado Premier Challenge, split in the first day of the tournament that begun in 1996. The Rangers opened the day with an electrifying 3-1 defeat of conference foe No. 18 Colorado Mesa but turned around to suffer a 3-0 loss to No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State.

Against the Mavericks, Regis took the first set 25-20 with Colorado Mesa battling back to even the score 1-1. A challenging third set win of 29-27 followed by a dominating fourth set win wrapped up the defeat of the No. 18 ranked team. The Rangers were led in kills by junior Katie Klein with 18 but had the help of double-digit kills from Maggie Steward (15) and Diamond Ridley-Pierce (11).

The third set was the turning point of the match for RU. Down 21-15, Regis came together to earn four points in a row including kills from Steward, Ridley-Pierce, Cedar Bellows, and an ace from Kristina Schell. The score would tie and alternate set point three more times before the Rangers were able to clinch the third set gaining the momentum that carried into the fourth.

In a fourth set that the scored tied on four different occasions, the Rangers took control on back-to-back Maverick attack errors and never looked back. A huge Klein kill ended the match and moved RU to 3-2 overall.

Unfortunately, in the last match of the day for Regis, the Mustangs were too much to handle. Southwest Minnesota was coming off a five-set battle with Mesa that ended in the Mustangs favor. SWMSU with 45 kills and RU with 25, the Rangers never seemed to be able to gain any offensive momentum.

A slow night offensively, RU was led by Steward with nine kills. Defensively, Rebecca Sponcil tallied 11 digs and Brinley Beresford recorded 13 assists.

On the day, Steward led all Rangers with 24 kills and produced a .343 attack percentage in the win over Colorado Mesa. Schell tallied five service aces and Sponcil combined for 41 digs. Beresford racked in 55 total assists.

The Rangers moved to a 3-3 overall record and will face No. 25 West Florida tomorrow, September 11 at 12 p.m.