Cal State LA LA 2-5,0-0 CCAA

Regis (CO) Regis 4-3,0-0 RMAC

Cal State LA LA

2-5,0-0 CCAA

Final

Sep. 09, 2023

Regis (CO) Regis

4-3,0-0 RMAC

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	F
Cal State LA LA	21	19	16	(0)
Regis (CO) Regis	25	25	25	(3)

Ferris St. FSU 5-3,0-0 GLIAC

Regis (CO) Regis 5-3,0-0 RMAC

Ferris St. FSU

5-3,0-0 GLIAC

Final

Sep. 09, 2023

Regis (CO) Regis

5-3,0-0 RMAC

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Ferris St. FSU	25	19	23	18	(1)
Regis (CO) Regis	23	25	25	25	(3)

Billy Saunders, Regis Athletics

The Rangers won the Silver Bracket championship game on Saturday during the Colorado Premier Challenge.

Game Recap: Volleyball | Sep 10 | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

No. 19 Rangers sweep Saturday matches, earn Silver Bracket championship to conclude Colorado Premier Challenge

DENVER, Colo. — For the second straight year, the No. 19 ranked Regis University volleyball team walked out of the Regis Fieldhouse Saturday as the Silver Bracket champions of the annual Colorado Premier Tournament; a two-day gauntlet against the top Division II teams in the country.

Regis (5-3 overall) closed out the tournament, and concluded the non-conference potion of its schedule, in style as the Rangers swept No. 16 Cal State LA in the early afternoon and clinch the Silver Bracket crown with a 23-25, 25-19, 25-23 and 25-18 win over (RV) Farris State University in the nightcap.

"I really felt that we were maybe three points away (Friday) from being in the Gold Bracket. I thought last night's close match with No. 3 Wayne State College was really a testament to how well our team can play. And today, it was great to see us come back strong after a grueling loss," said Regis head volleyball coach, Joel List. "We struggled last weekend during the final day of the San Bernardino tournament, so our goal today was, How can we outlast them?' And I was really happy with how our team maintained and lasted during this weekend's grueling four matches."

MATCH VS. No. 16 CAL STATE LA (25-21, 25-19 and 25-16)
Squaring off against the nationally ranked Golden Eagles for the second time in as many weeks, the Rangers dominated the match as they posted a .316 hitting percentage as a team while holding Cal State LA to a .160 percentage and 19 attack errors.

Graduate student middle blocker Nadine Burbrink was a model of that consistency for the Rangers as she led the team with nine kills on just 13 swings (.692) while adding one solo block and a team-high four block assists.

The matinee was just the start of a huge day for the Germany native as she added 14 kills and a team-high eight total blocks in the victory against Ferris State.

"Defensively, Nadine really had to get her hands up quickly in both matches because of how quick the offenses were that we were facing and Cal State LA didn't really match up in the middle well with her, so we were able to push her," List said. "And you have to give credit to our defense for being able to dig balls so that Mara (LeGrand) could set our middles. It was a great weekend for Nadine."

A trio of Rangers would follow with eight kills apiece in graduate student right-side Klaudia Sowizral, junior middle blocker Amelia Davis and junior outside hitter, Hannah Kepler.

MATCH VS. (RV) FERRIS STATE (23-25, 25-19, 25-23 and 25-18)
The Rangers earned their second straight Silver Bracket championship with a tight, back-and-forth affair against the Bulldogs (5-3 overall), a team that earned it's way into the championship with wins over Western Washington and Lewis University.

Ferris State came out swinging early, winning the first set 25-23, but the Rangers were able to grind out three straight set wins behind an electric evening crowd inside the Regis Fieldhouse.

"I think we were able to come up with a lot of the game-changing plays like timely blocks, winning long rallies, and to be honest, our crowd," List said. "We had an X-Factor with our fans getting into the match and I think that helped with the energy we were maybe lacking in the first set."

Once they righted the ship, the Rangers' offense picked up right where they left off as the team hit .291 for the match, finished with 69 kills versus just 21 attack errors and had five different players finish with double-digits in kills, led by senior outside hitter Halle Theis with 16.

"We worked a lot this week on how we could be more efficient, offensively, so to have all five of our hitters in double-figures in four sets is a good testament to how hard they worked to figure out how to get kills," List said.

Burbrink and junior outside hitter Hannah Kepler each added 14 kills, while the duo of Davis and Sowizral each tacked on 11 kills.

Sowizral, who hit .317 on the weekend en route to earning All-Tournament Team honors, was joined on that team by graduate student setter Mara LeGrand. The recognition came after LeGrand orchestrated one final tremendous performance against FSU, finishing with 53 assists, two kills and 19 digs.

"Mara and Klaudia are both very deserving. Mara is going to get a lot of attention from other teams because she runs our offense. So the way to try and get her to not run the offense is hit balls at her. Teams are testing her and she is getting a lot of digs, but we've still been able to run our offense," List said. "Klaudia has proven she can hit balls and be a weapon for us on offense, but I want to give her credit too for her work, defensively. I've been challenging her to dig balls and cover hitters, which takes away from her offense, but she is still able to do it and take big swings for us."

The Rangers were just as stingy on the back row as they were at the net against FSU, as well, posting a staggering 78-60 advantage in total digs.

Junior defensive specialist Bre Skala tied LeGrand for the team lead with 19 digs, while graduate student libero Haley Kennedy added 13 digs and eight assists.

UP NEXT
Regis will now take a few days to rest, recover and turn its attention toward the start of RMAC regular season play, which gets underway at home next Friday and Saturday against South Dakota Mines (7 p.m. Friday) and Black Hills State (3 p.m. Saturday).

"With the level we're playing at, I feel like we're very well prepared going into next weekend," List said. "Our bodies need a little break and some rest, but we're looking forward to getting back after it next weekend and having some more home games."

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