ROCKFORD, Ill.- Saturday afternoon at the Seaver Center was an important day for four seniors on Rockford University's volleyball team. It would be the last time that they played on their home court in-front of the Regent faithful. Looking to spoil this special day was the visiting MSOE Raiders. The Raiders were coming off of a 3-1 victory over conference opponent Alverno.
Before the start of the game Rockford celebrated four senior careers. Laina Scheri (Cortland, Ill./DeKalb) played her entire four-year volleyball career at Rockford. Also playing her entire volleyball career at Rockford was Kirsten Bergin (Mt. Morris, Ill./Forreston). Coming over for her junior and senior years was Erin Pederson (Oregon, Ill./Oregon). Last but not least, and also playing the final two years of her collegiate volleyball career at Rockford, was Katelyn Hasken (Lanark, Ill./Eastland).
The emotions from celebrating senior day for Rockford carried over into the match. Rockford got off to a fast start and won the first two sets. The Regents pulled away to win 26-24 in the first set and 25-23 in the second set. MSOE was then able to mount a comeback in the third set with a 25-15 win. The Raiders squeaked out a 25-21 win in the fourth set to tie the match up at two games apiece. Rockford was not able to mount a late comeback in the final set and dropped the set 15-11 and the match 3-2
Continuing from her impressive game last night, Kayla Kurz (Franklin Grove, Ill. / Ashton-Franklin Center) paced the team with 18 kills on 44 attempts for a team-high kill percentage of .364. Second on the team in kills was Pederson with 11. Pederson contributed 16 digs and two block assists. Kurz also led the team in block assists with four.
Like Pederson, Hasken's and Scheri also had great senior day games. Hasken's was third on the team with nine kills and she was tied for first with 20 digs. Scheri had a nice all-around game as she recorded one kill, four assists, two service aces, and 20 digs. Setting up the offensive was Taylor Rossi(Ingleside, Ill./Grant Community) who finished with 39 assists, eight digs, and two block assists.
Rockford will now be on the road for the rest of the season. The Regents next match will be on October 14th against Concordia Wisconsin with a start time of 7:00 p.m.
