BELOIT, Wis. - The Rockford University volleyball team opened its season with a total of four matches at the Beloit College Buccaneer Blast Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Regents went 1-1 each day with a 3-1 win over host Beloit College and a thrilling 5-set comeback win over fellow NACC member Alverno College. Rockford also played UW-Superior and Ripon College but dropped each of those two matches.
After dropping its opening match of the season 3-0 to UW-Superior, Rockford rebounded nicely with an impressive 3-1 win over Beloit. As a team, the Regents played an excellent all-around match to earn their first win of the 2014 season. Offensively, Rockford tallied 44 kills compared to just 11 errors for a .275 hitting percentage. Senior Katelyn Hasken (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) led the charge offensively recording a match-high 20 kills. Junior Kayla Kurz (Franklin Grove, Ill./Ashton-Franklin Center) and senior Erin Pederson (Oregon, Ill./Oregon) also played well chipping in 7 and 6 kills respectively. Sophomore Taylor Rossi (Ingleside, Ill./Grant Community) had an outstanding match as the team's setter recording 37 assists along with 3 kills. Defensively the Regents were a force at the net recording 13 solo blocks and 34 block assists. Ashley Simmons (Naperville, Ill./North) led the way with a match-high 11 block assists and 4 solo blocks. Kurz also tied for the team high with 4 solo blocks while adding 6 block assists.
Following a 1-1 day on Friday, Rockford opened Saturday's slate of matches against undefeated Ripon College. The Regents played the Red Hawks tough all match long but eventually fell in four sets. Offensively the Regents used a well-balanced attack and spread around their 42 kills. Kurz and Pederson each recorded double-digit kills with 13 and 10 respectively. Hasken finished with 9 kills narrowly missing recording her second straight match with at least ten kills. Rossi once again did a nice job setting up her teammates as the sophomore tallied 37 assists for the second straight match. Defensively Rockford did an excellent job countering Ripon's attacking offense as the Regents had 3 players record double-figures in digs. Peterson finished with a team-high 19 digs while Hasken and Rossi finished with 14 and 10 digs respectively. Senior Laina Scheri (Cortland, Ill./DeKalb) rounded out Rockford's defensive performance with 11 digs.
The Regents concluded its time at the Buc Blast Tournament with an exciting 5-set win over Alverno College. After falling behind 2 sets to none, Rockford rallied back to win the final three sets. Senior Katelyn Hasken had her best performance of the tournament recording a season-high 21 kills along with 32 digs. Erin Pederson tallied 12 kills with 23 digs and 3 block assists. Laina Scheri turned in another outstanding effort defensively amassing a match-high 36 digs. Marissa Plock (German Valley, Ill./Forreston) and Taylor Rossi each recorded 9 kills. Rossi also added 29 assists and 15 digs to round out her afternoon, while Plock tallied a match-high 5 block assists.
Senior Katelyn Hasken was named to the all-tournament team for her play throughout the two-day tournament. Hasken notched a pair of 20-kill matches and averaged 3.31 kills per set. The senior was also a force on defense as well. Hasken recorded 56 digs for an average of 3.50 digs per set as well as a total of 9 blocks.
The Rockford University volleyball team returns to court on Wednesday, September 3rd at home against Mt. Mary University. The match has a 7:00 p.m. start time.
