PUEBLO, Colo. – The No. 17 ranked Regis University volleyball team (11-3, 5-1 RMAC) squeaked the ThunderWolves of Colorado State University – Pueblo (5-9, 3-3 RMAC) on Friday evening.
How It Happened: Regis came out looking to establish control of the match early on. Despite trading points with CSU Pueblo in the early going, the Rangers finally got things going around the mid-point of the first set. The team rallied to take a 25-15 first set win, although, the team only hit .133 in the opening set which by RU standards was fairly low.
Set two remained tightly contested late into the set with Regis clinging to a two-point advantage 19-17 before the home side tied the set at 19 apiece two points later. A dump shot from senior setter
Silvia Basso caught all of the ThunderWolves off-guard and the lead went right back to the Rangers. After another point from RU, CSU Pueblo called a timeout with the score at 21-19. A couple points later, RU took a 24-21 lead before the ThunderWolves managed to climb back to 24-23. Redshirt-senior
Kristen Hornung had seen enough, and she sent the teams into the second intermission with a massive kill, giving Regis a comfortable 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
After two sets, Hornung had a .778 attack percentage and four total blocks. Senior
Kelsey Green also tallied four total blocks before the third set started. The Rangers got the first point of the third set with a service ace from redshirt-freshman
Hannah Kennedy, but the ThunderWolves would not go down without a fight in set three. CSU Pueblo opened up a 17-11 lead which forced head coach
Joel List to call a timeout, urging his team to pick up their play, score points and hopefully secure a comeback. The lead ballooned to nine points for the home side, 23-14, before RU finally stopped the bleeding. It was too little, too late and the ThunderWolves captured set three 25-16, forcing a fourth set of volleyball.
Another close battle ensued in set four, but the Pack opened up a 16-11 lead towards the middle of the set before three points and back-to-back blocks from Regis cut the lead to two points 14-16. Eventually, CSU Pueblo just outplayed the Rangers, winning the fourth set 25-20. Setting the table for a critical fifth set. The fifth set was fueled by the momentum that the ThunderWolves established after sets three and four. With an 8-4 lead, the teams switched sides of the court. Regis stormed back with a flurry of points to take a 13-11 lead late in the frame. The Rangers capped off the comeback by scoring the final two points of the game to take the set 15-11, and the match 3-2.
Game Notes: The story of the night was the defense and blocking for the Rangers who compiled 11 total blocks. Green and Hornung shared the team lead with 13 kills each. Hornung also posted a team-best seven blocks and a .400 hitting percentage. Green (5) and Kennedy (4) combined for nine blocks of their own in the effort. Basso finished the evening with 41 assists.
Up Next for the Rangers: The No. 17 ranked Regis University volleyball team will play again tomorrow night, this time it will be against the New Mexico Highlands University Cowgirls at 5 p.m.
