Angelo St. ASU 24-7,12-4 Lone Star

Regis (CO) Regis 23-7,12-2 RMAC

Angelo St. ASU

24-7,12-4 Lone Star

Final

Nov. 30, 2023

Regis (CO) Regis

23-7,12-2 RMAC

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	5	F
Angelo St. ASU	17	25	12	25	15	(3)
Regis (CO) Regis	25	17	25	20	9	(2)

Summary
Box Score

David Wilson, Regis Athletics

Game Recap: Volleyball | Nov 30 | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

No. 9 Rangers fall in five sets to (RV) Angelo State in South Central Regional quarterfinals

CANYON, Texas — The No. 9 ranked Regis University volleyball team had its 2023 season come to an end on Thursday, falling in five sets (25-17, 17-25, 25-12, 20-25, 9-15) to (RV) Angelo State University in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, hosted by West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas.

It was a stunning first-round result for the Rangers (23-7 overall), who were the No. 2 seed in the regional and the 2023 RMAC Tournament champions, but have had their struggles with the No. 7 seeded Rambelles (24-7 overall) in recent history. With Thursday's win, ASU has now edged the Rangers in the seven matchups between the two teams dating back to 2012.

"Angelo State is a great team. We've had to meet up with them a couple times over the last few years and it's always a great battle. I tip my hat to them," said Regis head volleyball coach, Joel List. "Defensively, they did a really nice job and were very scrappy and stayed fairly consistent throughout the match. We were unable to do that."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Regis put itself in the driver seat early, earning a 25-17 win in Set One after hitting .269 as a team and limiting the Belles to .000 (10 kills, 10 errors) on the defensive side of the net.

The Rangers built their initial cushion with a 5-0 burst to take a 12-8 advantage. And later in the set, after ASU had rallied to trim the deficit to three at 18-15, Regis was able to put the set away with a 6-0 run that ballooned the lead to 24-15.

Angelo State responded with a 25-17 win of its own in Set Two as the Belles hit their match-high of .258 while the Rangers were plagued by 14 errors (eight attacking, four block errors and two service errors).

Regis appeared to have the match back in control in the third set as the team rolled to a 25-12 win and smashed a match-best .348, led by a trio of outside hitters in graduate student Klaudia Sowizral, senior Halle Theis and junior Hannah Kepler as the trio combined for nine of the Rangers' 12 kills in the set.

Sowizral and graduate student middle blocker Nadine Burbrink led all Regis players with 11 kills apiece and were joined in double-figures by junior middle blocker Amelia Davis (10 kills).

Graduate student setter Mara LeGrand, the 2023 RMAC Tournament MVP, closed out her decorated career with a sensational performance, finishing with seven kills on a team-best .400 hitting percentage to go with her 12 digs and 38 assists.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, after jumping out to a 7-2 lead in Set Four, the errors began to resurfaced again, opening the door for Angelo State to storm back and win, 25-20, and force a fifth set.

"There were definitely some momentum changes in that fourth set and we just had errors at inopportune times, which can be a little deflating and the pressure starts mounting when you think of what might be," List said. "We continued to talk about trying to play in the moment and not worry about what might come. But I think that had a little bit to do with it as well as the slow start we got off to in the fifth set."

Angelo State took advantage of the swing in momentum, going up 4-0 early in the fifth set to force a Regis timeout. The Rangers would regroup to inch back within two as late as 9-7, but were unable to pull back even with the Belles as they held on for the 15-9 win to clinch match.

GAME NOTES

Regis, the top blocking team in Division II, won the blocking battle again on Thursday, 11-9.
Davis led all Rangers with six total blocks (2 BS, 4 BA).
The Rangers finished the match with a .147 hitting percentage (51-28-156), edging out the Belles at .109 (46-30-147).
Angelo State owned a slight edge of the Rangers in aces (5-4) and total digs (62-55).
Graduate student libero Haley Kennedy, the program's digs leader during the rally scoring era, led all Rangers with 18 digs on Thursday. She finishes her career with 1,798 digs; the second most digs all-time in program history behind only Irene Arguelles (1988-1991), who owns the record with 2,226 digs.

SPECIAL GROUP
Thursday marked the final match for graduate students Klaudia Sowizral, Nadine Burbrink, Mara LeGrand and Haley Kennedy; all of whom were First Team All-Conference and AVCA First Team All-Region selections in 2023.

Kennedy and LeGrand were each five-year players for the Rangers, helping the team to RMAC Championships and a NCAA Final Four in 2019, and closing their careers with another RMAC crown in 2023.

"We have some girls like Mara and Haley who have been here all five, and then some transfers like Nadine and Klaudia who came in and added a lot. And I thought our team did a great job welcoming in the transfers and getting on the same page with our values and goals," List said. "I think they are leaving a good legacy. It stings to lose like this. But we talk about all the work they've put in and if they hadn't put in all that work, it wouldn't sting. There wouldn't be tears in the locker room. But they love each other, played hard for each other and played hard each and every one of themselves."

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