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Rangers punch ticket to RMAC Tournament championship game with 3-1 win over Colorado Mesa

Nov 11 | By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Box Score DENVER, Colo. — Playing rival Colorado Mesa University for the second time in a seven-day span, the No. 14 ranked Regis University volleyball team produced one of its most complete and balanced performances of the season on Friday, earning a 3-1 win in the RMAC Tournament semi-finals.

With the win, the No. 2 seeded Rangers (22-6 overall) punched their ticket to their first RMAC Tournament championship game since they won it in 2017. They also earn a rematch with tournament hosts and No. 1 ranked Metropolitan State University of Denver, with first serve scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Auraria Event Center.

"I was very happy with what our team did (Friday). We played a much more consistent match than when we faced Colorado Mesa last week (five-set win). We served well, we limited out errors and we were efficient, which are all things we wanted to do going into the match," said Regis head volleyball coach, Joel List. "It's a huge challenge facing the same opponent twice in that short period of time because they have a little bit more of the 'why they want to beat us.' We talked about making sure we had our own why and our team brought it on the court. You could see they had the initiative to make it to the championship match."

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Rangers opened the match with a 25-17 win in Set One, propelled with a 7-0 run to turn a 6-6 tie into a 13-7 advantage, and would lead by as many as 12 points en route to taking the 1-0 lead.

Colorado Mesa fought back to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 win in Set Two, but the Rangers' responded with a 25-19 win in Set Three where they limited the Mavericks' offense to a dismal -0.025 hitting percentage.

With the Mavericks' reeling, the Rangers kept their foot on the gas in the fourth set as they hit a match-high .486, tallying 18 kills versus just one error, to earn a 25-22 win and a spot in Saturday's title game.

Regis had four different players finished with double-digit kills, including three players leading the way with 13 in graduate student right side Klaudia Sowizral, junior outside hitter Halle Theis and sophomore middle blocker Amelia Davis.

Davis led all Rangers with a .600 hitting percentage (13-1-20) while Regis as a team posted a .307 hitting percentage (59-17-137) for the match.

"Mara (LeGrand) really distributed the ball well and got a lot of one-on-ones for our hitters, and our hitters did a nice job figuring how where to place the ball, which was a little different from the first time we played Mesa and even how we played (Thursday) against South Dakota Mines," List said. "Amelia in the middle is what really opened up the outside a little more for us with Klaudia and Halle, which was something else we weren't really able to do the first time we played them."

Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Kepler added six kills, while senior setter Mara LeGrand chipped in two kills to go with her 47 assists, five block assists and 11 digs.

Senior defensive specialist Haley Kennedy paced all Rangers with 14 digs, joined in double-figures by Theis with 12 kills and LeGrand. True freshman Kylie Stremmel and sophomore Bre Skala followed with nine digs and six digs, respectively.

UP NEXT: The Rangers will hunt for their first RMAC Championship title since 2017 on Saturday when they take on the top-seeded and top-ranked Roadrunners (27-1 overall).

Regis and MSU Denver previously matched up on Oct. 22 inside the Regis Field House, with the Roadrunners earning a 3-1 win. The two crosstown rivals will mix it up again at 6 p.m. Saturday inside the Auraria Event Center on the MSU Denver campus.

"There will be some nerves on both sides. As it was with Colorado Mesa, it's always hard to play a good opponent twice. I still like what we can do to match up with them. We just didn't push through some of the sets like we needed to in that first matchup," List said. "There's more on the line this time and I've liked the way our team has been responding this year."

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