GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The 23^rd-ranked Regis University volleyball team (19-6, 14-3 RMAC) came up short in a challenging match with the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks (20-5, 15-3 RMAC) on Friday evening.   
 
How It Happened: Entering the match, the two teams were battling for the second spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Volleyball standings. The winner of the match would take full possession of second place coming down the home stretch of the regular season. The match did not start the way Regis had planned. In a close first set, the Mavericks snuck away with a 25-23 win to take an early 1-0 set lead. Both teams had their offenses going as they each tallied 15+ kills with hitting percentages over .300.
 
In the second set, each offense settled down a little, but it was equally as competitive as the opening set with a couple extra points spread out at the end. CMU narrowly edged out the Rangers in the second set, 28-26 putting RU in a 2-0 hole on the road. Historically, the Mavericks have been very difficult to beat on their home court. With a 2-0 deficit in front of them, Regis had an uphill climb in front of them.
 
The third set played out much better for the Rangers. The offense hit .294 while the defense held the home team to a .162 hitting percentage. The combination of the two led to a 25-20 set-three win for RU. With some momentum on their side, Regis looked to the fourth set to even things up.
 
The Rangers held a 23-20 lead late in the set after two kills from sophomore Halle Theis and another from junior Nadine Burbrink capped off a 6-0 run from RU. The Mavericks came roaring back with three-straight points. Another kill from Theis set up match point 24-23 for Regis, but a block at the net from CMU on the next rally tied it up again. Seven match points later (eight total in set four) the Mavericks got a match-sealing block at the net to give them a 32-30 win in the set and a 3-1 win in the match, catapulting CMU past the Rangers for second place in the RMAC Volleyball standings.
 
Game Notes: The match could have gone either way with two of the four sets carrying over their normal set points numbers. Four RU players had 12 or more kills in the match including Theis who led all players with 16 (.220 H%). Graduate student Caitlyn Burroway (.170) and senior Rachel Siurek (.324 H%) each had 15 kills which were more than the top-offensive player had for CMU (14). Redshirt-senior Rebecca Abrahamson had a career-night as she posted a career-high 12 kills with a team-high .360 hitting percentage in the match. She also led the team with four blocks. Junior Mara LeGrand was spectacular all night spreading around 56 assists in four sets of work (14.0 assists per set) and she also had 24 digs to go along with four kills and a block. Junior libero Haley Kennedy added 23 digs of her own, Burroway tallied 15 and freshman Bre Skala chipped in with 14 digs as the four ladies combined for 76 of the team's 88 digs in the match.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: The No. 23 ranked Regis University volleyball team will close out the regular season with the regular season finale against the Westminster College Griffins tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. in Salt Lake City, Utah. As it sits now, the Rangers have secured a third-place finish in the conference standings. A win tomorrow would tie RU and CMU with a 15-3 record in the conference, but with the win tonight, the Mavericks hold the head-to-head tiebreaker and would claim second place.