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Rangers edged by Orediggers in five sets in South Central Regional quarterfinals

Nov 17 | By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Regis senior setter Mara LeGrand finished with a career-high 61 assists in Thursday's quarterfinal loss to the Orediggers.

Box Score DENVER, Colo. — Squaring off against a familiar foe for the third time this fall, the No. 3 seed Regis University volleyball team came up just shy of knocking off No. 6 seed Colorado School of Mines, falling in five thrilling sets (19-25, 25-22, 30-32, 25-18 and 12-15) on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament.

Regis, the RMAC Tournament and regular season runner-ups behind tournament hosts No. 1 Metropolitan State University of Denver, finish its season ranked No. 14 in the country and with a 22-8 overall record. Colorado School of Mines (22-7 overall), the No. 22 ranked team in the country entering the tournament, advances to face No. 2 seed West Texas A&M University in regional semi-finals.

"A five-setter, so definitely a wild match and that's kind of what you expect going into it when you're playing an opponent for a third time and someone you're familiar with," said Regis head volleyball coach, Joel List. "They know you and we knew them, so you expect it to go like that. We didn't get the outcome we wanted to, but Mines did a great job. They are always a fearsome team at the end of the season and do a really good job in the postseason."

HOW IT HAPPENED: The two nearby RMAC rivals each took turns throwing jabs on Thursday as the Orediggers opened the match with a 25-19 win in Set One before the Rangers stormed back for a 25-22 win in Set Two.

Set Three would be one of handful pivotal moments of the match as each team had four opportunities for set-point, with Regis holding leads at 24-23, 25-24, 27-26 and 29-28. Colorado School of Mines would finish the set on a 4-1 run, though, to steal the 32-30 win and go up in the match, 2-1.

Despite the tough loss, the Rangers would show their resiliency as they stormed out to a 7-1 lead in Set Four en route to a comfortable 25-18 win that forced the deciding fifth set.

"That third set was a huge moment in the match, having some different chances to win it. It put us a step back and we just didn't execute on some of the opportunities we had," List said. "But I thought our rebound from that was good. Sometimes when you lose a set like that, you come out pretty flat the next set. For us to win that fourth set handedly showed a lot about our team tonight."

Unfortunately, the Rangers would be unable to sustain that momentum into the fifth set as the Orediggers took advantage of an ace and three Regis errors to build an early 6-3 cushion. Regis would rally back to tie on two occasions, the latest at 10-10, but were unable to play with a lead in the fifth set.

"We had some matchups that weren't quite working throughout the match and they continued in that fifth set. Mines played consistent and we got on our heels a little bit in the fifth set," List said. "I know it comes down to emotions and maturity in a fifth set and Mines had a little bit more than we did at that time. We had some unforced errors at inopportune times. Those are the tiny inches and points that really matter in a close match."

Offensively, the Rangers had five different players finish with double-digit kill totals on Thursday, led by junior outside hitter Halle Theis with 18. Senior middle blocker Nadine Burbrink and sophomore middle blocker Amelia Davis followed with 15 kills and 14 kills, respectively.

Graduate student right-side hitter Klaudia Sowizral added 12 kills and sophomore outside hitter Hannah Kepler tallied 11 kills to pace the Regis hitters.

Senior setter Mara LeGrand finished with a career-high 61 assists and three kills while complimenting her sensational evening with 19 digs. Her previous career-high of 56 assists came on Nov. 12, 2021 against Colorado Mesa University.

Fellow senior Haley Kennedy paced the Regis back line with 25 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Kylie Stremmel added eight digs and sophomore defensive specialist Bre Skala chipped in six digs.

GAME NOTES:

Regis held a slight edge in hitting percentage, finishing the night at .217 versus the .208 mark for the Orediggers
The Rangers held a 5-2 advantage in service aces and a 6-5 edge in total blocks
Colorado School of Mines won the dig battle, 83-76
Regis finishes the season as the No. 19 ranked team in the AVCA National Poll

UP NEXT: The Rangers will now turn their attention toward the offseason where they are expected to add a few more pieces in recruiting to join a 13-woman roster that does not lose any student-athletes to graduation this spring.

"We talked about that in the locker room, that the silver lining is we'll be able to have this team back and hopefully some fuel to our fire," List said. "Some of the things we struggled with here tonight will be areas we work on in the offseason. And then we'll look at adding a little bit more to our offense that will help us be able to score in several different ways."

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