PENSACOLA, Fla. – After a season opening loss to No. 15 ranked West Florida earlier today, the Regis University volleyball team (0-2) suffered another upset as No. 24 ranked Wheeling Jesuit (2-0) escaped with a 3-2 set win.
How It Happened: Set one and two looked a lot like that of the season opening loss for Regis. Many loose passes sent the Rangers out of system for much of the opening two sets. No. 24 Wheeling Jesuit took an easy two-set lead, winning sets one (25-15) and two (25-19) early on.
Set three turned the whole match around for RU. It was a come from behind type of contest as Regis trailed by as many as four points, 14-10, around the midway point of the set. The Rangers came together and fought their way back to tie the game at 18 points apiece. With the game tied at 19, back-to-back points helped RU take and extend their first lead of the set to 21-19. Kills by juniors
Kelsey Green and
Nikki Kennedy gave Regis the set three win, 25-22.
RU carried the momentum they gained from set three into the fourth set where they got back to business. After the Cardinals scored the first two points of set four, the Rangers enjoyed an 8-1 run that featured two kills from senior
Kristen Hornung, two kills from Kennedy and one kill apiece from Green and junior
Izzy Gosar. RU rolled to a 25-18 win in set four, forcing a deciding fifth set.
The fifth and final set was a very competitive battle between WJU and Regis with both teams fighting for the win. The Rangers held a 6-3 lead coming off kills from Kennedy and Gosar before the Cardinals managed to tie the game, 7-7. The teams switched sides of the court after RU took the 8-7 lead, and five points later the game was tied at 10. Three-straight attack errors from Regis put the Cardinals in the driver seat late in the set. Back-to-back kills from Hornung brought the Rangers within one point, 12-13, but two more attack errors from RU handed the match to No. 24 ranked WJU.
Game Notes: Kennedy exploded for 18 kills, which sets a new career-high for the junior. Burroway (15), Hornung (14), and Green (13) were the other players who recorded 10+ kills in the match. Burroway tallied a team-high 23 digs with senior
Kristina Schell chipping in with 19 and sophomore
Sophie Griese adding a career-high 14 digs. Junior
Silvia Basso totaled 59 assists, also marking a career-high.
The team hit .193 as a team, registering 70 kills and 31 errors in 202 attack attempts. Gosar and Kennedy each had four blocks, combining for eight of the team's 14 blocks. Hornung had a team-high .382 attack percentage with 14 kills and only one error.
Up Next for the Rangers: The volleyball team will play two more games tomorrow. The team will battle Western Washington University at 8 a.m. (MST) tomorrow morning, followed by an afternoon match with No. 2 ranked Southwest Minnesota State University at 1 p.m. (MST).
