DENVER, Colo. — Following standout careers in Denver, the Regis University volleyball program has seen two graduates earn professional volleyball contracts this summer in Klaudia Sowizral and Nadine Burbrink.
Burbrink signed her contract back in May to play in the Austrian professional volleyball league as a member of TI Schuh Staudinger Volley, while Sowizral joined her in the professional ranks earlier this month by inking a deal with Anorthosis in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Sowizral and Burbrink were both part of the Rangers' 2023 team that won the program's first RMAC Tournament since 2019 and advanced Regis to its fourth straight NCAA Division II regional tournament appearance.
Burbrink shined on and off the court during her three-year career with the Rangers. She earned Second Team All-American recognition on the court in 2023 and Academic All-American honors as a 4.0 student in Project Management. The 6'2'' middle blocker played in 88 career matches with the Rangers and saved her best season for last, setting career-bests in kills per set (2.61), hitting percentage (.327), service aces (18), while defensively she also posted career-highs in digs (58), total blocks (136) and blocks per set (1.30).
Her block per set average of 1.30 was tied for the second most among RMAC student-athletes and the ninth most among all Division
II players. The Rangers as a team led all NCAA Division II teams at 2.80 blocks per set in 2023.
Sowizral would also earn AVCA All-American honors for the first time this past fall, being named Third Team All-American after leading all Regis players with 289 kills, a 2.75 kills per set average and a .333 hitting percentage from the right side. The former UConn transfer also added 68 total blocks and 41 digs, defensively, while averaging 3.12 points per set in 2023.
Burbrink and Sowizral become the fifth and sixth players, respectively, in program history to sign professional contracts and the first since Saige Martinson played two seasons (2014-16) in Switzerland.
Liz (Franz) Frassel played the 2010-11 season in Denmark, while fellow Regis graduates Nikki Kennedy and Cedar Bellows round out the list of Rangers to receive professional contracts. Bellows still currently competes on the international level as a member of the United States National Beach Handball team. Since 2019, she has played in two World Championships (2022 and 2024), the World Games (2022) and the World Beach Games in Qatar (2019).
