WHEATON, Ill. - On Friday and Saturday the Regents took part in the highly competitive Wheaton Invitational. There were a total of ten participating institutions with three of the four team's Rockford drew having at least ten victories. The Regents were unable to win any of their matches falling 3-0 to Wheaton, 3-2 to UW-Stout, 3-1 to Carroll and 3-0 to Trinity International.
Rockford opened the tournament against the Wheaton College Thunder. The Thunder were in control for most of the match winning in straight sets (25-16, 25-16, 25-17). Offensively for Rockford it was the combination of junior Katelyn Hasken (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) and freshman Taylor Rossi (Ingleside, Ill./Grant Community) who provided the bulk of the points. Hasken had a team-high 11 kills on 29 attempts and 9 digs. It was the sixth time that Hasken has had double-digits kills in a match this season. Rossi had probably the best all-around game for Rockford. The freshman had 6 kills on just 10 attempts to go along with a team-high 23 assists and 9 digs.
The Regents second match of the invitational came against another quality team, the UW-Stout Blue Devils. This was the most competitive match of the invitational for Rockford as the Regents lost in 5 sets (25-16, 26-28, 25-27, 25-20, 15-11). After dropping the initial set, Rockford fought back winning the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead. However, the Blue Devils turned out to be too much for the Regents winning the fourth and fifth sets. Once again it was Katelyn Hasken who was the center of the Rockford offense. Hasken had a team-high 12 kills along with a match-high 22 digs. Sophomore Kirsten Bergin (Mt. Morris, Ill./Forreston) had probably her best game of the year with a season-high 9 kills. She was also a force at the net accounting for four of Rockford's 13 blocks.
Rockford began Saturday's slate of matches bright and early against Carroll University. The match got off to a great start for the Regents as they won the opening set to go up 1-0. However, the Pioneers chipped away at the Rockford led by winning the next three sets to win the match 3-1 (16-25, 25-19, 25-9, 25-13). Defensively Rockford had a solid effort as it totaled 90 digs as a team with a trio of Regents having more than 20 digs each. Senior Heather Hyland (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) led the strong defensive effort with a match-high 24 digs. Junior Laina Scheri (Cortland, Ill./DeKalb) played her best defensive match of the year recording a season-high 23 digs. Katelyn Hasken was the other Regent with over 20 digs in the match tallying 21 digs.
The Regents final match on Saturday came against Trinity International University. Both teams entered the contest in search of their second win of the season. However, it would be the Trojans who came out on top winning in straight sets (25-20, 25-18, 25-18).
The Regents return to the court on October 2nd when they hit the road to play Mt. Mary College. The match is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.
